Which Browser is King?
The best way to find out which browser suits you the most is simply to run only one test for a browser: whether it runs fast enough. A slow-loading, incompatible browser is one thing, but the real issue is whether a browser loads fast for the sites you frequently visit.
Speed, of course, isn't everything. ExtremeTech ran into an interesting compatibility glitch or two completing some of their tests. If a browser can't finish a particular benchmark, it doesn't get a score.
V8 Benchmark Suite
This test measures JavaScript speed for rich Web applications. Obviously, Chrome includes the V8 code and the other browsers do not. They tested the version of Firefox (called Minefield) that does include the V8 code and listed those results below the "official" findings.
The V8 Benchmark Suite loads JavaScript code to test OS kernel, encryption and decryption, raytracing, and other tests to measure the speed of a rich JavaScript application. Winner—Google Chrome.
Browser Extensions
SVG and Canvas extensions are used for more complex XML renderings where data is pulled from an external source. The test loads vector images into the browser window. IE7 does not support the SVG and Canvas test, and Microsoft advised ExtremeTech against using the IE8 beta, which is still early.
The differences don't seem so massive, though IE7's inability to run these extensions is problematic. IE8 will fix that compatibility issue, but Microsoft's code isn't yet optimized.
Acid 3 Test
Acid3 is a compatibility test that measures the default settings in a browser, plays an animation, and compares the resulting image to a reference image. There's a final compatibility score, and a pass/fail system—the browser must score 100 out of 100 to pass, and none of the browser we used passed. Once again, IE7 did not even run the test correctly and produced no final score. Winner - Opera.
Adobe Flash
Flash has become increasingly common, and the rendering engine for each browser is the same—once you have Flash installed, it is used for each browser. The crab test adds animated crabs on the screen in succession until the animation rate goes below 25 frames per second.
Firefox trumped all of the other browsers, animating ten additional crabs on the screen—well ahead of the second place finishers. We also tested IE8 to see if Microsoft had improved Flash rendering—apparently not. Winner - Mozilla Firefox.
and more...
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