Browsers

[Mike2fast]

Hi,

Just got a new Macbook Pro 13", being new to macs coming from Windows Xp, Vista and 7 as an IT analyst i was wondering what browsers you guys use? Do you stick with Safari or can you use chrome and firefox?

Thanks in advance for any input...

 

[chas_m]

You CAN use pretty much anything you want. I think the Mac platform actually has MANY more good quality browsers than Windows does.

I keep a copy of FF around, but I rarely use it. It seems like its half a browser without TONS of extensions, which of course most people go way overboard on, then of course they release a new version and boom, most of your extensions break, and you wait weeks/months for them all to be fixed. Repeat cycle.

At least for me, the Webkit engine seems better, so I tend to stick with browsers based on it. Safari is IMHO the overall best. Google's Chrome I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot-pole at the present time -- keeping track of EVERYTHING you do on line and requiring a constant update daemon = not cool in my book.

I have been using a "Chrome minus the privacy invasion" offshoot called SBIron that's pretty impressive, though again only half a browser at this point.

I keep trying the others, and keep coming back to Safari. It's fast, it's compliant, its fully developed, its not spying on me. That's kind of what I want in a browser.

 

[the8thark]

I agree there is a lot of browsers. But for me I stick to 2 main ones. Safari and Firefox. Yes I think Safari is slightly faster of the two. But I much prefer Firefox cause it's very customisable and most extenstions/skins for it are very quickly updated once a new version of Firefox is out. So I use Firefox mostly.

But for the rare odd times Firefix can not handle a webpage I use Safari. But really both are capable browsers. Safari is a touch faster but FF is much more customisable and they do not break as said above. I've used FF for years and not had one break on me. It's much better then the above poster says it is. Really if you pick either of those you'll have a pretty much trouble free experience browsing the internet.

As said above I would steer away from Google Chrome at the moment. It's a good browser. But it's logging everything I do and needing to be constantly updated ot me is a security risk. As in I don't want what I do all over the world. Hence I have not used this browser too much. But if those issues with it go away I'll try it again.

Opera is not that bad either. It's pretty fast. But it's really bare bones. You visit your webpage and no more. Very plain. It works though. But it's not for me.

 

[leicamaster]

Camino is my favorite. Its very smooth and feels like Safari without all the crashing. Shiira is another good one. Its a nice browser and is usually my main browser on my desktop. Firefox is good but Camino is better and made also by Mozilla.

 

[Collin Bl]

Safari is my browser of choice but have to use Firefox to change my Linksys settings - wont Apply changes in Safari for some reason.

 

[vansmith]

Opera is not that bad either. It's pretty fast. But it's really bare bones. You visit your webpage and no more. Very plain. It works though. But it's not for me.

I was going to say quite the opposite. One of the primary complaints of Opera is that it has too many features. In fact, it has pioneered many features that were later adapted by other browsers including speed dial (I think) and I believe it was one of the first browsers to have tabs. It has bookmark and speed dial syncing built-in and Opera Turbo which is great for people with slow connections (it compresses your page and sends you the quality reduced version of that page). Now, it is harder to get plugins - you really have to rely on UserJS for this one (AFAIK).

As you can tell, I like Opera. I use it in conjunction with Firefox but with the new Opera 10.5 beta, I find myself using Opera more and more.

 

[86Apex]

As has been said before, Firefox will pretty much do whatever you need. The functionality of all the extensions makes browsing so much easier for me than unsing Safari. In my experience, Safari actually seems to load slower than Firefox, especially media content such as Flash pages. But really at the end of the day it comes down to preference. Try Safarai, Firefox, Camino and even Shiira.

Camino is my favorite. Its very smooth and feels like Safari without all the crashing. Shiira is another good one. Its a nice browser and is usually my main browser on my desktop. Firefox is good but Camino is better and made also by Mozilla.

Speaking of, I haven't used Shiira for years now but really liked it when I did. Is it still updated/supported? It really showed a lot of promise at the time but wasn't fully functional to use on a day to day basis.

 

[alexsd123]

In fact, it has pioneered many features that were later adapted by other browsers including speed dial (I think) and I believe it was one of the first browsers to have tabs.

I feel sorry for Opera, as many features are "stolen" by other web browsers. What's next, Firefox Turbo?

I use Safari & Opera, no Chrome for me as I dislike the UI. FF is a pretty nice browser, I just don't use it often.

 

[leicamaster]

As has been said before, Firefox will pretty much do whatever you need. The functionality of all the extensions makes browsing so much easier for me than unsing Safari. In my experience, Safari actually seems to load slower than Firefox, especially media content such as Flash pages. But really at the end of the day it comes down to preference. Try Safarai, Firefox, Camino and even Shiira.



Speaking of, I haven't used Shiira for years now but really liked it when I did. Is it still updated/supported? It really showed a lot of promise at the time but wasn't fully functional to use on a day to day basis.

Shiira is still supported and is extremely smooth.

 

[alexsd123]

I think the Mac platform actually has MANY more good quality browsers than Windows does.

