Web Browsers are a Big Deal!

Today's Tech Tip is all about web browsers.  I felt inspired to write this because I've been hearing from students that they've had problems accessing Google Docs on their computers at home.  We use Google Docs more than Microsoft Office in school because it runs in your browser, which makes it easy to save, share, and work on your assignments from home.  The problem is, Google Docs is a modern web application that depends on the newest technology, and many people may be using outdated web browsers at home.  Hopefully this tip will help you get up to date.

What's a web browser? 

Watch this real short video from Googler Jason Toff:

He also set up a site, whatbrowser.org, that will tell you what browser you're using if you're not sure.

Which browser?

You don't need to have the newest or fastest computer when you work on the web!  But having a modern browser is important!  Fortunately, all the major browsers are free!  

I personally recommend Google Chrome.  It has a number of features that are very useful:

• Chrome runs on Windows and Mac
• Chrome starts up quickly
• Chrome never needs to be updated because it keeps itself up-to-date automatically
• Chrome was built with web applications like Google Docs in mind.  I rarely see Google Docs errors in Chrome the way I do all the time with Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
• Chrome is very stable.  If an individual tab or window freezes or crashes, the other tabs aren't affected.
• Chrome is simple.  Instead of a separate address box and search box, it has a single "Omnibox" that can tell if you're typing in a search or a web address.

If you'd like to download Chrome, click the Chrome icon:

Stop trying to Google-fy everything!

If you're using another browser that you already like, take a moment to make sure it's up to date.  As of this writing, here are the latest versions of the major browsers.  Compare them to the versions shown on whatbrowser.org:

Internet Explorer: Version 8.0 for Windows XP and Version 9 for Windows Vista or 7 (No Mac version)

Mozilla Firefox: Version 6.0.2 for Mac and PC

Safari: Version 5.1 for Mac or PC

Final note: please, please don't use AOL browser!  It make good computers do bad things.