Most people don’t understand enough about web browsers. In reality, a browser determines how one views pages on the Internet. This is why, a good browser is vital in order to see things the way they are meant to be seen. Count on this edition of w3’s Garontee to cover what you need to know

The undisputed most popular browser is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Despite the fact that it comes standard on all copies of Windows software, many experts strongly dislike it, primarily due to the fact it is not open source.

Liam Gladdy, a System Administrator from the UK thinks otherwise. "Every browser has bugs, at the end of the day, you really have to remember Microsoft's browser is the most widely used, Windows XP Service Pack 2 adds the popup blocker, and other things microsoft's needed. Now all we need is tabbed browsing, and everyone should be happy again!"

Chris Brown, an aspiring web designer from the UK strongly disagrees. "As a web designer, I find it very frustrating when trying to design a web site that will look good in all browsers. This is why I think open source software is important. By making a program open source, your workforce becomes the entire programming community, which importantly includes the people who actually use the product. Because of this, bugs such as security holes and poor standard compliance can be picked up, and fixed rapidly (sometimes within hours of the initial release), whereas closed source programs such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer can often take months to fix. Even if you knew nothing about engines, would you buy a car from somebody who will not let you look under the bonnet?

There are numerous alternatives to Internet Explorer, some of which I have listed at the end of this article.

There are even companies that will make custom browser toolbars and even browsers. 4ComTech (http://www.4comtech.com) will make webmasters of websites that meet a certain criteria custom browsers for free! Host The Best (http://www.hostthebest.com) is notorious for its somewhat invasive forum advertising of its HTB custom toolbar package. See http://hostthebest.com/services/toolbars.shtml for more information.

Browsers have come a long way since the original text browsers of the early 90s. Learn More about the history of browsers, visit: http://www.quirksmode.org/browsers/history.html, http://www.webhero.org/Browsers/history.htm, http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/history/browsers.htm.

Here is a rundown of some today’s popular browsers, in no particular order.

Internet Explorer Microsoft Corporation.
The most popular browser on the fact of the planet, this browser comes standard with all versions of windows. Make sure you keep this software up to date!
Visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx. - Free

Netscape Navigator – Netscape Communications Corp.
"Netscape 7.1 gives you the ultimate browsing experience - now with pop-up controls and improved tab browsing. Netscape 7.1 is faster and puts you in more control of your web."
Visit http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/browsing.jsp - Free

MyIE2 – MyIE2 Team.
"MyIE2 is the most powerful and fully customized browser on earth. It can open multiple web pages in just one window, and comes with tons of other nice features."
Visit http://www.myie2.com/html_en/home.htm - Free

Ace Explorer 2.0 – Tronix Software.
"Ace Explorer incorporates a large collection of powerful features like built-in popup killer, skinned window frame, form filler, site group, quick-search, auto login, hidden sites, built-in commands and scripting, online translation, script error suppression, blacklist/whitelist filtering, URL Alias and many more. It brings you convenient and comfortable browsing. "
Visit http://www.aceexplorer.com/ - Free

Mozilla Firefox – The Mozilla Organization
"Firefox empowers you to accomplish your online activities faster, more safely and efficiently than any other browser, period. Built with Tab browsing, popup blocking and a number of other seamless innovations, Firefox stands out ahead."
Visit http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ - Free

FineBrowser – SoftInform
"FineBrowser is a multi-window browser and tool to improve your web browsing. It allows you to open multiple sites with one click, and offers a number of tools which make searching and analyzing the web more easy and more efficient."
Visit http://www.finebrowser.com/ - Free

Opera – Opera Software ASA.
Opera was voted the Best Browser of 2004 by PC Magazine. It includes a pop-up blocked, email client, IRC Chat, newsreader, integrated Google search, and more.
Visit http://www.opera.com/ - Shareware.

Safari - Apple Computer Inc.
"Safari, the Mac OS X default web browser, offers you a superior web experience with outstanding performance. Even the most complex of pages load at breakneck speed. In fact, Safari loads pages more quickly than any other Mac web browser."
Visit http://www.apple.com/safari/ - Free