Like what?? lol

Opera is 10x better on Windows, Chrome is also better on Windows...

Safari is still the best browser out for OSX as of right now.

 

[louishen]

Safari is great
Firefox is my favorite
But am currently giving Chrome a go

 

[vansmith]

Opera is 10x better on Windows

I assume you're referring to integration. If so, you would be correct. This is going to change with Opera 10.5 (currently in beta) which has been rewritten with Cocoa so it will act and look more like a native Mac app. Get it here. Remember, that is a beta so don't be surprised if it crashes on you.

 

[alexsd123]

I assume you're referring to integration. If so, you would be correct. This is going to change with Opera 10.5 (currently in beta) which has been rewritten with Cocoa so it will act and look more like a native Mac app. Get it here. Remember, that is a beta so don't be surprised if it crashes on you.

I have tried the beta and it is a great improvement over 10.10. It now includes the new multi-touch gestures, but Safari still seems to beat Opera out by a lot in terms of performance. When I scroll down a webpage in Opera, the movement is jagged as if I was using a scrolling wheel on a mouse. I was hoping for smoother scrolling like in Safari, Chrome, FF etc. (smooth scrolling has the same effect as normal scrolling).

On Windows, Opera blows all of the other browsers out of the park in terms of performance, integration, and features. I am still waiting for this to happen in OSX and this next version is one step closer.

 

[vansmith]

The beta is still a little rough around the edges. I've been following development closely and it has progressed nicely. As for the speed, it blows through JS and is now finally comparable to, if not faster than, Safari at JS. Results differ every time but try running the Sunspider JS benchmark for both the Opera beta and Safari and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Integration has come a long way too. Being written in Cocoa has finally made Opera blend in a little as opposed to sticking out like a sore thumb. I do agree with you about the scrolling (and we aren't the only ones either).

 

[86Apex]

Shiira is still supported and is extremely smooth.

Okay, so I tried Shiira again after your comment. This is what I got opening it for the first time....

And every time I've tried opening it since.

I'm a little confused though because on Shiira's wiki it says that the latest stable release is 2.3 and was updated 6 days ago, but I can't find 2.3, only 2.2 which was released in 2007. Where do I get the latest version?

 

[alexsd123]

The beta is still a little rough around the edges. I've been following development closely and it has progressed nicely. As for the speed, it blows through JS and is now finally comparable to, if not faster than, Safari at JS. Results differ every time but try running the Sunspider JS benchmark for both the Opera beta and Safari and you might be pleasantly surprised.

I'll be darned, Opera beat out Safari in my tests!

450ms - Opera 10.5
500ms - Safari 4

On my old Windows Machine (2.0 gHZ single core Pentium) with a messed up GPU. This was a BLOWOUT!

1200ms - Opera 10.5
20000ms - Internet Explorer 8

 

[vansmith]

I'll be darned, Opera beat out Safari in my tests!

450ms - Opera 10.5
500ms - Safari 4

On my old Windows Machine (2.0 gHZ single core Pentium) with a messed up GPU. This was a BLOWOUT!

1200ms - Opera 10.5
20000ms - Internet Explorer 8

Yeah, the new Carakan JS engine is really fast. Which is nice considering how slow the JS engine is in 10.1 (try Sunspider with 10.1 and you'll see what I mean).

 

[EndlessMac]

When it comes to other browsers and other free software i think the best solution is for people to try them out for themselves. They are free. As people can see from this discussion everyone seems to like different browsers for different reasons.

I tend to use Firefox as my main browser but I have several installed: Firefox, Safari, Camino, Chrome, Opera, and I did have Shiira at one point. The thing I like is the competition which means each browser is trying to be better instead of the follow the herd mentality that some IE users have.

Okay, so I tried Shiira again after your comment. This is what I got opening it for the first time....

And every time I've tried opening it since.

I'm a little confused though because on Shiira's wiki it says that the latest stable release is 2.3 and was updated 6 days ago, but I can't find 2.3, only 2.2 which was released in 2007. Where do I get the latest version?

You shouldn't believe everything you read on Wikipedia since no person in authority usually updates those things. I haven't used Shiira in a long time but from their website it looks like version 2.2 is still in beta form. Their main page is showing a lot of build releases and fixes.

 

[86Apex]

When it comes to other browsers and other free software i think the best solution is for people to try them out for themselves. They are free. As people can see from this discussion everyone seems to like different browsers for different reasons.

I tend to use Firefox as my main browser but I have several installed: Firefox, Safari, Camino, Chrome, Opera, and I did have Shiira at one point. The thing I like is the competition which means each browser is trying to be better instead of the follow the herd mentality that some IE users have.


You shouldn't believe everything you read on Wikipedia since no person in authority usually updates those things. I haven't used Shiira in a long time but from their website it looks like version 2.2 is still in beta form. Their main page is showing a lot of build releases and fixes.

True. I didn't want to download a nightly build though since I was under the impression that 2.3 was already out. Oh well, maybe I'll just keep an eye on this and try when the next stable release comes out. Thanks.