Computer nerd needed, remedial blogger at large
Can someone please explain to me the difference between Firefox and Internet Explorer?
I used to use Explorer exclusively, until it seemed that every other blog bragged that it was better viewed with Firefox. That is actually true of my own blog. If you view it in Firefox, you'll see that the bullet points in the sidebar are actually cute little flowers; Internet Explorer doesn't show any bullets at all. But other than that, I've never noticed a real difference between the two browsers.
Nevertheless, I decided to download Firefox to my work computer yesterday. (Previously, I used Explorer at work and Firefox at home, in an admittedly unscientific comparison). Now I can look at my little flower bullets all day if I want! But then I went to use my online media listserve, and it told me that it would only open in Explorer. Annoyed, but unfazed, I went to open the Explorer button on my desktop. Which had inexplicably disappeared.
When I downloaded Firefox to my home computer months ago, it didn't erase Explorer. I can choose between the two every time I start up. But for some reason, my download yesterday magically erased any memory my computer ever had of its former internet host. I spent about a half hour searching, convinced it must be hiding somewhere, then gave up and spent another half an hour downloading Explorer 7.0.
And now nothing seems to work.
posted by Lori @ 1:55 PM
6 Comments:
Here I come to save the day... (I'm a webnerd by profession, so I deal with this daily)
Internet Explorer (MSIE) can NOT be deleted from your Windows computer, it's built into the system. The "explorer button", which is a shortcut to the program has probably been corrupted. The actual program is located here: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE". Right-click / properties the icon and see if it's set that way.
MSIE is one of the worst programs (MacIE is even worse) that has ever been produced to browse the web. Firefox, Safari, Opera (and others) are all new and modern Web browsers that really know how to display web sites properly. Note: only IF those sites are produced according to certain Web standards. A lot of "older" sites are built really bad and contain a lot of crappy proprietary MSIE code that doesn't work with modern browsers.
MS is working very hard on IE7 to make it up to par with FF. But there's still a lot of problems. I'm sticking with FF. If it wasn't for them, we'de still be stuck in middle ages. Did you know you can middle/scroll-click on links and open them in a new tab?
Yeah what he said. There's a lot of cool stuff about firefox like the tabs and like the commenter said you view great looking web sites as they were meant to be viewed on ff, not so on ie.
Thanks, guys. I noticed the tabs on Firefox, but don't understand the big deal... what's so great about them? They kind of annoyed me to be honest. I must be missing something here...
I don't know what I did but somehow fixed the problem with Explorer. I wouldn't need to use it at all except for that one program I need for work that is designed to run ONLY on IE.
Not that I seem to be doing much work today.
What's so cool about tabs? Let's say you browse a specific site that has a buncha link that you would like to visit, by middle-clicking you can open and load those in tabs, without having to leave the original page. The old fashioned way you clicked, back button, clicked, back button, "now what was that other link I wanted to see again"?
I also love this little trick in FF: you can select anything on a page (like a word or sentence) right-click and Search the Web for what you selected. This is really handy for when you see an address on a Web page. I select the address, right-click, Search, which brings me to Google and with one more click it brings me to google maps.
Also modern browsers have improved security etc, but that's boring nerd stuff which would put you to sleep if I started yappin about it.
That makes much more sense - thanks!
You can also view a web page with IE within Firefox. There is an extension called IE Tab, available here: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/.
When you install it, you'll be able to switch between IE and Firefox or open a link in IE. (You can even specify that all links at a particular site must be opened in IE.)
All that's been said about IE in previous comments is true, but, sometimes, the house rules say you gotta use IE.
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