Recommended and Supported Web Browsers

1. Some BEN Financials users will need to use Internet Explorer on a PC (or via Virtual PC) to perform some specific actions.

For sites requiring IE on Windows, Firefox has a Windows-only extension that allows you to "View this page in Internet Explorer" or "Always view this page in Internet Explorer." Using this extension will launch the active window (or specified link) in Internet Explorer. If you choose to "Always view this page in Internet Explorer," any time you go to open that page (or click on a link for the specified page), it'll launch it in Internet Explorer.

2. Midway through the testing process, Mozilla froze its suite development to focus on Firefox. The team decided the Mozilla Suite browser should no longer be supported or recommended in favor of Firefox.

3. For Linux users, Firefox and Opera both run on Linux.

4. The team decided that Netscape version 8.0 released too late in the evaluation to merit much testing or discussion. Given that Mozilla is developing Firefox on it's own and it has begun to gain wide acceptance, the team decided to not to evaluate Netscape 8 further.

Details - Windows

Recommended and Supported
-----------------------------------------
Firefox - The team selected Firefox as its recommended and supported browser on the Windows platform.   Firefox boasts a superior feature set to Internet Explorer (all versions).   We were also impressed with the company's excellent track record of expeditious security fixes.

Additionally, having an active, open developer community producing a very wide variety of browser "extensions" allows for constant improvement and individual customization of the browser.

Supported
--------------
Internet Explorer - The team chose Internet Explorer (IE) as a supported browser on the Windows platform.   IE is certainly still a strong, relatively quick browser.   However, even with the updated version found in Windows XP SP2, its feature set still trails - significantly in some areas - products like Firefox and Opera.   IE's track record for number of vulnerabilities and patch release time is not as impressive as Firefox or Opera.

Current versions of IE still lack standards-based compliance in several areas (CSS, XHTML), they utilize proprietary code parsers effecting DHTML and Javascript, and they have a larger attack surface area due to additional components such as browser helper objects, ActiveX COM objects, and trusted sites.

Honorable Mention
--------------------------
Opera - The team has chosen to give Opera an honorable mention designation this year.   Opera boasts a ton of features (arguably more than Firefox) and recently released a free, ad-free version for higher education.   Opera is way ahead of the curve when it comes to small screen rendering (phones, PDAs) and voice activation.

The downsides to Opera include its strict adherence to CSS (doesn't degrade pages gracefully), slightly cluttered GUI, extensions are hard to find, and a difficult time obtaining the ad-free, educational version (raises concerns about support).   Also, during our team's timeframe, the PC and Mac versions were not in sync - when the Windows 8.0 product released at the end of our team, the Mac version was still in beta 1).

Details - Mac OS

Recommended and Supported
------------------------------------------

Firefox version 1.0.3

Last years' evaluation stated, "It appears to show promise for the future, but is not nearly mature enough to be considered stable or fully functional." Since then, Firefox has shown dramatic improvement and gained wide acceptance with over 50 million downloads to date.

Rendering engine
Gecko, uses the XUL (XML User interface Language) to extend capabilities via extensions.

Features
• Cost: Free
• Security: Quick to address security issues and inform users. Issues have increased due to popularity.
• GUI: Simple and intuitive user interface runs on a wide variety of platforms.
• Standards support: Extensive
• Open-source: Yes. Volunteers world-wide contribute to product improvement and growth.

• Default items:
Tabbed browsing, live bookmarks powered by RSS or Atom feeds, customizable pop-up blocking, suppports user style sheets, built-in search engines, smartNavigation in address bar, auto update for browser and extensions, excellent bookmark management, Translated into 36 languages (and growing), etc.

• Customization: highly customizable via easy-to-download extensions. A few include ~
Mouse gestures, web developer tools, small screen simulator (for cellphone display), IRC chat, calendar, proxy server switcher, etc.

• Other items of note:

Firefox Greasemonkey ~ (a.k.a. user scripts) which lets users change not only how a site looks, but also how it functions.

Minimo ~ (Mini Mozilla) browser beta for small devices, full version may go live by summer 2005; funded by Nokia.

Recommended and Supported
------------------------------------------

Safari -
This report focuses on features based on versions 1.2 and 1.3; very little testing was done on 2.0 as it came out April 29.

Rendering engine
WebCore, based upon Konqueror's KHTML engine.

Features
• Cost: Free with purchase of OS.
• Security: Quick to address security issues and inform users.
• GUI: Nicely designed; interface integrates well with the overall Mac/Tiger look and feel.
• Standards support: Extensive
• Open-source: Mostly. Developers / volunteers world-wide contribute to product improvement and growth

• Default items:
Tabbed browsing, "private" browsing, built-in RSS or Atom feeds, bookmark management similar to iTunes jukebox interface, bookmarks search, built-in Google search, ability to archive and email webpages, integrated parental controls, much faster page-rendering, built-in PDF support, etc.

• Customization:
User scripts (a.k.a. "Pimp My Safari") and JavaScript bookmarklets (function similarly to Firefox extensions) allow for customization. In general, the team found version 1.3's JavaScript bookmarklets a tedious endeavor; difficult to find, employ, and in general not as well organized, or easy to use, as Firefox extensions.

Honorable Mention
---------------------------

Opera version 8.0

A highly customizable browser, offering a suite of advanced features while maintaining a very small footprint.
However, until Opera streamlines its GUI, provides more intuitive feature organization, and addresses fee-based concerns, it remains a daunting browser.

Rendering engine Presto.

Features
• Cost: Three options ~
- - Free higher education license, without banner ads
- - Free download with single Google-Ad banner
- - $39 download ($20 for students ) removes Google-Ad banner
• Security: Several advanced security features not found in other browsers, especially regarding certificates.
• GUI: Advanced suite of tools and features can quickly lead to a cluttered interface;
non-intuitive customization options are frustrating. Runs on a wide variety of platforms.
• Standards support: Extensive standards and accessibility support; Opera leads the pack in this regard.
It's important to note Opera's chief technology officer, Hakon Lie, is often referred to as the "father of CSS."
Non standards-compliant web pages, or web pages using outdated browser sniffers, degrade very poorly in this browser.
• Open source: No. However, volunteers do contribute to extension development.

• Default items:
High page-display speed, tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, email and news client, news aggregator (RSS and Atom Feeds), IRC client, customizable bookmark management, ad blocking, user style sheets (upload your own or choose from defaults, such as a text-only reader), session saving / reopening, quick page zoom in/out, "Opera Show" allows browser to be launched as a presentation tool, User JavaScripts, etc.

• Other items of note:

Adobe Creative Suite 2 ~ recently integrated Opera's Presto rendering engine into its Creative Suite apps.
Adobe's recent acquisition of Macromedia may have interesting future implications for Opera.

Voice-controlled browsing ~ for Windows platform only; Voice XML technology co-developed with IBM.

Small Screen Rendering and mobile acceleration ~ Patented Small Screen Rendering technology, resizes webpages to avoid scrolling back and forth. Gaining a leading role as browser of choice for small devices, especially in Europe where it is already the default browser for a wide assortment of mobile devices.

SoundWave ~ a platform-independent speech solution for short- and medium-range interpersonal communication. Based on open standards, Opera's patent-pending P2P speech technology uses analogue signals carried through open air, enabling users to communicate in real- time without the use of computers or mobile phones.