Web Browser 2005 Evaluation Results - Long Answers
Multiple choice answers
| Recommendations and Comments |
| User 1 |
Firefox 1.0.2 |
This is for Linux, which was not listed. I checked Mac OS X just toget it to submit.I'm not sure about indications for image resizing, but I couldn't findit quickly.I'm sure that page zoom is coming soon.I could not test some sites because they would not accept what I thoughtwas my pennkey password.Wimba has a problem. That is their problem, not ours. They shouldfix it. It didn't recognize my OS. They are Microsoft toadies. |
| User 5 |
Firefox 1.0.2 |
could not use all of the WIMBA tools because of a quicktime incompatibility. even after updating the quicktime client i could not complete the test. perhaps i needed to restart my machine or restart my browser, but i was not instructed to do this so it is a problemdefault pop-up blocker settings prevented me from using whiteboard functions in blackboard. was able to easily complete the test after changing my settings. |
| User 13 |
Firefox 1.0.2 |
WIMBA failed because I didn't have proper permissions on this machine.I think Firefox is really a superior browser. Apart from a help system that could use updating and a bookmark management system that is kind of flawed, I really prefer it to the alternatives. The Firefox extension system is really cool and allows for a lot of customization and allows users to add features that are sometimes overlooked. |
| User 15 |
Firefox 1.0.2 |
*****NOTE:Just realized something of potential (?) importance:Opera DID NOT create "new" windows when clicking on the test links.It just placed the new page in my existing Test Script browser window.This may be why I had so many problems with needing to re-plug in my Test Script answers.128-bit secure version available?Well, maybe, but I could not find anything (fairly easily) to tell me so.Certificate Revocation?Ditto to above.Meeting Maker = =Java Plugin Security Warning screen; had to click Grant This Session; had to wait a bit for login page to appear (but was faster than Opera) and had to click in the login box to initiate typing in the Username.Overall, kind of an annoying experience.BlackBoard = =Same issues as with Opera; I can login fine, history feature works OK, and the first chat option works great (and quicker than Opera). However the Whiteboard Chat window did not launch after waiting a full 5 minutes.WIMBA = =The test screens all went well, except for the "Signed Applet Test."It displayed a "Loading Java Applet" line in the window where either a "Success" or "Failed" should have appeared, AND, the Java Plugin Security Window popped up. I DID NOT click on "Grant this Session." When I closed the Java Plugin Security Window,THEN the WIMBA window showed a "Failed" and you could advance to the next screen to find out why.Wanna know why? You needed to click on "Grant this Session!!!"Anywho, I found that to be very amusing :-PCan you "zoom in" on the whole page (not just text resizing)?I could not easily locate this item.For example, in Opera this is located quite naturally under the "VIEW" menu. |
| User 17 |
Firefox 1.0.2 |
About Certificate Revocation: This is from Firefox's help:"Firefox can use CRLs (also known as Certificate Revocation Lists) to ensure that your certificates are not invalid. If you need to add a CRL to Firefox or wish to view information about CRLs you have installed, click the Manage CRLs... button." (That button is in Tools -> Options -> Advanced)I was surprised that the first XHTML validation returned:This page is not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional!Line 221, column 7: required attribute "type" not specifiedSo I double-checked that I had installed the correct update according to the linked page of info. And I definitely had, since I have HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\Windows XP\SP3\KB867282\Filelist present in my registry.MeetingMaker: the Java Applet took a while to load (10-15 secs over DSL), but I think that's par for the course on this app.In testing Blackboard, the Whiteboard chat didn't work. I have JRE 1.4.2 installed, and the version that it wanted me to install is 1.4.1. WIMBA: No plug-in available to run their Player, but I was able to download the file and play it directly, per the instructions.No _indication_ that images have been resized (that I can see), but resizing can be turned on or off in the Preferences"Find" function highlights the text one occurrence at a time, with a "next" option, but doesn't highlight all occurrences of the sought text at a time. |
| User 19 |
Firefox 1.0.2 |
