Like I've said many times before, "Agree or disagree, an interesting article" that I gleamed at Wilders:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/did-the-br ... d-in-2014/

(by the way, if you are curious, I do NOT use Chrome, but then again I change my mind every 6-8 months )
Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Interesting article Acadia. I've tried a couple of other browsers but always end up with IE. I'm using version 11 on my machines at the moment.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Ed does have interesting stuff all the time but, honestly, writing about the browser war must mean that he's searching for material to write about.

In any case, I've been using Maxthon for years. Once I find something I like I just stick with it until it forces me to go elsewhere. I do miss out on new stuff though but it gets the job done and I can avoid reading about browser wars. Man, I'm getting grumpy with computers. Merry Christmas, y'all!

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Heh, welcome to the club.
Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Manny, still using Maxthon after all this time, impressive. How does the dual engine thing work for you, do you like it? I've switched between Firefox and Chrome several times in recent years but with all of their recent changes I might be interested in "playing" with something new; you know me, love to play and with all my backups, just go ahead and do it. Actually, I tried Maxthon many years ago, right after it changed its original name. Was actually rather impressed in the early days and it appears that they have really changed some things. I know that it will probably never become as popular as Firefox, IE, or Chrome, but that can be a VERY positive thing.

Again, would like to know YOUR opinions on it; I can always read the Internet but that is not Manny.

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

I used Maxthon for awhile but I can't remember now why I stopped, maybe changing OS's and just running with IE because it was there.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

When I find something I like I tend to keep using it until they "modernize" the interface and I can't take it any more. Meaning I'm not as happy as I once was but it still does the job and I can change it to the way I like such as tabs on the bottom.

The dual engine is nice in that once in a while a page doesn't work and you can just by one click go backwards and make that page render. It's not something I do a lot. Although Maxthon is a speedy browser that's never been a big deal for me as I open up pages in the background anyway and it's all there when I, the slowest thing in the process, am ready for them.

Overall, I like it but there aren't any killer functions that make it significantly better than the other browsers. I like it because I know how it works and don't see any reason to change. That's pretty much my feeling on all software. Find something you understand and you will get more out of it than any super duper app that's hard to figure out. That's not an outstanding recommendation, is it?

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

No, but it also makes sense.

By the way for anyone that may be interested, I've been testing Firefox, Chrome, and IE 11 (on a Windows 7 system) on those Microsoft sites for testing rendering speed. I am currently using Firefox because it aced most of those tests in the past, while Chrome and even IE could not. But with the later versions of Chrome, it is beating them all, one especially hard test. I had read that Chrome had some catching up to do with HTML5, while evidently they have. But I am going to stick with Firefox (until my next semi-year change of mind) because I am most familiar with the browser, but that is the only reason. Also, Firefox is so fast that the little bit of extra speed gained by Chrome would probably not be noticed by someone like me. Also of interest, both Firefox and Chrome pulverize IE11 on that one hard test but only Chrome aces it. But again, this is IE on a Windows 7 system, your result obviously may vary because of Operating System and processor.

If anyone is interested, here is that harder rendering test, fun stuff actually:
http://www.fishgl.com/
That appears not to be a Microsoft site but it is Microsoft that has the link to it, plus it tests as safe in My Wot.
Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Interesting form that test takes.

In FF 33.0.3 on Win 8.1 I got a frame rate of 18-22.

In IE 11 on Win 8.1 I got a frame rate of 36-40.

Hmmm, after updating FF to 34.0.5 I actually got slower frame rates as in 17-19. Might be a false result as I had both IE and FF open but only went to the link one at a time.

Apparently that site is quite rendering intensive. My media system is usually pretty much totally silent. In both FF and IE it was no longer silent. I could hear the fans kick in big time.

One thing that makes me curious is the fact that Chrome (not on my system) aces this. Where is the 'score' shown? In IE and FF all I see is a frame rate report along with the ability to change parameters. If it is just going by the frame rate what frame rate would associate to acing?

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I got 60 fps with Maxthon up to 350 fish but down to 30 at 400 fish. No fans kicked in.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

If I understand the test correctly, increase the number of fish to maximum, which in this test is 400. If the rendering is 60 FPS, it cannot do any better. Again, that is if I understand it correctly.

Here are two more tests that many of you may be familiar with:
http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Perfo ... fault.html
http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/perfo ... ishietank/
All three of my browsers ace both of these tests when set to maximum number of fish that's why I think the first link I posted above is the tougher test.
They sure do like to use fish, don't they?

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

@ Manny:
What version of Maxthon do you use? I just installed Maxthon3 to look and hate it. It seems to be a cloud app... I'm thinking that out of the choices of Maxthon 1-3 and Classic I should probably kill 3 and try Classic. Would that be correct?

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@ Acadia:
Since I see a difference between between IE and FF as to frame rates I can see that the browser does have an influence as to rendering but would think that the installed video card would have a greater influence. It would seem to me that someone running a basic system MAY see bad performance with any browser on this site while someone with a killer graphics rig MAY see any browser ace it... that is just a guess but probable.

One thing that makes me think that the video card is likely to be the bigger factor is that you are seeing FF kill IE as to the fish yet I see the opposite on my system. Since I built my desktop to mainly be a media system I have a video card tailored toward media, not gaming or graphics rendering. Possibly this makes a difference, I don't really know.
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Oh, I DID try the fish with Maxthon 3 and only got a frame rate of about 8.

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Jay, don't be humble here, you know 10 times more about this stuff than I do. Rightly or wrongly, this is the way that I see things: There are at least three factors that determine rending speed.
1. Browser. How HTML5 compliant is it? Is it able to take advantage of hardware acceleration, or whatever it is called? There may be other browser influences that I am not knowledgeable enough to know about.
2. Power of the processor. Blatantly obvious, the more powerful the processor the faster it will throw things together.
3. Power of the video card. Again obvious, the more powerful the faster it will throw things together.
There may be a fourth or fifth factor, or more, that someone with my limited knowledge is not aware of.

When a person, like me, tests three different browsers at these three tests, I am using the same pc hence the same processor and video card. Therefore my logic, correctly or incorrectly, tells me that the browser is making the difference. If my logic is wrong here people, educate me, please!

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

No, your logic is totally sound. I just think that different systems will get different results. Of course when it comes to something like a browser you test and choose what works best on your specific system and for you. For instance the case where on your system FF gets better frame rates than IE while it is just the opposite on my desktop. If I were to try it on my laptop I could get totally different results.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that each person should try it on their own system if they are looking for rendering performance.

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I'm using Maxthon 4.4 Jay. Here is where you get it: http://www.maxthon.com/

It is a cloud app, in the sense that it will sync with all your devices where it's installed. Basically you can push all settings/parameter to their cloud and then you can sync all that to anywhere you like. I'm not pushing it because people should use what they like and I do think the browser wars are over. All these browsers perform fairly close in the real world so it's just a matter of features and UI configuration that one likes.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Indeed, I only notice a difference on that one difficult test. In the real world you can't get much faster than instant.

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson