What is the Best Browser?

Asking what is the best browser is much like asking “What is the best religion?” Emotions run very high in what at first glance might seem to be a purely technical discussion.

However, despite the emotional overtones, there are many areas of comparison which can be evaluated dispassionately.

Every web browser is made up of two major components, a rendering engine and a user interface. Selecting the right rendering engine for your needs and matching it with the right user interface for your needs can point you to the right web browser.

The Best Browser Rendering Engine

The leading rendering engines are:

• Trident
• Gecko
• KHTML
• WebCore
• Presto

Trident

Trident is the rendering engine used by Microsoft Internet Explorer. Trident is also used by Avant Browser and SlimBrowser. In addition, Trident is one of the rendering engines supported by the Netscape Browser.

Gecko

Gecko is the rendering engine used by Mozilla Firefox. Gecko is also utilized by Camino, Epiphany, and K-Meleon. In addition, Trident is one of the rendering engines supported by the Netscape Browser.

KHTML

KHTML is the rendering engine utilized by Konqueror. KHTML was the base used by Apple to develop the WebCore rendering engine.

WebCore

WebCore is the rendering engine used by Apple’s Safari browser.

Presto

Presto is the rendering engine utilized by the Opera web browser.

The Best Rendering Engine

Of all of these rendering engines, only two compete for the top spot — and on very different terms.

Rendering Engine Standards Compliance

The Gecko rendering engine is considered the leader as far as compliance with W3C standards is concerned.

Rendering Engine Real World Performance

Microsoft’s Trident rendering engine currently dominates the worlds desktop computers. Because of this, the vast majority of web pages on the Internet are designed for the Trident engine.

This is where things get a bit sticky. Because Trident is not standards compliant, a large number of web pages are designed not to be standards compliant either — instead, they are Microsoft compliant.

The question is: Which is more important to you, standards compliance or real world performance?

The Best User Interface

User interface is largely a matter of personal preference. Some web browsers implement their own user interface and maintain that interface across all of the platforms they support. Mozilla Firefox is one browser in this category. Often these browsers can be “skinned” to give them a custom look-and-feel to meet each users preference.

Other web browsers are designed to closely emulate the look and feel of the platform upon which they are running. If you are familiar with the native interface of your desktop environment and you are pleased with that interface, you may wish to use a web browser which closely mimics that interface.

Unless you have specific interface preferences, your will most likely be better served by the Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer browsers.

Specific Web Browser Recommendations by OS

For most Microsoft Windows users, Mozilla Firefox is an excellent choice — but Internet Explorer should be installed for those web pages which are not standards compliant.

On the Macintosh and under Unix/Linux, Mozilla Firefox is most likely your best choice in browsers.