The New Browser Wars in Pictures

The latest rage in new Web browsers is private browsing, offering users the ability to surf the Web without having the browser store cookies and other evidence of their browsing session. One of the first to implement this type of feature was Apple-

Beta 2 of Internet Explorer 8 calls its implementation of private browsing InPrivate browsing.

Incognito mode is the private browsing feature in the beta of Google Chrome.

All newer browsers, such as IE 8, make it simple to remove traces of a browsing session after surfing.

The current wave of browsers is providing more detailed information about secure connections on Web sites. Also, they can detect when a site uses strong Extended Validation SSL certificates, displaying a green security bar when accessing sites that use EV-SSL. Here-

Firefox 3 also displays green for sites using EV-SSL and provides detailed information about a site-

Many new browsers, including Google Chrome, display a warning when a site URL and the certificate domain don-

In an example of this problem, in Firefox 3, if a user types https://gmail.com he or she will be warned, as the security certificate for Gmail is for https://mail.google.com.

Nearly all new browsers have improved address bar features that search through entire Web pages in history to offer auto-complete choices. Opera had one of the first, and still best, implementations of this feature.

Modern browsers such as IE 8 can, somewhat controversially, track site usage and suggest Web sites to users based on their browsing history.

Opera-

Browser tabs that have been launched from the same Web page are color-coded in IE 8 to help sort through multiple open tabs.

One of the biggest strengths of Firefox has been its extensive collection of add-ons and extensions; Firefox 3 improves on the management and discovery of add-ons.

IE 8-

Newer standards capabilities are slowly working their way into new browsers. Here, Safari uses features of HTML 5.

All of the latest browsers or browser betas can pass the popular Acid2 test, though most struggle to pass the newer Acid3 test.

While IE 8 has improved standards support, the problems this causes with sites optimized for older versions have led to an IE 7 compatibility mode in IE 8.

Features that attempt to detect malware and phishing Web sites are included in most browsers, such as Firefox 3.

Offline and desktop application features are appearing in the most cutting-edge new browsers. Here, Chrome uses Google Gears to provide desktop features for Web applications.

Along with its offline application support, Firefox 3 has the ability to use Web-based applications as helper apps within the browser.