Firefox or Internet Explorer in school

If you’ve read any newspapers magazines recently you have no doubt heard of Firefox. This is an internet browser written by Mozilla which is a replacement for Microsoft Internet Explorer that we all have on our Windows based PC’s. You will have heard or read the hype behind Firefox – It’s safer, it’s quicker, it’s more intuitive, but why is it better for use in a primary school?

For any comparisons that I make I will be looking at the most recent version of Internet Explorer (v6) and Mozilla Firefox (v1.0.6). If you are currently using an earlier version of either of these browsers then I strongly recommend that you update them as soon as possible.

Will I be able to view all the same sites with Mozilla Firefox?

Internet Explorer is (was?) pretty much the standard browser on every Windows PC and virtually every website is (was?) written with Internet Explorer in mind. Latest figures reveal that about 88% of websites are viewed with Internet Explorer. Firefox accounts for only about 7%. The phenomenal success of Firefox though had led to many companies updating their pages to make them Firefox accessible. From my own personal extensive use of Firefox I can safely say that there are few, if any, websites that I, or the children in my class would need to visit that can’t be viewed in Firefox.

I do think that Internet Explorer needs to be on each computer. We have software at school, such as Goal Assessment, which only works with Internet Explorer and of course Windows Update which is vital to the security of any Windows based software.

Allowing the children the chance to decide which software they want to use to view the Internet is the least we can do though.

Is Mozilla Firefox really more secure?

Internet Explorer has a history of security problems, and this has continued to this day. Currently, 19 out of 85 Secunia advisories are marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database. Secunia current rate Internet Explorer security problems as highly critical.

Firefox currently has 3 out of 22 Secunia advisories marked as "Unpatched" in the Secunia database. Securina current rate the Firefox problems as less critical. Something to bear in mind about Firefox is also the speed at which they patch (fix) security problems identified. Some of the Internet Explorer problems have been in the database since March 2003 and still not patched.

It’s not just security that’s important in a primary school, it’s being able to control what the children see. Built into the Firefox software are features that stop pop-ups and installation of malicious software. Extensions are freely available that can further help protect the children surfing the internet for example Adblock which can block adverts on pages.  It is important to remember that the latest version of Internet Explorer now has some of these features as well, such as pop-up and malicious software blocking but others still need to purchased at a cost.

Installation

At present you will probably find that Internet Explorer is installed on your computer when you purchase it. Firefox needs installing manually on each computer. At only 4.7MB (Windows), Firefox takes just a few minutes to download over a slow connection and seconds over a fast connection. The installer gets you set up quickly, and the new Easy Transition system imports all of your settings - Favorites, passwords and other data from Internet Explorer and other browsers - so you can start surfing right away. Firefox can be set so that it automatically locates any updates that are due and a simple click allows these to be downloaded and installed.

Ease of use for Children

Firefox is a plain and simple browser. It views pages from the Internet. It’s not designed to do much else unless you start adding extensions to it. Because of this limited design it is very good at what it does. It loads pages quickly. The user interface, with its large buttons, is nice and clean and can be altered as, and if, necessary.  Extended features like RSS which are becoming increasing common can be added to enable children and teachers to access the information they want quickly and easily.

Overall

Overall I think that a switch to Firefox is a good move for every primary school. I’m not in any way saying delete Internet Explorer – there will always be a use for it – but giving the children variety in the software they can access is important. A recent poll of the Y6 children in my class showed that 36% use Firefox as their browser at home. With this sort of information surely we are doing the children injustice if we don’t have the software available for them.

I hope that this article has been of some interest to you. Let me know what you think. Do you have Firefox already installed on your school computers? What extensions do have installed? I look forward to hearing from you.

Andrew

Comments

[Jack Large]

Nicely done. I hope your assessment has some impact on schools.

Web designers have long known that Internet Explorer was creaking (it doesn't play nicely with web standards like CSS). However until Firefox its monopoly looked unassailable.

One technical point; even if you wanted to 'delete' Internet Explorer you couldn't, Microsoft have built the browser into the operating system. The only way to remove it is to remove Windows.

[Andrew Ross]

I don't think you would ever want to delete Internet Explorer from your system - you may need it one day. However you can go a long way towards stopping Internet Explorer taking over your system. The following link gives an example of how it can be done:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=185554

You could also just disable Internet Explorer from accessing the internet from your Firewall.