I use several browsers, some for specific purposes, others just to be able to test websites and others just to see what kind of new mousetrap is being thought up.
For browsing Vivaldi has become my main browser
Vivaldi is based on the chrome engine without all the Google tracking stuff and has become my goto browser as it performs well and I enjoy being able to completely customize the interface. For me it is all about making my browser a custom visual experience with the added bonus of including very good ad blocking and anti tracking.
Safari was my main browser as it fit perfectly into the Apple ecosystem
I mainly using it now when I want to save pages to pdf as it has the best reader. The reader view removes all the distractions and allows saving cleaned documents to pdf, also can easily save a site to a reading list to go thru later, a nice feature for doing research. Without any extensions it can easily save a web page as an archive and it works naturally with pdfs.
Safari also ties in with Apple's key chain for accessing all my online accounts without the need for an external password manager. It also shares all bookmarks and open tabs via iCloud and can hand off to all my other Apple devices.
It does have a few things that could be done better like the bookmarking tools and the developer tools but its claim to fame is integrating into Apple's system. That can be a good thing or a bad thing just depends on your perspective.
Google Chrome being made by Google tracks everything you do and actually makes it difficult to remove the ads. That's what Google is all about trying to present to the user content based on past behaviour. That too can be a good thing or a bad thing just depends on if you value targeted content over privacy.
Google Chrome I was using for website development mostly because other developers do and it's used in most courses. When I'm trying to learn something online it's just easier to follow . I have gone back to Firefox Dev edition for web dev as the grid tools are better.
As noted above I've gone back to Firefox's Developer Edition
I've found the developer tools are just as good as Google's and better if working with CSS grid. I've always used the regular edition just because I support open source projects. I am now using this edition for web development and it has replaced Chrome.
I've used Firefox for a very long time, actually since it was released. It was my goto browser until I switched to Apple then to Vivaldi. I still keep it available because it's a very good browser and respects use privacy.
Opera is a cool European browser. I was using it for a bit until I found Vivaldi. I has a lot of personal features including built in VPN, games etc.... and claims to be more secure and private than other browsers.
Tor is all about 100% anonymity and privacy and uncensored content and uses an encrypted network to make it happen. Using this browser along with a good VPN will make browsing the internet and private and secure as possible. I find it a bit slower than other browsers. If you need the privacy and security I don't think any other browser compares.
Brave is based on Chrome and claims to respect user privacy and does not track users unlike Google Chrome. That's very similar to Firefox and Vivaldi claims but it allows a user access to the Tor network for even more privacy. Without all the ads and trackers it boasts a faster internet experience. It also has a new twist on how content providers can earn cash for providing content.
Waterfox is a relatively new bowser based on the Firefox engine. I have only used it a little but it claims even more privacy than Firefox and can be completely customized with CSS and code so I may have to look at this one a bit closer.
Edge is Microsoft's replacement for IE (internet explorer) based on the chrome engine and is the latest default browser for Windows. Although I have one Windows 10 laptop I seldom use Edge. On my Mac I only use it to test my web site projects.
I only use a few browsers but there are many more out there. Considering all the browsers are free I find it surprising there are so many available with new ones seem to be appearing all the time and old ones refusing to die.
The browsers I use are based off the three major web rendering engines - Apple's WebKit, Google's Chromium and Firefox's (Mozilla) Gecko.
All browsers have extensions and most major extensions are available for all the major browsers.
The availability of some extensions can make or break a browser experience. Some of my goto extensions were only available on Firefox so switching browsers required me to do research to find replacements that work on all three engines. Even so not all extensions are available for all engines
