My Quick Launch Bar

I’ve got a smörgåsbord of browsers on my Quick Launch Bar:

• Internet Explore 6-Still the most recent public version of IE. I opted not to test out IE7 after the installation wanted me to disable my Firewall, Anti-Virus and other security software. The only site I MUST use IE directly for is Narda Radio. Even in IE Tab will not work, which is the only site I have run across that can not be accessed via IE Tab.
• Firefox 2.0 RC1 – The most up to date nightly builds for RC1. Still my primary browser.
• Netscape 8.1– For those who do not know, AOL & Netscape parted ways a while back and Mozilla took over the development on Netscape. This version is based of the 1.0.* builds of Firefox and I use it to see how pages will display in the older versions of Firefox. Like Firefox you can add extensions and themes, but there are not as widely available as they are for Firefox.
• Opera 9.02– I recently downloaded Opera just to see what it is all about. Like Firefox, it is open-source and has its own add-ons. Instead of extensions and themes it has Widgets and Skins (which when downloaded do NOT require a restart to take effect). Opera is also a tabbed browser and offers a preview of the tab’s content when you hover over the tab. When a skin is download it is applied and you are asked if you wish to keep the skin or not (much like the display settings in Windows Control Panel). In addition, with the standard skin you can choose a color scheme as well. Opera also has some interesting features including being able to do customized searches from the address bar. For example if I wanted to search for ‘smorgasbord’ on answers.com, I would type in the address bar: a smorgasbord. Also it has a counter in the address bar with the number of images still loading on the page. Session management is a standard feature along with the pop-up blocker. Opera has a lot of potential and could prove to be good competition to Firefox. However Ryan at CyberNet News has pointed out in his Opera 9 Has Been Released article, most of the Google services do not support Opera.
• Minefield (trunk) or Gran Paradiso (Firefox 3.0)– This is the very early developmental version of Firefox 3.0, I haven’t really done much with it. Still very unstable and a work in progress. The ‘List All Tabs’ drop down that was recently added to Firefox 2.0, was already a feature in Minefield. I pretty sure I am on nightly as well with Minefield/Gran Paradiso, so I really should launch it and get a more up-to-date build. I suppose I will be doing more with Minefield once Firefox 2 comes out later this month or next month.
• Thunderbird 2.0 PreBeta 1– Okay, not a browser, but a nice partnering application for Firefox. A much better mail-client than Outlook or Outlook Express.
• Flock 0.7.6– Built off of Firefox is Flock, the social web browser. Not only is Flock a web browser but also great for Blogging and news reading. It has it’s own built in news reader accessible via a sidebar and several cool blogging tools. You cans setup Flock to integrate with Photobucket and Flickr photo services. Doing so adds a photo-strip just below the address bar where you can upload photos from any web page by dragging them to the photo-strip. Flock can also be integrated into your blog (Blogger, LiveJournal, MySpace, TypePad, and WordPress) so you can compose and publish entries right in Flock. Drag text from other articles right into the blogging window or drag pictures from your photo strip right into the blogging window as well! You may have also notice at the bottom of some of my more recent posts “Blogged with Flock“

Blogged with Flock