6 of the Worst Web Browser Features

There comes a time when browser developers decide to implement a specific feature or do things in certain way that may cripple user experience.

So, lets dig into this mess and find out, what these things actually are.

Internet Explorer: Connecting

Turns out, such simple task as opening new tab, can also become a headache. If you’ve been using Internet Explorer 7/8, then infamous “Connecting…” message is already wired into your brain.

Furthermore, the more add-ons you have – the longer this message stays.

Why would developers code IE in such way? I don’t know. It’s certainly not a fashion thing.

Internet Explorer, Safari: Windows 7 Thumbnail Previews

Now, this can either be your best friend or become your worst enemy. If you constantly surf just a few web pages, it could be a useful thing. However, what about those, who have 10-20 tabs opened at once? Not a good idea.

Maybe Microsoft thinks that if IE user decides to open multiple pages, he/she will certainly not be using Internet Explorer?

Apple has implemented the very same thing into Safari 5 web browser as well.

Fortunately, other web browser vendors turns this feature off by default.

Firefox: Start Page

What’s the use of Firefox start page when you can already type keywords into address bar or use Search Box? Do we really need 3 different ways for the very same thing? I guess so, otherwise, why would Mozilla do that?

Also, start page displays Google in local language. This might sound like a good idea. However, when Google.com and Google.lt (in my case) displays completely different results (.lt is less accurate), I chose not to use it.

Google Chrome: Updates

If you are a Google Chrome user, then checking for updates works like this:

Menu > About Google Chrome

What “About” has to do with browser updates? Still trying to figure it out. It’s weird that company like Google would decide not to implement “check for updates on startup” feature or include “check for updates” as a separate option in the menu.

Update: It should be noted that Chrome checks for updates during startup and updates everything silently, except for beta builds.

Opera: Blue Dots

Opera blue dots feature suffer from the very same issue as Internet Explorer and Safari Windows 7 integration does: it becomes a headache when surfing multiple pages.

What happens when you resume your browsing session with 10-20 opened tabs? Tab bar becomes a mess, with dozens of useless blue dots indicating that page has “changed/loaded”, which is obvious anyway. The worst part? You can’t turn this feature off.

Why is this better than the old fashioned way (tab text color change)? I don’t know.

Safari: Top Sites

Either I am not too smart to be using Apple products or it’s just a bad feature implementation.

How do you add new pages into Safari’s “Top Sites”? According to text message below it, just drag its address (URL) to this window.

Here’s how I tried to add a new site:
1. Drag/drop other tab into Top Sites window. Final result? It just shifted position.
2. Opened other tab, marked URL and tried to drag/drop it into Top Sites window. Final result? It opened that URL over the Top Sites tab.
3. Unintalled Safari and tried different browser. This option worked fine.

Why can’t we just have something similar to Opera’s Speed Dial approach (click / right click > edit)? Guess we’ll never know OR this is just a nasty bug.

Conclusion

In the end, it comes down to personal user preference. Some do enjoy tab thumbnails, blue dots, “Connecting…” messages and find Safari’s Top Sites approach more than obvious, while others do not

Anything else? Let us know!

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