Meeting Maker worked perfectly well, but the screen seemed to 'refresh' quite a lot. Also, even though the cursor appeared to be at the right place to type the UserID, it wouldn't let me type until I clicked on the box.Blackboard: Lightweight chat worked fine, but Whiteboard chat never loaded at all.Wimba: On the first pass through the "Java Applet" test, the applet never loaded. But after I hit the "No", and then "try again", it worked. Signed Applet and other tests worked right away. Weird.Image resizing: no indication that they have been resized, but there is a checkbox in the Preferences that lets you decide whether you want to resize large images or not.Find function doesn't highlight throughout the page, but finds the first instance, then lets you go forward to find the next instance, etc. |
| User 3 |
IE 6 SP1 (for Win2k or XP SP1) |
I wasn't able to actively evaluate the time to load pages vs. other browsers as I really couldn't tell much of a difference, at least not from my high-speed connection. My connection at home is fast enough that I wasn't able to tell much of a speed-to-load difference there either. |
| User 7 |
IE 6 SP2 (XP SP2 only) |
IE feels clunky and outdated. Some of the features like pop-up blocking feel tacked on and incomplete, or poorly implemented. |
| User 4 |
Mozilla 1.7.6 |
- Ease of administrator to disable stored passwords (in the Security/Privacy section): I don't have administrator, so I couldn't really answer this question. - The Penn calendar did appear correctly in the browser. The only problem I noticed is that the copyright text in the footer is difficult to read in Mozilla, but very clear in IE. - Blackboard: The text in the 'breadcrumb' area was difficult to read in Mozilla. It was easy to read in IE. - Built-browser update - I put "no" for this question, but it's possible that there is one and I just couldn't find it. I looked for a while, but didn't see anything on browser updating. I really like this broswer. It has really nice features and pages seem to render properly most of the time. |
| User 8 |
Mozilla 1.7.6 |
Cert revocation: doesn't automatically check for revoked certs, but manually do this with the built-in Certificate Revocation List (CRL) option. You need to manually find a CRL and then update it, but it's sort of possible.Admin disable stored pswd on install: I'm 90% sure this isn't possible but couldn't find any conclusive info on itMeeting Maker: it worked but the Meeting Maker javascript window "bled" through any other tabs that were open; quite a nuisanceBuilt-in "search" capability: you have three options for customizing the default search engine when you hit the "search" button next to the address bar - AskJeeves, Google, and domoz.org |
| User 18 |
Mozilla 1.7.6 |
Results of "XHTML Validation" Question======================================This page is not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional!Below are the results of attempting to parse this document with an SGML parser. 1. Line 221, column 7: required attribute "type" not specified < script> The attribute given above is required for an element that you've used, but you have omitted it. For instance, in most HTML and XHTML document types the "type" attribute is required on the "script" element and the "alt" attribute is required for the "img" element. Typical values for type are type="text/css" for < style> and type="text/javascript" for < script> .=============================================COMMENTS: Keep in mind that this validation test is a test of the XHTML code of a given site (in this case, http://www.med.upenn.edu/index.html). As such, this type of validation testing is *not* a test of the XHTML parser in a browser. - JL |
| User 6 |
Opera 7.54 |
*The corporate time page returned only code - it did not render at all.*The webmail client did not always render correctly - though the page retained its functionality. occasionally -after deleting messages - the page would render as being extremely wide.*WIMBA failed to correctly identify Opera as my browser, but functionality was not impaired.*Opera comes bundled with an email client and a newsgroup reader.*When I installed the program it did not ask if i wanted to import my bookmarks. After digging around a bit I found the import function but it is not located where I would expect.* the new voice tools look compelling though i have not used them yet.personal notes - seems fast and stable as always. comes with some very nice features that have yet to be adopted in other browsers. i particularly like the "zoom" controls, tabbed browsing, ability to add multiple search boxes and that the "show images" toggle button is visible by default. that being said, the interface and toolset have always struck me as a bit counter-intuitive and have prevented me from using it as default (or even secondary) browser though i have had installed on my machines since it was first released.bottom line - it ain't no firefox. |
