Picking a web browser isn’t like picking an operating system or smartphone ecosystem.When choosing a browser, it’s important to remember that popularity brings with it developers for plugins and extensions.
All modern browsers will have an address bar, search bar (some combined), tabs (and a new tab screen), bookmarks, and unique elements for that browser. Your _toolbar_ is minimal, to give you more room to view the website, which is the whole point of a web browser.
Google Chrome
Chrome is simple. You’ve got at the top your tabs, address bar, and optional bookmarks. Extensions are put to the side of the address bar and can be collapsed under the “more” menu in the top right of the browser. To the left of the search bar, you’ve got your standard back and forward buttons as well as refresh with an optional home button. Chrome was given an update to follow their design standard, Material Design (at least the icons).
What you type in the search bar, or omnibox will do a search on your set default search engine or other sites based on what you type before it. For instance: with the Wolfram|Alpha extension, just type = [tab] before your search and it will do a Wolfram|Alpha search. Extensions like this are one of the reasons Chrome is so popular.
Opera Mini
Opera has a sleek look to it, unique way to view videos while you browse, and a built-in ad blocker. It’s got a speed dial which is just like the other new tab screens with links to your most visited/favorite websites, but it also features a news option that will display recent stories from news sites.
Opera have created a new browser called Neon. With it, they are trying to simplify and improve what traditional browsers look like and how they behave. I encourage you to play around with it – the UI is original and has things like built-in screen shots that extend the out-of-box functionality.
Firefox
Firefox mirrors the features of the others, and has a lot of similar extensions that Chrome has. If there’s an extension on Chrome that you like, chances are it’s been developed for Firefox (similar to how apps are developed for both Android and iOS) or vice-versa. Firefox has its own UI which scrolls smoothly and performs quite well.
These browsers will all feel very similar from a design perspective, so you’ll only find the largest differences in their performances features, interface, and your overall preference.
