Choosing a web browser, what's right for you?

In this day and age, Web browsers are an essential aspect of the majority of people's day. There are many different Web browsers to choose from and sometimes it can be difficult deciding which to use.

Currently, there are four main browsers to choose from: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Windows Internet Explorer.

Each browser has features unique to it and knowing which ones are important is a key factor in choosing your Web browser.

The most used browser is currently Internet Explorer (IE), which comes preinstalled on every computer that runs Windows.

While Internet Explorer is the most used, it's widely considered one of the poorer browsers in terms of performance.

Only in its most recent rendition, version 8, has IE started to support current open Web standards and still is limited in its extensions available-because there aren't any.

The second most used Web browser is Mozilla Firefox. It's become popular in the past few years partly due to IE's poor performance and due to the fact that Firefox supports all of the latest open Web standards.

In addition, Firefox supports a great number of third-party extensions and themes which let users customize their Web browsing experiences.

They're able to change the look and feel of the browser with ease through Firefox's own Web site. The third-party add-ons allow users to add different applications for things such as Twitter, picture viewing and other Web development tools.

The next two browsers in terms of usage, Google Chrome and Apple Safari, are somewhat similar.

They're both run on the WebKit layout engine, which was originally developed by Apple for use in Safari.

Chrome, the number three browser in terms of usage, is a relatively new browser, developed by Google partially to break its dependence on other browsers, such as IE.

Thanks to WebKit, as well as other programs, Chrome is the second-fastest browser available and has become increasingly popular in the past year.

For Windows users, Chrome is possibly the best Web browser available. And even though it's still in beta for Mac, Chrome is one of the best choices for Mac users as well.

It supports custom extensions similar to Firefox, as well as custom themes created by both Google and individual artists.

Chrome has fully embraced all of the open Web standards and will only continue to get better and better.

Fourth in terms of usage but first in terms of speed is Safari.

Safari is the default browser for new Apple computers, and Mobile Safari is the only browser available for iPhones and iPod Touches.

Running on WebKit as well, Safari just barely beats Chrome in browser speed tests. Safari is one of the best browsers available for Mac users, while it's a small step below Chrome on Windows.

I've personally used all four of these browsers and have found Safari and Chrome to be the best depending on your operating system.

Firefox is right behind those two on both Macs and PCs.

Coming in last in every test for my tastes is Internet Explorer.

It has poor loading times for Web pages, was built on a poor layout engine and slowed Internet progress in the days before Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Sadly, there are still some programs that will only run in IE, so it will be around for years to come. While there are other Web browsers to choose from aside from these four, Safari, Chrome and Firefox are the top three in my book, in that order, and will provide any user with a great browsing experience.