| User 14 |
Opera 7.54 |
Test Script Comments/Issues:Meeting Maker = = VERY SLOW LOAD TIMESAnd& #8230;Java Plugin Security Screen appears first; had to click "Grant this session" and had to wait an eternity for the screen to appear.Blackboard = =Whiteboard Chat did not load even after 5 minutes.AND, when returning to the Test Script, ALL of my answers on the script had been wiped out.Opera Comment = =I attempted to open a New Window and the test script window disappeared.I was doing this to test WIMBA separately; I just do not want to have to type in all of my Test Script answers again!!!I will run the Test Script again to test WIMBA after submitting this initial Test Script report. |
| User 21 |
Opera 7.54 |
Certificate Revocation: Searched Opera's help and the Opera website for "revocation" and "revoke" - no hits at all.Didn't get any options on installation to disable the saving of passwords.Corporate Time: Didn't display the page, just showed the HTML code for the page!Blackboard: Both lightweight AND whiteboard chat DO work! Yippee!Wimba: Player did not appear, but I was able to download the audio file to my desktop and play it back.I downloaded and tested Opera 7.54 after version 8 was released, and I didn't get any notification that I wasn't running the latest version. Nor did I find any way to "check for latest version" as I looked around the menus.I don't like the fact that pop-up windows (like the Chat in Blackboard) are constrained to stay within Opera's "frame". This made it a pain to find the text entry area for the chat, because the pop-up size was limited.I found the "zoom" function easily, but couldn't find any way to adjust the font size."Find" function finds the first instance of what you're looking for, then lets you search for the next instance, etc. Doesn't highlight all instances of the search term at once.Pages just seemed to load more slowly than with Firefox. But Opera does give you lots of data, like the page size and a progress bar and elapsed time. |
| User 16 |
Safari on Mac OS 10.2.8 |
Test Script Comments / Issues:128-bit security version available?Hard to answer this; could not locate anything remotely telling in either Preferences or Apple OS Settings window (which you're redirected to within Prefs.)Does browser claim to offer certificate revocation?Once again, hard to answer. Perhaps something similar to this in Prefs, but not easy to determine.Ease of deleting cookies and/or temporary files?This was oddly buried within Preferences = = Security > Show Cookies > New Window pops up and you have to dig for it within the new window.Ease of setting up and configuring Caching Options?Well, your only option is to "zap" the cache by emptying it.And, again, this is oddly found under the browser menu item "Safari > Empty Cache" and NOT within the Preferences panes. That's kind of annoying.Meeting Maker = = OK, so a window pops up asking:Do you want to trust the applet? NO/YESI selected "YES" and nothing happened.Blackboard = = Whiteboard Chat was a no go after 5 minutes of waiting.WIMBA = = Got through all of the test screens successfully, except for the last one, "Signed Applet Test."A Warning/Security window popped up immediately (nothing had to be clicked) asking:Do you want to trust the signed applet distributed by WIMBA?"I clicked "YES" and the Network Applet Test failed.In General = = Safari version 1.0.3 has a nice GUI, and some nifty features, but in general, is kind of a pain to use. I would much prefer to use Firefox than this. |
| User 24 |
Safari on Mac OS 10.3.x |
safari is great! |
| User 20 |
Safari on Mac OS 10.4 |
---Security certs managed by Keychain ---No custom blocking of popups or cookies ---manage stored passwords via Keychain ---no knowledge of being able to disable stored passwords on install ---Wimba wouldn't stop recording, could've been the machine, but appeared to be the browser ---Plug-ins got a 3 b/c you can only view them (/Library/Internet Plug-ins/ folder) ---marked no for "browser update function" b/c while the browser is part of the OS and the OS automatically brings in updates for Safari via Software Update, that functionality isn't built into the browser itself ---built-in help relies on an internet connection ---page load time same as Firefox on Mac---additional comments -> spell checking built-in (handy for forms with paragraphs), RSS support, HTTPS appears to be a little slow, app load time twice as fast as Firefox, supposedly supports kerberized browsing, a useful debug menu can be added on to the browser (this may be for beta testers only), Firefox (right now) has better Quicktime support than Safari |
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