Firefox or Safari - which is the better browser?

[ArcticStones]

Which browser do you prefer – Safari or Firefox? (or other)
Now that Firefox 1.0 is released, perhaps we can compare the products.

Best regards,
ArcticStones

[Craig R. Arko]

Since you're asking for software reviews, moving this to the News and Reviews forum...

And while they're at it, perhaps OmniWeb 5.x could be figured into the mix as well? Or, there could be a separate thread if you prefer to limit it to just the two.

[bobw]

I like both, but Safari seems to slow down after being open using multiple tabs for a few hours, and it's very slow to quit. Firefox quits almost instantly.

[CAlvarez]

"Best" is subjective. I prefer Firefox. I still use Safari on my home iMac for light occasional use, but for constant use I have Firefox on my PowerBook. There are a lot of little details that make Firefox better for me. I also find it more site-compatible in general.

[ulrichm]

I prefer Firfox and it has been my browser for the past year or so. Of course, I have Safari installed, but I do not use it. What I like about Firefox are especially the speed and the plugins (ads, Gmail etc).

[mnewman]

A few things I don't like about Firefox:

- No "close" box on individual tabs.

- Command-W doesn't close the first tab in a window.

- Can't sync bookmarks via DotMac.

[Craig R. Arko]

Poll added...


But don't just vote: Review.

[ArcticStones]

Thanks for adding the poll and including the other browsers. That could encourage an even more worthwhile and nuanced discussion.

By the way, anyone use Opera? Still using it? I used to use it before Safari came along.

Maybe we should add Internet Explorer as a separate, explicit choice on the list. For the sake of balance, of course...

[MBHockey]

I have been using Camino, but Safari seemed to catch up to it (page rendering speed) in its latest version.

I find Safari in conjunction with Saft the best combo. Firefox is simply too bloated for my likes on OS X. I haven't used it in a while though...i will go try it out now.

[Craig R. Arko]

Quote: Originally Posted by ArcticStones Thanks for adding the poll and including the other browsers. That could encourage an even more worthwhile and nuanced discussion. By the way, anyone use Opera? Still using it? I used to use it before Safari came along. Maybe we should add Internet Explorer as a separate, explicit choice on the list. For the sake of balance, of course...

Your wish is my command. Or as K9 would say "Affirmative, master."

[frankko]

Quote: Originally Posted by mnewman - Can't sync bookmarks via DotMac.

Although it doesn't work with .mac, there is this:

http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/list...marks#booksync

It's free and works with standard FTP accounts.

[cwtnospam]

Quote: Originally Posted by bobw I like both, but Safari seems to slow down after being open using multiple tabs for a few hours, and it's very slow to quit. Firefox quits almost instantly.

I thought I was the only one! I've got a dual 2 ghz G5 and Firefox has never lasted more than a minute before crashing. I don't even try to run it anymore.

[pakkman781]

Firefox is nice, but I still like Safari better, I guess it's because of all of the problems I had with the Mozilla engine back when I used Netscape in OS9. I guess the other reason is, because Safari is made by apple I like first party standard apps, and like them even better when they are awesome!

[hitsuzen]

I think Firefox is a great browser and I use it exclusively when I'm on my pc. On My Macs, I tend to use either Safari or Shiira though I do have Firefox installed.

I voted for Shiira, Since I'm using more of that nowadays. I dont
know much about the technical side of things, but it feels like Safari, same shortcut keys plus I prefer my toolbar controls ( back,reload etc) to be on my top right and the google bar on the top left and I can move them from
their default locations in Shiira( and Firefox).

[elbimbo]

I used to like Safari after even the beta versions of Firefox were better. With Firefox 1 out, I can say Firefox is much better.

[Gary54]

Related to the above and a few of the emotionally charged comments that have appeared in this thread.

The Mac community is a small one, its taken a hard headed and determined mind set to stick with it because the users believed in it through the rough years. You have to buck the system daily to be a Mac user.

Just by shear market forces and weight of numbers, most if not all of the prior browsers and other net freeware such as chat clients or the like released for Mac have been half assed ports from some other OS or by and by bone tosses with poor functionality and stripped down feature sets. Not many people spend a lot of effort creating something to compete for 5% of the market or less. I include the Mozilla folks in that.

Considering what HAS been released for Mac OS in the past that DID utilize and leverage the OS >as it existed for what it would actually do< that worked incredibly well ... Cyberdog, Hotline, Anarchie, MTNewsWatcher, BBEdit, Graphic Converter, IPNetRouter .. to name a few, these folks like good ol uncle billy boy and his jack booted nazis have done no favors for me in years past.

Safari has set a standard and given the other folks a target to shoot at.

But they didn't bother with giving us anything decent before, why should I bother with using their products now? I've been giving OmniWeb a whirl around the block, they seem to have the Mac spirit down pretty well and its a damn nice piece of work... if I was unhappy with Safari, I think I'd plunk down 30 bucks on that first.

Gary

[melg]

I've been using Firefox since pre-release back in March, when I discovered that Safari and my favorite browser, OmniWeb, did not handle Typepad composing and Gmail properly.

Yes, I do hate that I can't spellcheck or use Nissus Thesaurus with services in Firefox, but I like being able to just go to a site and have everything work.

So, I still voted for OmniWeb, but I'm using Firefox a great deal too!

[rhebert1]

I voted for OmniWeb (5.1) and it is my default. I have OmniWeb, Safari, Firefox, Mozilla, Camino and always end up with OmniWeb. Maybe it's loyalty for being the first really acceptable browser for OSX or maybe it's because it renders so well (pages look better in OmniWeb). It's not the fastest, but the tab implementation is excellent (especially on a wide screen... PB 15") and having them in a drawer with the label showing the different titles (a bunch of tabs for the same forum show the topic title, like Safari, but not Firefox) and it is much more convenient to scroll up/down than having a smaller and smaller list of tabs (ok I don't use the preview view). And another thing workspaces and site preferences are difficult (for me) to do without once tried. I use Firefox at work on a Windows machine (once upon a time we were a Mac company damn......) and like it a lot, but I really think OmniWeb on the Mac is special.

[Gary54]

you in that .. more I use it .. the more I like it.

[Phil St. Romain]

I have an earlier post favoring Firefox, as I'd used it only a short time and was impressed. I don't use Services much, so the lack of development here doesn't bother me, but I can see Racer's point about why that would be a fuller integration with the potentialities available in OS X.

Maybe it's just me, but after a few days, Firefox won't bring up a minimized page when I click on the app icon; it won't open a new page that way either. Anyone else have this problem?