Browser Market Share - Chrome makes a big entrance

Well the browser market share stats are in for the month of September - and what a month to remember with the début of Google Chrome at the start. How did Chrome do? Did Firefox continue its insatiable growth? Did Safari make any further in roads?

Points of note, are the amazing market share already gained by Google Chrome (more than encumbents such as Opera and Safari) and the further increased market lead of Firefox. Certainly Chrome stats are worth watching looking forward, although, those of us old enough to remember the early internet days, will be reminded of Netscape and their commanding position at the start of 2000’s.

1. 42.6% Firefox
2. 26.3% IE 7 
3. 22.3% IE 6
4. 3.1% Chrome
5. 2.7% Safari
6. 2.0% Opera
7. 0.5% Mozilla

Google Chrome Bookmarks

Well it has been nearly a month since installing Google Chrome, and I have to say I am really impressed by it. So much so, that it has become my browser of choice! Having looked through a number of browser stats of late, it would also appear to be the browser of choice for many people.

One of the things I most like about Google Chrome is the simple nature of the toolbar; although I do find this slightly ironic considering the amount of clutter installed with the Google toolbar on IE and Firefox. Tabs are simple and easy to find and use (unlike Firefox / Safari) and bookmarking / categorisation is really manageable (unlike IE). Bookmarking, adding bookmarks to categories and adding them to the simple toolbar (maybe I really do like clutter) is really easy.
 

• Visit a website
• Click on the ’star’ to the left of the web address bar and choose the folder that you would like the bookmark to appear under

Google Chrome

A while ago, there was a rumour that Google was working on a new browser. On arriving in the office this morning I find out that Google Chrome is due to launch today, this moring all I could find was the ‘comic book’ talking Google Chrome up and highlighting the features it will have.

Well now it’s landed. installation was a dream, nice and easy. Some websites / applications appear to struggle (hotmail / popfly), but considering it is a first outing, it is working really rather well. It is clean, fast and tabs are easy to find and ad, bookmarking is simple to edit and use and so far it I am happily using it - even being able to write this post from it.

Integrating Online Assets

Having signed up to most of the Windows Live suite of products, it is nice to finally see them all coming together into one comprehensive platform. So I thought I would at last try Live Spaces (my usual ravings appear at my personal blog: Andrew Watson

So for my first post, and as someone who spends a great deal of time with the internet - I have become more interested in the complete offerings by the big players - so a quick review (microsoft / yahoo / google etc). In summary:

Google - functional, dis-jointed and still fairly ugly 6/10
Can’t ever see gmail / calendar / notes / blogger / google office / adwords / analytics / webmaster tool being integrated - that for me would be utopia

Yahoo - Chaos in both functionality and branding 4/10
Have absolutely no idea what Yahoo is trying to achieve / stand for anymore - maybe they should tie into Google or Microsoft… or just do something… revised score 3/10

Microsoft - Still dis-jointed but cleaner functionality and asthetically pleasing 7/10
Tying in Skydrive / photos / mail / blogging / calendar etc is really growing on me… skydrive is an excellent addition. Still a way to go… analytics on this blog and my personal blog and linking into office live would beat any google utopia… I would even pay a subscription fee !!!

Any other complete offerings that I have missed / other thoughts - let me know !

Flickr / Popfly Game

Following from my visit to the Microsoft Popfly website earlier this month, and the ease at which I was able to tap into the Facebook api… I thought I would see what quick and aimless game could be created for a little Friday fun.
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The End of an Era - Netscape Browser

Today marks the end of an era. Those of us who used the internet between the late 1990’s and early 2000’s will remember the fateful browser wars. They saw Microsoft totally dominate the browser market and Netscape slowly lose more and more market share.

For me though, Netscape was about more than the browser war… in the late 1990’s it was the first browser that I used… it was the browser that got me and hundreds of others like me online. 
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Safari Browser for Windows Review

Well there was a somewhat interesting announcement yesterday - Safari is coming to the PC !?! Why oh why - do we really need another browser and why do Apple want to start another browser war?
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IE 7 Released

Yesterday Internet Explorer 7 was released.

Having used the IE 7 Beta for some time now, it is such an improvement from IE 6, and finally a match for Firefox. Some of the new features include:

Tabbed Browsing

The tabbed browsing features of Firefox made surfing so much easier. Often I ended up with 10+ IE browser windows open, so the addition to IE 7 allowing the viewing of multiple sites in a single browser window, and the easy switch from one site to another through tabs at the top of the browser frame is a very welcome addition.

New Interface

The redesigned, clean, streamlined interface removes some of the clutter that started to take up the top of the screen in IE6 etc. The new maximized screen gives focus to the displayed webpages, rather than the IE menu bar.

Page Zoom

The page zoom feature (CTRL + / CTRL -) allows users to enlarge individual webpages, including both text and graphics, to either focus on specific content. This make pages and content more user friendly to those with accessibility limitations.

Easy Access To Favourites

The favourites centre takes features found in Safari, allowing for easy access to your favourites, browsing history and RSS feed subscriptions.

The new version of IE 7 is a very welcome upgrade, even though it has taken some time coming. If you haven’t upgraded yet… well nows the time to do it.

Internet Explorer 7 (Beta 3)

Microsoft has just release Beta 3 of the new Internet Explorer 7. Having used Explorer 7 from Beta 1, I have to say it seems to work well. It is quick, fast, robust and stable, and the two new beta versions have really improved it (even some of beta 1’s CSS glitches).

Those new to IE 7, take a visit to Microsoft IE 7 and look at the features available. Not only a new look/design but tabs, better printing, RSS feeds and better security… but remember this is still in Beta mode… that is test mode and is not advised for use on mission critical machines. Please note if you install IE 7, it overwrites IE 6.

phpMyAdmin 2.8.1 released…

phpMyAdmin 2.8.1 has been released with a new security update. Active Progression customers can call 08456 123414 if they would like it installed on their sites. Those that have it will have the upgrade made automatically.