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Web designers want people to use modern browsers so their sites can work more like online applications than static magazine pages.

Does it matter which web browser you use? It shouldn't, but it does. Several companies are competing to provide the best browser, and Microsoft hopes to leapfrog its rivals with a new version it's testing now: Internet Explorer 9.

Web designers also want people to use modern browsers so that their sites can be interactive and work more like online applications than static magazine pages. However, different browser suppliers are adding support for these new features at different speeds, and sometimes implement them in different ways. If a page doesn’t work correctly in one browser, it's usually worth trying something newer.

Most people use Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, which is included with Microsoft Windows. Three main versions are in use because companies and some individuals are slow to upgrade. IE6 shipped with Windows XP in 2001, and while a great browser in its day, it has many quirks and does not support modern technologies. IE7 was included with Windows Vista, and IE8 with Windows 7. The next version will be IE9.

According to the Netmarketshare website, which is based on browser use at selected websites, IE has a market share of 60%. This is split between IE6 (16%), IE7 (11%) and IE8 (31%).

There are dozens of rival browsers, led by Mozilla's Firefox (23% market share). Newer challengers include Google's Chrome (8%) and Apple's Safari (5%).

Web browsers are written to support HTML, the HyperText Markup Language specified by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This has progressed through HTML 2.0 in September 1995, HTML 3.2 in January 1997, and HTML 4.01 in December 1999. Today, all the providers are competing to implement features that come under the blanket heading of HTML5. This includes the "canvas" element for drawing, and audio and video tags. One aim is to allow web pages to embed videos without using a separate media player such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight.

New browsers provide new capabilities but also make life harder for web designers. If they use the new features, they may have to provide alternatives for older browsers. They rely on users upgrading their browsers every 18-30 months, which is why it's a problem that so many people are still using IE6 after nine years.

How websites look and work on your browser is not the only thing that matters. You should also think about speed, security, the availability of plug-in extensions, the user interface, and how well it works with other software. At the moment, Google Chrome leads on speed, and it is also the least vulnerable to malware attacks. (Chrome runs in a "sandbox" that makes it harder to attack the underlying operating system.) Firefox has the biggest range of extensions.

But you don't need to pick just one. Many people now use two or even three browsers, because no single browser works best with all the sites on the web. What's more, all of the popular browsers are free.