involves such crucial functions as correct interpretation of HTML code, being able to recognize all of the tags in use in the current version of HTML (4.01 as of September 2007) and other languages as well, including XML, Java Script and Cascading Stylesheets, which is a comprehensive method of better controlling display and appearance of websites.

Here, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is lagging far behind, according to

Microsoft's own admission. Internet Explorer, until the recent release of its version 7, could not claim compliance with most of the CSS 1.0 specifications. Most other browsers are already at or very close to CSS 2.0 compliance. Among these are Firefox, Netscape v 9, Opera, Konqueror and Safari.

Security concerns are always an issue, unless you are using Safari on a Macintosh. This is due to several factors. First, Microsoft's Internet Explorer currently is the most popular browser in the world, which makes it more vulnerable, just because of sheer numbers.

Secondly, because Internet Explorer is heavily integrated into the operating system, any malicious piece of software running on the same machine can cause problems.

Third, because there are so many Windows machines in the world, and because a large majority of the users on those machines take little or no precautions to protect their machines, the security problems are magnified many fold regardless of the browser you may be using.

As a web designer, I own and use on a daily basis all or most of the browsers mentioned, including several versions of some of them. It is not uncommon for me to have four or five of them open at any given time. When I am not working, however, and I want to "go visiting the land of Internet", my browser of choice is Firefox.

For further reading, see:

http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Proje cts/mosaic.html
http://adamstiles.com/index.ph p?year=2005&monthnum=02&name=tabbed_browser_
http://www.w3.org/Amaya/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N etscape_Navigator#History_and_ development
http://www.upsdell.com/Browser News/stat_trends.htm

Learn more about this author, Michael Raymond.
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