News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

March 8, 2007

software

No Safari for a week? Ouch.

Posted Mar. 8, ’07, 10:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall
Category | Software

genericSafari.jpgEver since Microsoft dropped Internet Explorer for Mac three years ago, Mac users have turned to other browsers to fulfill their web-surfing needs, including the cross-platform Firefox, and Apple’s own Safari. No matter what web browser you use, once you become dependent on one, it’s difficult to give other browsers a fighting chance because completely changing your routine all the time is a pain in the rear.

Jeff Gamet at The Mac Observer is doing it anyway, by using Firefox as his primary browser for a week instead of his usual Safari. OmniWeb and Opera are next on the list, assuming changing browsers all the time doesn’t cause a rift in the fabric of the universe (okay, maybe just in my universe. I like my Safari a lot). Gamet laid out some ground rules for his plan, such as excluding beta software or plug-ins. He also forbid cheating but allowed whining. Initial findings: Firefox handles more sites than Safari, re-arrangeable tabs are cool, and a robust collection of extensions and plug-ins make Firefox a serious player in the browser games.

If there’s one (or two) complaints I have about Safari, it’s the same: I can’t drag tabs to move them around, and I still run into websites that absolutely refuse to open, even when I’ve disguised Safari as another browser (Bank website, are you listening?) I’m interested to see how the experiments with OmniWeb and Opera play out, especially along these issues.


9 Comments

Moe said:

I'm not sure why Camino is not included in the comparison. Camino is my default browser and I Love it.

March 8, 2007 11:00 AM
Stacey said:

For me, I find that safari is faster at opening, and loading pages. There are rare cases that I ever need anything else. In those cases, I'll use FF. I really would like to use FF regularly, but Safari just seems like a better fit on the Mac.

March 8, 2007 11:23 AM
Chris said:

You can rearrange tabs using SafariStand.

http://hetima.com/safari/stand-e.html

March 8, 2007 11:44 AM
nicleT said:

Yes, why didn't you include Camino???

It is quite the best and the fastest of all and it's also my default browser.

http://www.caminobrowser.org/

Besides, I still use Safari but it is so sloooow. Even if I tried all the tweaks suggested Surfin’ Safari Blog. Moreover, it still have this Bookmarks Menu and Arrow Keys mortal-beach-ball-bugs (the same as previous versions)!

March 8, 2007 12:02 PM
Lonnie said:

I use Safari - I would love to use Firefox and have it installed with several plug-ins, but I can't seem to convert to it as my main browser. The only thing that keeps Safari so far ahead is the RSS support. I know Firefox has live bookmarks and there are RSS plug-ins, but non of them work as well as Safari when it comes down to it.

March 8, 2007 12:52 PM
Erik said:

I switch between browsers on a regular basis.

The main reason for this, is that there are certain things that some browsers do better than others.

For instance when I download software, I like to keep the original installer, so I have the option of reverting to an older version if needed.

This means I have a requirement for some form of archiving.
My choice fell on Netscape/Mozilla/SeaMonkey as my main downloader, as it would remember the last folder I downloaded something to. This makes it easier to archive downloads by date.

I prefer Firefox for things such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail. Mainly because it gives me the richest user experience.

When I need to access my online banking I prefer Safari. Mainly because Safari works well with the online banking.
I also use Safari whenever I want to make a PDF of a web page. (Instead of printing out paper copies of receipts when I buy things.) This is because Safari is better at ensuring the PDF is named correctly according to the title of the web page.

Each of the browsers I use have a quality that I have found to be an advantage for one task or another.

My only wish, is that there would be a utility that synchronised the bookmarks of each browser.
I don't mean a utility that takes over the task of keeping the bookmarks, instead one that would ensure the bookmarks in each browser matches all the other browsers.
A compromise would be a custom bookmark menu that would recognise which browser was currently being used, and opened the requested link in that browser.

March 8, 2007 1:19 PM
Kelmon said:

Repeat after me: Firefox is NOT a Mac application

The same goes for SeaMonkey, Flock and Opera. I'm not bothered that Firefox's widgets aren't Aqua or anything like that but I am driven nuts but its lack of support for Network Preferences, Keychain Services and Dictionary. Because I move backwards and forwards from networks with/without proxy servers I drives me absolutely barmy by having to manually change my network settings in Firefox's preferences while all my Mac applications do this automatically. This is a throw-back to its cross-platform (i.e. Windows is king) support and therefore it has to cater to the lowest common denominator. I'm sorry but the Mac is better than this so I firmly believe that you should use applications that take full advantage of this.

Personally, I'm on a Camino kick at the moment but there's stuff in Safari that I miss. I miss not having access to Inquisitor and I really miss Safari's ability to populate web forms for me so easily. That said, there's a lot to like in the current Camino beta (which is the only usable version for me since the current 1.0 release doesn't even understand news feeds) so I'm staying there for the moment.

When Firefox finally becomes a full Mac application (if that happens) then I'll consider it but not until.

March 8, 2007 11:49 PM
Strongblade! said:

The Leopard beta I got to play with had Safari with draggable tabs. So it's coming with Leopard. Whenever that happens.

March 9, 2007 10:26 AM
cabrown said:

"Initial findings: Firefox handles more sites than Safari"

I have had the opposite experience. Safari plays better with the websites (even banks!) I visit more than Firefox and even Opera.

Also, although Safari may not support DnD tabs out of the box, I believe it is Saft that allows me to do so after installation.

March 10, 2007 7:07 AM

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