Access Differences

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Interesting that I can't access this site from AOL; however, it comes up instantly on IE. I am certainly glad that there are several options available.

Portia

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You would be much better off

using Firefox Browser http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ to view BCTS with and utilize the browser add ons to increase your privacy and security further to where you want it at.

BCTS is designed for that browser and its display abilities and just happens to display on others a little differently.

Sephrena

WebKit vs FireFox

Piper's picture

Actually, just an FyI, when Erin and I work on the site, and do changes, we generally make them Proper CSS and HTML which means it's more suited for a browser like Apple's Safari, Google Chrome, or other WebKit based browsers. Also anything based on KHTML like WebKit would do good. And Firefox is still a decent browser, just not as safe as it used to be, due to it's popularity.

Also, it should be mentioned that NEW versions of IE are MUCH better than they used to be, and much more Standards compliant.

-HuGgLeS-
-Piper


"She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them."
— Geraldine Brooks


When you speak of Security and Privacy

Visit here for a browser comparison chart. http://internet-browser-review.toptenreviews.com/

What hasn't been mentioned is the privacy breach both Chrome, Safari and IE have for tracking your web movements and saving and selling the said information. Firefox has security add ons that address that very problem and seal the breach so you can move about with the most minimal footprint on the Internet possible with the least amount of cookies and companies tracking you.

Chrome, Safari, and IE do NOT want you to have that kind of control over your browser, hence the security addons to address that problem do not look likely for them.

That is a feature that should be displayed in that chart I presented to you.

For those reasons alone, I would argue with widespread support, Firefox is the better browser at the moment for security and privacy protection.

Malware protection IS the job of an antivirus/firewall Internet suite. Malware prevention can be obtained by reputable site rating add ons for Firefox from trusted web companies to show up in search engine displays by keeping you from visiting known bad sites, and the phishing/window hijacking/redirection issues are also controlled through addons such as Noscript and using the simple options window for Firefox and locking out javascript, java, and cookies.

Java is an absolute security nightmare issue that also reeks slowness issues with any website unfortunate enough to use it.

I do have Safari, Chrome, Opera, and *cringe* IE, all the latest ones. I use them only on bcts for display comparisons.

Firefox is all I will browse the Internet with until something comes along similar enough to it, with even better privacy and security protection to surf with and do what I do now with Firefox.

A slight speed advantage by Chrome or IE means nothing to me if it exposes my web history and movements along the web by allowing cookies to track me and sending them back to selling the information. Chrome simply does not have the security Add ons Firefox has and your browsing is not as secure as Firefox's. It cant possibly be unless Googles decides that allowing users to lock down and prevent the tracking of information it wants to make money with is more valuable to them than money. And all of us inherently know Google and apple want your Internet habitual information and web profile of you without paying you. So consider the company when considering the browser to use.

Sephrena

Chrome is VERY secure.

Piper's picture

Why not just use chrome's built in "incognito mode" to browse the web safely with minimal footprint? Also you can turn off chrome's reporting back to google if you don't want it to do so.

If you are THAT scared, then use Chromium, the open source version of Chrome that doesn't have all Google's extra add ons that you are afraid off.

It's not about performance, it's about coding a site, to HTML standards, and expecting to to look proper.

Firefox is EXTREMELY slopy, and made to make BAD html look ok. WebKit browsers are built to make Proper HTML and CSS shine and look good as well as perform well.

-Piper

Incognito mode (browse in private)
For times when you want to browse in stealth mode, Google Chrome offers the incognito browsing mode. Here's how the incognito mode works:

  • Webpages that you open and files downloaded while you are incognito aren't recorded in your browsing and download histories.
  • All new cookies are deleted after you close all incognito windows that you've opened.
  • Changes made to your Google Chrome bookmarks and general settings while in incognito mode are always saved.

Tip: If you're using Chrome OS, you can use the guest browsing feature as an alternative to incognito mode. When browsing as a guest, you can browse the web and download files as normal. Once you exit your guest session, all of your browsing information from the session is completely erased.


"She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them."
— Geraldine Brooks


The problem is...

Puddintane's picture

...that people don't typically keep several browsers active and swap between them based upon their personal evaluation of any particular site's adherence to any particular HTML standard. There are still millions of web pages out there ‘optimised’ for MSIE 6.0, so it's important for every browser to ‘degrade gracefully.’ Of course, there are also a lot of old browsers out there as well, so it's fairly important for websites to degrade gracefully as well when accessed by imperfect people using imperfect browsing tools that may not live up to the high standards of web purists.

Firefox is a compromise between adherence to standards and allowing people to breeze right by most incompatibilities. All proprietary browsers (Chrome, and the various MS browsers most notably) are designed and promulgated gratis by companies who fully expect that their investment will pay off eventually. The way they do this currently is by either selling your information, or by using it internally to generate profit.

-

Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

Golden Age Computing

Piper's picture

Just as Mozilla makes most their money Selling Google the spot as default home page, and default search engine. They also get other money by selling other search engines the ability to even be included, and then of course there are private donations.

As for degrading, No... I think any business that cares about their brand, needs to take the time to make sure it's up to snuff.

Chrome, Safari, IE, Firefox, all allow older standards as well as the new bleeding edge standards, but what FireFox and IE when in Compatibility Mode do, is allow coders to CODE SLOPPY pages, not code with older code. Who cares if the browser has to eat an extra meg or two of memory to fix your missing < / table > when you are dealing with Gigabytes of memory right? Memory is cheap, so lets get lazy!

I'm too young to properly remember the golden age of computing... When programmers were cheap, but memory, storage and CPU weren't... I wish current programmers had the same work ethic now.

-Piper


"She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them."
— Geraldine Brooks


IE sometimes gets a Bad Rap, but we prefer STANDARDS

Piper's picture

Just to mention two things, one of which harks back to the original topic....

All browser preferences aside, the site is basically optimized by Myself, Erin and Catrina to make use of Safari, Chrome and other WebKit based and/or Standards Compliant browsers. But FireFox works fine too.

Secondly, I should mention, that Microsoft Internet Explorer was the FIRST major browser to default the "Do Not Track Me" preference to ON for publishers that are willing to adhere to that standard.


"She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them."
— Geraldine Brooks


AOL

Hypatia Littlewings's picture

AOL probably considers this site porn, or at least Adult, yes with capitol A. Don't forget their origins.

I didn't know...

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

I didn't know that anyone actually used AOL anymore. I haven't since quit using dial-up. Even then, toward the end, I was overlaying another browser, IE or Netscape.

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt