Camino or Firefox?

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Which web browser should I use as my secondary browser? I know that not all websites will work with Safari and wanted to know if those web sites will be supported by either Camino or Firefox. For example, if a website is IE/Firefox compatible would it run be able to render correctly in Camino since it uses the same Gecko engine as Firefox or something like that... Are there any other pros and cons of each browser I should know of? Thanks for all your help guys!
 
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I used Firefox for a while, but it takes ages to start and just doesnt really feel well on Mac OS. Now I use Camino, and it is faster, and all the pages look the same and work the same as in Firefox. However, it misses a few minor features that I used in Firefox (multiple tabs as start page, for instance).
 
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Isn't Camino and Firefox almost the same thing? They both have the same rendering engine.

Just try them out and which ever one you like better then use. I have Firefox as my secondary browser just because that is what I used on my Windows OS.
 
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Also, I've heard that it hogs memory, because of a "memory leak"!?
 
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Also, I've heard that it hogs memory, because of a "memory leak"!?
There are tweaks to fix that. Just google "firefox memory leak". I never tried them though.
 
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Camino doesn't seem any faster than Firefox to me.
 
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firefox seems alien in mac os x, its bloated, slow and just ain't mac like. I'd go with camino...
 
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I use Camino as my primary, and only, web browser. It works with all sites Firefox works with (including my internet bank that does not work in Safari), and it looks so much better than Firefox.

Go Camino :)
 
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Camino is great for 'normal' people. If you're a power user or web developer, use Firefox because it allows many more options.
 
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How is Firefox not "Mac like"? It has a bookmarks menu, back and forward buttons, etc. Browsers aren't that complicated. Except for Opera, which I hate (it has two separate back buttons that do different things). Also, unless you're running a machine with a PowerPC 603e processor, I think Firefox runs at the same speed as Camino.
 

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Isn't Firefox still just PPC? I might be completely wrong =p

I use Camino after using Firefox for years on my windows PC, I just prefer Camino on Macs.
 
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There is no definitive answer to this question. It is strictly personal taste, like "whose coffee is better, Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds?" (trying to pick two in roughly the same class, hence those choices).

I don't think you will get the answer you are looking for here, unless you just want to see the topic debated!
 
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It's kinda funny how many Mac users are quick to say Firefox isn't very Mac OS X-like.


On Windows, Firefox is actually one of the more OS X-like programs.

Look at the Options/Preferences window.
Older Firefox users will remember how different it used to be before version 1.5.
From 1.5 onwards, it adopted the look of a typical OS X app's Pref window.

Also, how the toolbars work.
Usually, on Windows, you move the toolbars themselves, and the toolbar items aren't movable, except in some cases, if there's a "Customize" option.
If you look at how customizing toolbars work in Firefox, that's almost exactly like typical OS X apps.

And I also find Firefox's design to be Mac-like in the sense that everything is very consistent, especially when it comes to the details.

For instance, middle-clicking and Ctrl/Command-clicking will always open in a new tab.
It works for links in pages, bookmarks on the Bookmarks Toolbar or in the Bookmarks Sidebar or in the Bookmark Manager, items in the History menu or in the History Sidebar, the View Image context menu item, and even the Home button!
(and in the next Firefox release, it'll even apply to the Location Bar dropdown's items)

Most Windows apps aren't this consistent and don't pay this much attention to the little details. (Try the middle-clicking/Ctrl-clicking thing in IE7.)

However, Firefox is meant to be cross-platform, and thus, Firefox for Windows and for OS X are nearly identical in every aspect.

As a result, there are compromises on both sides. (However, it's likely that you'll notice them much more on OS X than on Windows. On Windows, you probably wouldn't recognize any "un-Windows-like" elements, because there aren't many standards when it comes to program look & feel and behavior on Windows.)

So while it's true that Firefox is a relatively OS X-like program compared to Windows programs,
it's also true that it's not as OS X-like as other OS X apps.

But personally, for me, this is an acceptable compromise for the consistency of the design, the fact that in both OS X and Windows, I can use the same browser, one that is somewhere between an OS X app and a Windows program, and of course, the multitude of extensions and themes, etc.


Also, ironically enough, speaking of the middle-click thing,
there is currently a bug in Camino: Command-clicking a bookmark will open it in a new tab... but middle-clicking a bookmark won't do anything.

The developers have said that they're aware of it, and it'll be fixed... eventually.
 
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There is no definitive answer to this question. It is strictly personal taste, like "whose coffee is better, Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds?" (trying to pick two in roughly the same class, hence those choices).

I don't think you will get the answer you are looking for here, unless you just want to see the topic debated!

Nicely put.
 
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For those arguing over whether FF is Mac like or not, I think people are mainly referring to the lack of Cocoa-style buttons etc, which Camino has, but FF lacks.

Download FF Alpha 3, build 8 (Gran Paradiso) and you'll see this fixed (although it's still pretty buggy).

There are a number of sniffy sites that reject Camino, but are fine with FF and Safari. ABC's media player for a start says it doesn't recognise the browser - my work's remote logon is another, although if I ignore the error it still functions.
 
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Isn't Firefox still just PPC? I might be completely wrong =p

And you are, sir =) It is a universal app.
You can even download unofficial builds optimized for your specific chip (or something like that).
 
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okay... since nobody has mentioned it.. (unless remain had it.. sorry i only skimmed through your post. it looked very informative and well done though :p thumbs up) camino is supposed to be the firefox for mac. it uses the same rendering engine so webpages show up the exact same (with the exception of some sites that change depending on the browser, but there is fixes) except camino is written in cocoa, which is a native os x language making the actual app run faster, more stable, and over all better within os x.
 
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ki99 said:
it uses the same rendering engine so webpages show up the exact same (with the exception of some sites that change depending on the browser, but there is fixes)

Yeah, just change the user agent in Camino.

Type about:config in the address bar,
then find and change
general.useragent.vendor to Firefox
general.useragent.vendorSub to 2.0.0.7 (or whatever version you want)

Now sites will think that Camino is Firefox.

By doing this, Camino is then able to load the full version of Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail Beta.
 
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Personally I've never been a fan of FireFox on OS X. On Windows it's pretty good, but on OS X it just doesn't do it for me. It's the same with Safari on Windows; I use Safari as my primary browser, but on Windows it's just not up to the same standard (sort of how iTunes on OS X is better than iTunes on Windows).

If you're only going to use it as a secondary browser, then I'd suggest Camino, but with the amount of use it will get I don't suppose it matters.
 
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So far, I really like Camino. It's the only browser I've found so far that will work with my bank online (both Safari and FF won't). I found FF to be slightly sluggish, but it's still my preferred browser on my PC.
 

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