If you’re still using Internet Explorer, you should quit. Not only because hipsters in coffee shops will scoff at it but because it’s so far behind the times and you’re being limited with what you can do. Although tech and web designers begrudgingly test their products on IE, they do so begrudgingly as it has less flexibility and modernity than Google Chrome as a browser.
Yes, I’m leaving Firefox out of this equation because I ran Firefox for a year and though my computer was junk because it crashed frequently. So let’s pretend that the only options are IE or Chrome.
The use of Google Chrome has grown exponentially as IE has fallen over the past few years and not only is Chrome more stable (less crashes), faster and offers extensions and themes that don’t tamper with that speed or stability, the final case for dumping IE can be made with this week’s announcement of the Google Chrome Web Store opening.
The web store offers themes (skins), extensions and applications (like TweetDeck which we wrote about yesterday), many of which are free. Think of the web store as the iTunes for your browser. There are numerous ways you can increase your productivity, learn new things (like a new language), blog better with screenshots, take notes and more.
Within days of the store opening, there are hundreds of options offered, not just because many already existed but because Google is an open community unlike iTunes which has extreme restrictions and approval processes. Not all apps are amazing and sometimes I install an extension and immediately uninstall (like Cortex because it interfered with my dragging and dropping of objects which I do frequently and other times didn’t work at all). It’s a vibrant, growing community of web developers that are flocking to bring their projects they are passionate about to market, simply because of passion.
Google Chrome is better, faster, more stable and more users are flocking as is the creative talent that helps you customize your experience to make life more productive, informed and even fun. Are you already using Chrome or do you plan on switching?
Sidenote: it took me forever to switch to Chrome because my bookmarks were all on Firefox, but when I downloaded Chrome, it asked me if I wanted to take them with me. How awesome is that!!?
