To better understand the difference, we need to talk a little about where these browsers came from.
A Little History
Back in 1991, a guy named Tim Berners-Lee created the first web browser called WorldWideWeb. Then in 1993, the NCSA created a browser called Mosaic. Marc Andreessen, who helped create the Mosaic browser, started a company called Netscape and created a browser based on Mosaic called Netscape Navigator.
In 1995, Microsoft licenced technology from the Mosaic browser and created its browser called Internet Explorer. By bundling the browser with Windows, Internet Explorer began gaining substantial market share.
In 1998, Netscape created the Mozilla Foundation which aimed to create a competing browser called Mozilla.
By 2002, Internet Explorer had a 95% market share. Around this time, the Mozilla Foundation launched an early release of the Firefox browser (at the time, it was called Phoenix).
In 2003, Apple released its own browser called Safari. In 2004, Mozilla launched Firefox 1.0 which was the first version aimed at the general public. In 2008, Google launched its browser called Chrome.
Difference Matters
So what's the difference between Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and all the others? The big difference is in the layout engine that these browsers use. A layout engine is what the browser uses to determine how to interpret the HTML code in which webpages are made. The W3C creates specifications that are intended to standardize how websites are to be rendered. There are three major layout engines.
Internet Explorer started out using a layout engine based on the Mosaic browser. When Internet Explorer 4 was released in 1997, it began using a layout engine called Trident, which it still uses today.
When Netscape 6 was released in 2001, it too moved away from the Mosaic browser foundation and began using its own layout engine called Gecko. This is the layout engine that Mozilla Firefox uses.
Apple created its browser called Safari by taking the layout engine used by a browser called KHTML and creating the layout engine called WebKit. Both Apple Safari and Google Chrome use this layout engine.
Progressive Enhancement
If you're not using a modern browser, such as Firefox, Chrome, or Safari, there's a possibility you're not getting the most out of the web.
Some websites are designed with progressive enhancement in mind. This means that if you have a browser that can support more advanced technologies, such as HTML5 and CSS3, then you will see features of a website that other users won't be able to see. Some examples of this would be gradients, transparency, rounded corners, different font styles, etc...
If you aren't using a modern browser that supports these features, then the design falls back to one that is still functional and attractive, but isn't completely there. A great example of progressive enhancement is the website 24ways.org. This site does not look the same in every browser.
In more modern browsers, such as Firefox, the opacity for boxes, headers, and other text are reduced, giving the appearance that these elements are blended into each other. Note that even in the latest version of Internet Explorer, these techniques are not supported. Yet even in Internet Explorer 6, a browser that is almost 10 years old, the layout of the site is still functional and the design appears to be mostly the same.
A way to think about this is the difference between HDTV and standard definition TV. You can still watch your TV shows in standard definition, but you're missing out on a lot of the quality and detail of what you're watching.
A Better Way to Browse
The great thing about switching to a more modern browser is that it's free. All you do is download it and start using it. And most browsers automatically import all your favorites and bookmarks, so you don't lose anything. A few examples of modern browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari. When you start using a more modern browser, you might start to see the web in a whole new way.
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