Safari: seems best for my mac I guess - but it isn't as fast as "Chrome beta 4.0.201.1"
Chrome: super fast but the only problem is with the Chrome is that i can hear my fans go nutsss if I use it for more than 5 minutes or so.. (not sure why!)
Firefox: it's good, but I got bored of the interface
Opera: seems pretty good but not as fast as Chrome
So what browser do you guys like best & suggest, please vote and leave a comment.
my experience is Safari first then Firefox for everything Safari can not do.
You will never be able to live with one browser that is fact..
Safari can not handle my login to a Government Tax system for filing online, also programing of routers.
so therefore i use firefox.
but everything else is safari.. annoying but it is life.
i have not voted in your poll because it does not have an option of combos...
i can not vote for one browser, when life is not that easy.
Is iCab the browser that I guess specialized in optimizing speed and like have a bunch of tabs? I'll research it, and I've never heard of Omniweb... I'll check that out as well..
For making the web look good: Safari. Speed-wise Safari has come a long way (4.0 is quite nice).
I used to prefer Camino, but I change enough things in bookmarks regularly (iPhone syncing and all that) that I want the changes to be there without having to do a whole export/import procedure. If Safari could handle cookies the way Camino or Firefox do then it would be no contest. Alternatively, if Camino used the Webkit rendering engine it would be my choice.
1. Safari. I use it for everything.
2. I keep Firefox around to test web pages, to troubleshoot Safari, and because a number of my clients use it.
3. Flock is an interesting project with a unique "social/photo networking" angle so I keep it around to follow its development.
I used to also keep iCab and Camino around for the same reasons as Flock but after years of keeping an eye on them they really don't seem to be going anywhere fast so I finally decided to stop wasting my time with them. It's kind of like waiting for Windows to fix the bugs, you know?
FWIW, if you want the speed you find with Chrome but use Safari check out the WebKit nightlies. Chrome 4.0 betas have a newer version of WebKit than what you have in Safari 4.0.3. The WebKit nightlies tend to stay a day or two ahead of the Chrome betas but that really shouldn't matter to anyone.
Firefox is worth keeping around - I prefer the WebKit based browsers (Safari and Chrome) for the speed but some sites still don't like WebKit based browsers and Firefox will work just fine on them.
Then I guess you didn't customize it to your liking.
That is why I stay a Firefox devotee. It is open source and there are hundreds of addons to customize it in almost every way imaginable. I have been using FireFox almost since it first came out and I have now customized it to the point that it is almost an extension of the way I think and work.
Consequently every time I try and give Safari a whirl I find it to be a frustrating experience. It doesn't "fit" me. I have to adjust and accommodate it.
Until I can "tailor" Safari to fit me the way I can with Firefox, a Firefox devotee I will be...
I like Safari, but like it less since it went 64 bit. I'm not willing to give up 64 bit, but Adblock no longer works. I feel like I went from TIVO to bunny ears, although I'm better informed about what websites want to sell me...
I use Firefox for company sites that haven't been authored for Safari.
The best browser was Mosaic - without Flash, Java, and other bits of bloat that slow everything down.
But for modern browsers, I think FireFox is the best simply because of the add-ins that make web browsing bearable, like AdBlock. FlashBlock, and AutoStopPlay. This despite the lagging rendering speed and general slowness of FireFox. Camino might be a good alternative, but I could never get Camino add-ins to work.
Safari is a good browser, but without add-ins, it is relegated to select sites that are not heavy on adding useless animated crud. Safari remains broken on many sites, so even if someone likes Safari, they end up needing FireFox or Interglitch Exploder anyways. One of the advantages of Safari is that it has a far more efficient interface that conserves screen space for the web page - something that can be done with FireFox but only with a great deal of effort and lots of noodling with various files. The other advantages include: the Activity Window, which FireFox lacks; as well as being able to do bulk downloads from a text file listing, another thing FireFox can't do.
And that is the best thing about OSX, one can have a number of browsers and use them at will; unlike Windoze where one is always stuck with IE, and any other browsers can not take advantage of any advanced features because Windoze allows IE only. I have and use a number of browsers for various tasks, and all cooperate with no problems under OSX.
On a Mac, which sites don't work for you in Safari?
I haven't used Internet Explorer on my work PC for years, except to test stuff. I've used Safari since the day it came out, and it works fine for every purpose.
Actually, I preferred uucp straight up on a VAX - but Mosaic was fine enough. I think they just add too much garbage these days to many sites, while getting rid of actual content. I preferred pine as a mail reader as well...
Using a much more complete browser list MacOSXHints comes up with these results:
Note that the Safari/FireF*cks split is roughly similar to this current ehMac poll.
For me the only two options are Safari and Firefox. Safari is clearly a much faster browser with a clean slick interface: but, I just couldn't live without Firefox it's open source, and it has add ons that are almost a necessity for me as a web developer.
As such, my vote definitely goes to Firefox.
Right now I'm saying Safari, because it's the browser that I generally use and has a good balance between speed and attractive UI. That said, Chrome looks interesting, especially with the speed of Google's JavaScript engine. It currently beats all browsers in JavaScript execution speed, and there's a lot you can do with it (this NES emulator is an interesting example JSNES: A Javascript NES emulator ).
Given though that there's not too many apps that are that JavaScript intensive, I'm still sticking with Safari, which is more visually appealing.
To HowEver: I choose to run Safari in 32-bit mode so I gain the Adblock back, but it's LIGHTNING fast for me, as in so quick I often DON'T SEE the change from the "topics" page to the "thread" page! I'm not sure that I'm giving up much here on my BlackBook w/2GB of RAM. Maybe on a Mac Pro w/8GB I'd notice.
Someone else claimed that Safari does not have "plug-ins." I'm here to tell you that is incorrect. I have Adblock (and there are other such adblockers for Safari), ClicktoFlash (and there are other flashblockers for Safari) and SafariCookie (and there are other cookie managers for Safari). There's a whole website devoted to these and many other add-ons for Safari.
Firefox is still way ahead when it comes to things you can plug into it, of course, but Safari does have a plug-in "market" as well.
Sorry chas_m, I know the point you are making and you do concede that FireFox is way ahead in the plugin or addon department, but I couldn't resist showing just how far ahead they are.... like light years. :lmao:
Due to the lack of a proper plug-in architecture, most enhancements for Safari are “haxies”. That is, SIMBL modules or InputManagers that inject code into Safari in places where it was never intended by Apple. Though this approach has produced many useful plugins for Safari, they can often lead to instability in the browser.
Firefox, it is cross platform and can make a windows box look more like a mac with plugins. I also enjoy the fact that I am not forced to use google when using the built in surch box.
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