A browser is like any other program. It is usually best to keep it updated with the latest free patches and updates. Unlike other programs like Microsoft Word or Photoshop, any self respecting browser will never require you to pay to switch to the most recent major version (switching from version 2 to 3 perhaps), or even updates (upgrading from 2.3 to 2.4 for instance) . You can feel free to update all you want without having to shell out money.

Why does my browser need to be updated?

You’re probably pretty busy. You might not have time to keep your software updated. A browser should be no exception, right? The thing is, browsers are not like other programs. They are your portal to the World Wide Web, and most of the rest of the population on the planet. Thus, they potentially also have access to the scum of the world who would love to steal your personal information.

Keeping your browser updated has many benefits including:

1. The newest software is usually the most secure to hacking and other security threats. No software is ever perfect, but keeping your browser updated will help you stay ahead of the bad guys out there.
2. The newest browser software displays web pages the best without errors like things being positioned where they shouldn’t be. Keeping your browser updated makes it easier for us web designers to make websites. For instance, currently around 9% of people use Internet Explorer 6 (which is 2 versions old). This browser doesn’t display web pages correctly, and makes the web design process take longer because of additional troubleshooting we have to do.
3. Newer browsers add features to help save you time and make using your browser easier. And…it’s free!

What about my settings and bookmarks?

Worried about your settings and bookmarks being lost in the update process? No fear. All modern browsers will keep your settings and bookmarks automatically when you update. Some will even let you import bookmarks from other browsers you have on your computer during the installation process. Just pay attention to the windows that come up when you are updating.

It might not be your fault!

If you’re working at a company or organization that doesn’t have the money to have someone update their computers, or has to use older browsers for some reason, you may not be able to keep your computer there updated. In that case, I urge you to keep your own personal computer updated.

Well, how do I keep updated?

• Not sure which browser you are using or where to go to update it? A simple way to find out is to visit our business home page. When you get there, if you are using an old browser, a box will display telling you what browser you use and how to update it. Or, you can do one of the things listed below:
• If you are using Firefox (our favorite browser), it should inform you any time updates are available. If not, you can download the most recent version.
• Download the newest version of Internet Explorer.
• Download the newest version of Chrome.
• Download the newest version of Safari.

The Google Wonder Wheel is an expansion to the Google search that I heard of recently that allows searches to have a different user interface that automatically suggests multiple related searches and displays them in a kind of chart form. You really have to try it out to understand. All you have to do is run a Google search. Then, on the page that gives the search results, under the search bar, choose “Show Options”. In the options, select “Wonder Wheel”, and presto, you have the Google Wonder Wheel at your command. The results of each search are displayed to the right of the wheel.

You can see it in action here with a search of the people at the U.P. Web Maestro.

You can also use the same feature with Google Image Swirl. Check it out here.

Well, according to this site anyway.

SaveIE6.com was put together by the uptime monitoring service, Pingdom, as an April Fools prank. SaveIE6.com has these goals: 1. Get everyone to use Internet Explorer 6, 2. Get IE6 ported to more platforms, 3. Get the W3C standard changed to fit IE6. That’s hilarious. There’s even a petition to sign on the site with quotes from people mentioning how IE6 has changed their life.

To those who don’t get the joke, IE6 is a web browser that is a web designer’s constant nightmare. It doesn’t display code correctly, it doesn’t adhere to web standards, and there are security issues. Web designers will make pages that work fine in all the other browsers, but when tested with IE6, they don’t work. There is all kinds of hate out there for IE6, some of it very funny, like the treehouse illustration above. You may be asking, why are people just whining about this problem and doing nothing about it. Well, it’s a difficult problem to solve. The current global market share for IE6 is around 15 to 25 percent. That is a large number of people using an outdated browser, so web designers can’t ignore them. Many people bought a computer with IE6 and aren’t computer savy enough to update the browser. Some use computers in institutions that restrict computer updates. Others probably don’t see any need to update. Why fix what isn’t broken, anyway? If pages don’t display correctly, it’s not the browser’s fault to these users, it’s that website’s fault.

IE6 Update

There are a few ways to get people to upgrade. One is a little too sneaky in my opinion. IE6 Update disguises as the yellow drop down Internet Explorer information bar when it detects people are using IE6. It offers users a link to upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer. All you have to do is download the code from the website and put it in whatever page you want the bar to display on.

I don’t like the idea of tricking users into upgrading, so I prefer Pushup which urges users to upgrade to the latest version of whatever major browser they are using (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox or Opera) a little more nicely. It accomplishes this by displaying a yellow update button that sits in the upper right corner of the browser window for a certain amount of time and then fades away. Once again, you just download the code and put it in your pages. Very classy because it is subtle, and doesn’t annoy too easily, in my opinion.

“NASA could put a man on the moon but didn’t have the sense to keep the original video of the live TV transmission. In an embarrassing acknowledgment, the space agency said Thursday that it must have erased the Apollo 11 moon footage years ago so that it could reuse the videotape.” (from toptechnews.com)

This is unfortunate on many fronts for NASA. Beyond just making them look a tad bit incompetent, it adds much fuel to the conspiracy fire that we never actually landed on the moon in the firstplace. Though NASA had denied for years that the moon landing was staged, the official footage will now indeed be a Hollywood creation.

“The studio wizards who restored ‘Casablanca’ are digitally sharpening and cleaning up the ghostly, grainy footage of the moon landing, making it even better than what TV viewers saw on July 20, 1969. They are doing it by working from four copies that NASA scrounged from around the world.”

I won’t get into the conspiracy here, but if you’re curious you can run off in this direction. Without the original footage available, NASA loses one of the main arguments against the conspiracy folks. Definitely not their shining moment.

Anyway, back to backing up. You should do it. If you’re not sure how to manually make backups, you may want to subscribe to one of the online services. Here’s a link to information and options to get you started:

• Windows XP Backup Made Easy
  http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx
• Windows Backup and Restore Center
  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/backup.aspx
• Mozy – Online Backup
  http://www.mozy.com
• Carbonite – Online Backup
  http://www.carbonite.com

In December of 2008, Google introduced their contribution to the browser wars, Google Chrome. There’s also been a push for several years now toward online versions of the desktop applications you’re used to using every day when you’re not surfing the Web. One of the more successful has been Google Docs.

One of the biggest objections I’ve personally had against moving to an online platform for every day office work, has been the idea of storing documents on Google’s servers rather than my own machine. This actually has several advantages as well as disadvantages. It would protect my documents against my hardware being destroyed or stolen, make upgrading my hardware easier, and make it easier to access things from anywhere I happened to be working. However, there’s always the chance that I wouldn’t have an Internet connection (either from home or away) and I’m not convinced yet that my documents would be as or more safe and secure on someone else’s server.

What’s making things really interesting now, is that Google is looking to create the first widely used Web based operating system, to compete with Windows and the Apple OS.

“Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.” – Google’s blog post on July 7th

The obvious advantage in this for Google is that the more time people spend online, the more often they’ll be searching for things. So with a suite of applications, a Web browser, and now an operating system, Google is lining up to create the sort of monopoly previously enjoyed mostly by Microsoft.

Ignoring the negatives, there’s plenty to be excited about in a centralized data system if it can be made to be reliable, secure and accessible from anywhere. Website design was given a boost with XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets, and the concept of separating the “style” of a page from the “content” of the page. It allowed a more powerful approach to creating pages, and made updating and editing a much easier and quicker task. If we can separate computers from software in the same way, we might see the same type of boost in productivity.

In any case, the next few years will be interesting to watch.