101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that IE cannot
Second Version, January 9, 2003
The following lists 101 things that one can do with the Mozilla browser component (version 1.2) that one cannot do with IE (version 6.0). I used the Windows version of IE 6.0; the list will vary slightly for the Mac version.
Some notes about how items were selected for this list:
- The list only considers features provided in the download of IE provided directly from Microsoft. It does not include things that could be done via additional software or add-ons. If I had included such things, I would, in order to ensure an equal comparison, need to include the add-ons available for Mozilla in the list also. Since this would cause the list to grow infintely large, no such items are considered for either browser.
- On the same note, I do not include things that can be done by changing registry keys or manually modifying configuration files. IE does indeed have some features that are only enabled by modifying registry keys. Mozilla has many hidden settings as well. This list includes neither.
This list compares IE 6.0 and Mozilla 1.2
Note also that this is a not supposed to be a list of advantages of one browser over another. It is a list of features of Mozilla not found in IE. You may feel that some of the items in the list are disadvantages.
Now that is over with, on with the list!
Tabbed browsing
Lets you display more than one site in a window using multiple tabs. You can open a new tab by selecting Navigator Tab from the New submenu of the File menu (or press Ctrl+T). You can also open a link in a new tab by using the right-click menu. You will find configuration options in the Tabbed Browsing preferences panel.
Note that CrazyBrowser is a different product than IE.
Popup blocking
Block all those popup ads. To disable popup windows, select Advanced and then Scripts & Plugins from the Preferences window. Then uncheck the box that reads "Open unrequested windows".
Prevent scripts from doing various things
You can prevent scripts from moving windows, closing them, changing the status bar and setting cookies. To change these settings, select Advanced and then Scripts & Plugins from the Preferences window. Then uncheck the desired boxes.
Site Navigation toolbar
Displays content from the tags provided by a document, allowing one to navigate to various parts of a site.
Sidebar
The sidebar provides a number of tabs by default, and others can be added by the user.
Can add custom panels to sidebar
Custom sidebars can be implemented in HTML or XUL and can be installed from a remote site without much hassle. Sites can add sidebars using the window.sidebar.addPanel() function.
More control over text zooming
Can zoom text to any size. IE only supports five sizes and has no keyboard shortcut that I could determine. For sites that use fairly small fonts, having more larger sizes in necessary for those without perfect vision.
Note that using the mouse isn't a keyboard shortcut.
Can zoom any text, even that with fixed pixel sizes
Can zoom text no matter what units were specified, an often cited issue with IE.
Can select from multiple stylesheets provided by page
When a page provides multiple (or alternate) stylesheets, one can select between them by choosing from the Use Style sub-menu in the View menu.
Page info dialog
Provides additional information about encoding, MIME type, referrer and meta tags. Some of this information is also available in IE's properties dialog although it isn't as detailed and the window isn't resizable.
Detailed form/link/media info dialog
The page info dialog provides tabs which have lists of the form elements, links, images and other media in a page. You can even preview images and save them from this window.
Save plugins
Mozilla saves plugins when saving a Web page as complete. You can also save them from the Page Info window.
Themes
Provides two themes by default (Classic and Modern), but others may be installed.
There is a theming system that is part of Windows XP, however this isn't supported by Microsoft. It also isn't part of any other version of Windows. Mozilla's themes work on all versions of Windows and on all platforms; you can change your theme by selecting Apply Theme from the View menu.
Bookmark window displays more detail
Displays more information about the bookmark in the bookmark window. IE's favorites dialog is a bit awkward and is modal, which means you can't interact with the browser window while it is open. You also cannot add bookmarks from the window.
Bookmark keywords
Keywords to look up bookmarks quickly. Keywords have the advantage that the part entered after the keyword is filled in where '%s' appears in the bookmarks's URL.
Bookmarks can be checked at a certain schedule
One can set bookmarks to be checked at various schedules and notify when the content has changed. At least, in theory. IE has something like this, which is intended for synchronizing content for offline viewing. It can only check once per day, and provides no notification that the page has changed other than changing the icon or sending an email. Mozilla can check updates on certain days only and at any interval.
Cookie Manager
The cookie manager lets you view the cookies that have been set, their values and their expiry times.
Some people have mentioned that one can view Cookies by pressing a View Files button in the Options, but that just provides a list of all cached files. While the list does include cookies, hidden amongst the other files, it isn't tailored to cookies (it is just a generic file listing), so one cannot really view the data or expiry times easily.
Can delete cookies individually
The cookie manager lets you delete individual cookies without having to search around your file system. In IE's file view, it's tricky to distinguish cookies from similar domains, and all cookies from the same domain are stored in the same file.
Block images from third party sites
One can block images that come from a third party domain. This means that you can block images found on a page that come from a site other than that of the page. To set this in Mozilla, open Privacy & Security from the Preferences Window, and then select the Images panel. Choose "Accept images that come from the originating server only".
Can block images from certain sites
Images can be blocked from particular domains, such as those that commonly display ads. You can disable an image from a site by right-clicking on an image, and then selecting "Block images from this Server". You can change the list of blocked images from the Image Manager, opened from the Tools menu.
Download Manager
The download manager provides a tabular view of all of the files that you have ever downloaded, allowing you to open them without having to search around on your file system. It provides progress indicators in the window as items download.
