Aaron Toponce: Why Firefox Is My Browser Of Choice

Posted to my Google Plus account (https://plus.google.com/115784859563110525602/posts/cwwMBdh4iPL):

Let’s talk browsers. Specifically, Opera 11.51, Firefox 7.0.1, Safari 5.1 and Chrome 14.0.835.163. I don’t have access to Internet Explorer 9. Ordered best to worst.

JavaScript standards compliance: http://test262.ecmascript.org (lower failures is better):
Firefox: 191 failures
Chrome: 425 failures
Safari: 832 failures
Opera: 3,750 failures

HTML5 standards compliance: http://html5test.com (higher is better):
Firefox: 313 and 9 bonus points
Safari: 293 and 8 bonus points
Opera: 286 with 7 bonus points
Chrome: 284 and 2 bonus points

CSS3 standards compliance: http://acid3.acidtests.org (higher is better):
All score 100% with fluid animation.

JavaScript benchmark performance: http://webkit.org/perf/sunspider/sunspider.html (lower is better):
Firefox: 211.9ms +/- 1.3%
Opera: 258.2ms +/- 2.7%
Safari: 291.4ms +/- 0.9%
Chrome: 298.3ms +/- 7.1%

In every test, Firefox 7 came out on top. I realize it’s the newest browser of the bunch, but it’s fairly clear that it’s holding its own against its competitors. It performs, it’s standards compliant, and it’s still my browser of choice. Further, it’s interesting that Firefox beats the pants out of Chrome in 3 of the 4 tests, and yet Chrome is gaining market share. Go figure.