D. Keith Robinson's Gorilla Web Tips

Tip Number Six - Switching To Mozilla

August 11th, 2003

What Is Mozilla?

If you don't know, Mozilla is a Web browser, or rather it's a suite of products that includes a Web browser. A very good Web browser. If you don't already know about it, chances are you are surfing the Web with an out dated and far inferior browser from Microsoft - Internet Explorer (IE). If that's true it's time to get your software upgraded to something more current and much better equipped for today's Web browsing. It's easy and will only take you a few minutes. You'll be happy you did.

You might be wondering, why you should bother switching. After all, Internet Explorer works ok and most people use it, so what can Mozilla offer you that you don't have now? You also might be wondering why, I, a Web designer and developer cares what browser you use.

Why You Should Switch

Let's start with how using Mozilla will benefit you as a Web surfer. Here are some reasons and features that you will get by downloading Mozilla and using it as your browser of choice:

Tabbed Browsing - This allows you to open new Web pages in a tab within the browser, thus eliminating all the windows on your desktop when wanting to look at multiple Web sites. It really needs to be tried to understand how useful this is.
Built In Pop Up Blocking - Blocking pop ups is part of the browser with Mozilla, you don't need to download some special software or anything it's in there by default. In addition Mozilla features quite a few other solutions to annoying Web problems as well
Built In Google - Again, this feature is built in, no need to add some third party or branded software to your browser.
Better Bookmark Management - This is something that has to be used to appreciate, but I can vouch for it, it's much easier than it was with the out dated IE method.
More Customizable - Mozilla has many more customization features than IE.
More Room For Web Content - The window and user interface in Mozilla have been optimized for the best possible browsing experience.
More and Better Privacy Options
And Many, Many More...

These are all great reasons, and should be enough to convince you to try Mozilla. However, the most important reason in my mind, is that Mozilla is a live product. What I mean by that is that it's being worked on as we speak and will continue to improve as time goes on. For those of you who don't know, as of a few months ago, Microsoft pulled the plug on Internet Explorer, so there won't be any updates to that browser for the time being, and Netscape is dead.

When it is next updated chances are that it will be even more tied into the operating system -- some future version of Windows. You might be wondering what is wrong with that. Well, take a look at your operating system, and the operating system you have at work. If you are like me, on a Windows system at work, you are way out of date. I'm on Windows 2000. You? To get an updated version of Internet Explorer you might very well have to pay for it. In 2005. See what I mean?

Why Do I Care?

I realize that much of this sounds like a sales pitch, and in some ways it is. However, I don't benefit in any real way from people switching to Mozilla. No, the real reason I'm wanting people to try it out is that I find it a far superior product for browsing the Web. As a Web designer it neither makes my job easier or harder if more people use Mozilla -- I design my Web sites to work in any browser. Having said that, Mozilla supports development methods and features that IE doesn't, allowing for much more creativity and better implantation of Web standards and best practices. In other words, better Web sites for everyone.

Making a switch can not only be a good thing for you, but a good thing for the Web as a whole, no matter what browser you use. The Web and it's underlying technologies are constantly evolving, wouldn't you like a Web browser that evolves with them? Download Firebird, a Mozilla based browser still in Beta but very stable, or if you want something "official" try Mozilla 1.4. If you do elect to go with Firebird, remember that it is still in Beta and may have some minor problems. I've yet to notice any myself.

Give it a shot, if you don't like it, I can assure you Internet Explorer isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

If your still not convinced, give the following resources a look:

Discuss this article over at Asterisk*

Send feedback about this article.