I got my very first PC in 1995. It was a second-hand IBM 286. It came with Windows 3.5, an internal 9600-baud modem and Prodigy software. At that time, even waiting thirty minutes for a page to completely load was thrilling. A couple of months later I got a bigger, better, faster computer with Windows 95, a 14.4K modem, a new ISP and Netscape Navigator.
|
"Many of us build our pages for IE and don't even bother creating Firefox-friendly sites. That stance is changing. Firefox is not the world's most popular browser, but over 100 million users think otherwise and that number is increasing every day. " |
In those days, Microsoft Internet Explorer was the upstart browser software. Practically everyone used Netscape Navigator. That is, until Windows 95 came out - pre-installed on 90% of all new computers. IE was bundled in with the operating system of practically every single PC sold in America. It wasn't long until Netscape faded into the woodwork and was eventually sold to AOL.
In spite of the popularity of Internet Explorer, Netscape continued to develop and improve their browser technology. Before Netscape sold to AOL, it had been refined into a complete suite that included the browser (Communicator), an email client/newsreader (Messenger) and a WYSIWYG HTML editor (Composer). As part of the agreement between AOL and Netscape, a research-based organization was formed and funded for the purpose of developing a new browser. That organization would be named the Mozilla Foundation.
After creating a new rendering engine named Gecko, the Mozilla browser was developed into an all-in-one suite, much like Netscape Communicator. Blake Ross and Dave Hyatt decided that the Mozilla suite was too bloated and too dependent on the wishes of AOL. They formed their own project for a stand-alone browser that would be simple to use and cross-platform enabled. The first beta-test version, named Phoenix was released in September 2002. In April 2003, the name was changed to Firebird. In February 2004, it became Firefox. The most recent version Firefox 1.5 was released this last November 2005.
For almost 10 years, Microsoft Internet Explorer has been the undisputed winner of the browser wars. Technically, it still is. Even today, approximately 85% of Internet users surf with IE. However, in the years since 1995 and before the November 2004 release of Firefox 1.0 IE held around 98% of the browser market. Since November 2004, more than 100 million users have downloaded a copy of Firefox. IE is still the browser king but it's losing the loyalty of its subjects.
As an adult webmaster, you already understand the importance of creating a site that can be viewed by the most surfers possible. For the majority of the past ten years, that meant building pages so that they would look right in IE. As an adult webmaster, you're aware that different browsers render pages differently. Many of us build our pages for IE and don't even bother creating Firefox-friendly sites. That stance is changing.
Computer manufacturers are beginning to pre-install Foxfire software onto their PCs. Online applications like Gmail, Blogger and Ebay's Picture Manager support Firefox. Security advisories such as CERT have recommended that surfers use Firefox as a way to protect machines against the vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer. According to Wikipedia, IBM employees dig Firefox, plus the University of Chicago started bundling Firefox into its student's connectivity packages this last year.
We aren't suggesting you drop IE. That would be silly. Eighty five percent of surfers is still eighty five percent. IE and IE users aren't going anywhere. We are merely suggesting that you add Firefox to your collection of Internet applications. Not only can you use it to test your HTML pages but you might come to see why some of Firefox's biggest fans are your fellow adult webmasters.
Sometimes it's good to be number two.
There are probably a hundred thousand people creating viruses and spyware that depend on IE and Microsoft vulnerabilities.
In other words, the majority of hackers and script kiddies aren't writing shit to attack your computer via Firefox. That means you can open unknown sites like submitted gallery pages in Firefox with relative safety. Another advantage to Firefox is the ability to highlight any portion of a page > right click > view the source of that specific snippet of code. Firefox's pop-up blocker is most excellent and the tabbed browsing is to die for. One can change the look of Firefox with it's ever-expanding collection of skins. And since Firefox is open-source, developers work round the clock to insure that vulnerabilities and bugs are patched within hours.
Firefox is not the world's most popular browser, but over 100 million users think otherwise and that number is increasing every day. I'm a Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape fan. I have been ever since I set up my ISP account on that old Windows 95 machine way back when. Nobody is telling you that you HAVE to use it. Just the same, it can't hurt to get down with Firefox!
SUBMIT