On the topic of downloading files, IE does not begin to download a file until you have selected where to save it to, while Mozilla begins as soon as the link is clicked, downloading in the background while you are selecting a place to save it.
Can pause downloads
In Mozilla, one cause pause downloads. Some people may find this useful during long downloads.
View Source
View the syntax coloured source of a page, without having to view it in Notepad.
Some people have mentioned that one can edit the page using Notepad (or at least a copy of it). True, but that's what Edit in the File menu is for. Some people like a simple source viewer for viewing content.
JavaScript Console
The console displays a log of errors that you can easily scroll through, or ignore if so desired.
JavaScript Console displays script warnings
The console separates warnings and errors. The warnings allow you to see obsolete script usage and so forth.
JavaScript Debugger
This is a utility for debugging JavaScript.
DOM Inspector
View the structure of a document using a nifty tree view. Also lets you view script properties and style applied to each element. You can open it from the Tools -> Web Development men.
DOM Inspector image capture
The DOM Inspector has a tool to capture an image of part of a page, although it doesn't seem to work all too well.
Select text and perform search
Select some text, bring up the context menu, and choose 'Search' to search for the selected text.
Can select custom search engine
You can select any search engine you wish, not just one that has been chosen for you.
Can display search results in sidebar
When one does a search via a search engine, results are automatically interpreted and displayed in the sidebar. You can then view pages without hiding the search results.
Supports any Sherlock search plugin
Supports the Macintosh Sherlock search format, so any search engine that supports it can be used.
Can manage saved passwords
Lets you view and delete stored login and passwords. Choose the Password Manager from the Tools menu.
Can fill-in complete forms automatically
Stores complete forms which can be later be filled in automatically. This is useful if you want to register for something 600 times. To fill in a form, choose Fill In Form from the Edit menu.
Master password encrypts info
A single master password can be used to protect all of your other passwords.
Can disable tooltips
Not very exciting, but useful if someone thinks they get in the way.
Caret Browsing
Press F7 and a cursor appears on the page. This can be used to navigate a page and select text using only the keyboard.
Some people thought this was this the same as setting contenteditable="true" on an element. While that does show a cursor in IE, it actually allows the content to be edited, and disables all links and mouse events with-in the content. Caret browsing in Mozilla is designed to allow one to browse, navigate links and select text using only the keyboard.
Type Ahead Find
Press a few keys to search for links with that text.
View Selection Source
Select some text, bring up the context menu, and choose 'View Selection Source' to view the source just for the selected content. This can also be used to view the generated source after an XSLT transformation.
Properties dialog lets you see info about various tags
Right click on certain links and images and so on, and view info about them, such as language and whether links will open in a new window. The window can also be resized.
View scripts and stylesheets directly
Mozilla can display scripts and stylesheets directly as plain text without a separate application which is useful if you just want a quick peek at something.
More font options
One has more control over the fonts used, including customizing the various CSS fonts. To change this, select Appearance and then Fonts from the Preferences window.
Can set minimum font sizes
Can set the minimum font size that text is displayed in which is useful on some sites. To change this, select Appearance and then Fonts from the Preferences window.
Mouse wheel options
Pressing Alt and scrolling the wheel will navigate back and forward in the browser history. One can also configure the wheel for other modifier keys for scrolling and changing the font size.
Multiple profiles
Can handle multiple profiles so you can use one for testing, or share them between multiple persons. You can do something like this in Windows with multiple user accounts, although it affects all applications.
May be installed quickly and anywhere
Mozilla may be installed on any drive and at any location. It may installed on a network drive and run directly from there. In fact, it really doesn't have to be installed at all.
Can be easily uninstalled
One can uninstall in the same manner as one does with other applications.
May have multiple versions installed at once
One can have as many different versions of Mozilla installed at once which is useful if you need to test on various versions.
Cross-platform
Mozilla is available for a number of different platforms. (8 to 12 depending on the exact version). It has the same the same features on all of them. IE only runs on Windows and Mac and supports quite a different set of features on each. Limited versions of IE for Unix platforms were available at one time, but are no longer available.
XUL
The XML User Interface Language is used to create complex user interfaces using markup.
XBL
The eXtensible Bindings Language is used to create custom widgets or elements and bind them to other XUL, XML or HTML elements.
RDF
Mozilla can read and manipulate Resource Description Framework files.
MathML
MathML is a markup language for displaying math equations.
XPCOM
Native interface accessible via C++ or JavaScript which lets you perform various Mozilla functions.
Properly handles MIME types
Properly displays content using the content type supplied by the server instead of various other incorrect things. You can learn more information about this.
Supports documents sent as application/xhtml+xml (XHTML)
The debate is still on whether this content type should be used for XHTML, but Mozilla supports it. Mozilla also supports XHTML sent as text/xml.
Can render XML documents with styling
Can render XML documents with associated style sheets. IE must convert the documents into HTML before displaying them.
Link Prefetching
Mozilla allows one to set documents or images to prefetch in the background. They are loaded after the document has finished loading so as to not affect performance. Usually, this would be used for the next page in a sequence.
Displays ABBR/ACRONYM underlined and with titles in tooltips
Content in these tags are displayed with an underline and the titles of various elements are displayed in a tooltip. (IE does display tooltips for acronyms though).
Supports blinking text
You can make text blink. This list isn't subjective. Of course the
