Why Safari And Firefox Got Dumped. Tera’s Browser.

In celebration of Tera’s ‘eventual’ return to writing, the following is an encore publication of the most read article of Mac360. By Tera, of course…

“Next to email, we probably use our browsers more than most other applications (general purpose) on the Mac. Apple did some great things with Safari, now easily the Mac’s most popular browser.

I stopped using Safari. It was causing me grief. Firefox looked too much like Windows. Here’s what I use now and you’ll be surprised.

First, what I’m using now is not Mozilla’s very popular and highly acclaimed Firefox, although it’s a great browser, very fast, and might provide the best experience ever for Windows users.

Firefox is as fast as they get at page rendering, has plenty of features and competes well with Safari. I’m not using Firefox except for select sites when checking HTML. It has too much of a “Windows” feel for me. And if you’ve read my past articles, you’ll remember that ‘I Don’t Do Windows™.’

What am I using as my main browser? Well, if it’s not Safari or Firefox, the choices get slim, don’t they? There’s Mozilla, Camino, Opera, iCab, and OmniWeb. Of those, I agree with Alex Kayhill’s recent review, OmniWeb shines. But it crashes too often for me.

Safari crashed occasionally, too. The recent upgrades have been good if not noteworthy. Safari’s bookmark and tabs use is about as good as it can get. I actually like the brushed aluminum finish on Apple’s major applications, including Safari.

If it’s so good why would I switch?

I just got tired of the quirks, crashes, and oddities. The “spinning beachball” caused me the most grief. I use a browser more than email. Each day I visit a few hundred web sites, and use Safari to edit our own Mac web site. That means lots of windows are open and Javascript is flowing like good wine on a date with Anna Nicole.

And I found something faster, and, well, mostly better.

Clicking from window to window (many open windows) seemed to give Safari fits. Spinning beachball. Delayed response in filling in forms. Check the feedback on VersionTracker. Others have the same problems. And more.

Don’t get me wrong. I like a little browser competition and considering the fact that Microsoft has all but ignored the browser (except for scurrying around trying to patch security holes all the time) on Mac and Windows for over two years, Apple’s Safari and the other Mac browsers are a stream of fresh air.

The best browser is Camino. OmniWeb is an extremely close and debatable second. Then Safari. Then Firefox and Opera in a dead heat.

What? You’ve never heard of Camino? Think of it as Firefox for the Mac. Outside of Safari, Camino is easily the most Mac-like of the browsers available for Mac OS X. It’s also been the slowest to develop (now at version 0.8.4, with a 1.0a release available) but that extra care shows.

First, Camino is based on the guts of Firefox (based on Mozilla’s Gecko engine), so it’s quick. So quick that it outperforms Safari. Yes, Camino is faster at rendering full web pages than Safari, or OmniWeb.

How is that possible? I don’t know, I just use it. I timed a bunch of sites and the pages render faster. In fact, there’s a notable “snap” at times. Plus, Camino renders pages that sometimes gives Safari fits; especially pages with plenty of Javascript.

That brings me to my biggest issue with Safari and why Camino is looking slicker than a Brit’s slicker in January.

Javascript abounds these days. It’s everywhere. Most ads are served with bits of Javascript. Not all broswers handle Javascript well, and Safari has its share of problems, often choking completely on some JS sites.

Not so with Camino.

We use a content management system to power our web site. That means we can use a web browser to edit pages, Templates, and more. EE has some built in Javascript functions which make life very easy when editing code, changing pages, and the like. Safari doesn’t cut it and the functions have to be edited by hand. Camino handles it with ease. Firefox, too. Not Safari.

On the lighter side, I like Safari’s tabbed browsing implementation, and bookmarks. But not so much that Camino is overshadowed. It’s not.

Other readers have found Safari and Firefox quirks, too. Reader “mike” from the UK took issue with Alex’ glowing review of Firefox.

Though “mike” likes Safari a bit more than Camino he rated it well above Firefox and others.

Camino is worth a long look. It’s a free download, so there’s little to lose. I like the fact that it’s not stuck in a “Windows look” like Firefox and feels like a Mac application through and through.

Fast? Download, install, and try out a few pages. Use either the stable 0.8.4 version, or the even faster 1.0.x version. Then try Safari. What do you think? Pretty quick, huh? Just as nice is the quick and painless way to import Safari bookmarks.

The extra page loading speed and few Javascript quirks were enough to get me to use Camino regularly. Now I won’t go back except during my once-every-few-month-check. To be sure, most visitors to our web site use Safari; just under 60-percent. About 20-percent are Windows users. Mozilla/Firefox usage has increased notably over the past few months, at Microsoft’s expense (they can afford it), at nearly 10-percent.

Camino is often the “forgotten” browser. It’s based on the same engine as Firefox but uses a Cocoa front end (hence the look and feel of a Mac application) but feels faster, much faster. I love the customizable toolbar. Moving icons around up there makes the experience that much more “personal.”

Should you switch? I recognize that a browser is something personal for many Mac users. Safari really “feels” great (you gotta love that blue progress bar at the top). It’s not perfect, though. So give Camino a try.

Is Camino perfect? No. Very fast, very familiar, handles Javascript well. Solid, dependable, and gets out of my way when I’m working. That’s what I want. That’s what the Mac does best. So does Camino.

Not convinced? What’s the difference between Camino and OmniWeb? The former is free, the latter is pay for. If features are what you’re after, OmniWeb is king, you’ll pay, then Opera and you won’t.

OmniWeb is almost a Swiss Army Knife browser. So is Opera. The major benefit is that the Mac and Windows versions are nearly identical, so cross-platform browsing is easier (as with Firefox).

Still, I’m a Mac user from waaaaay back. Simplicity, speed, and ‘Mac-like.’ Review? Camino is the best ‘all around’ browser. OmniWeb is the most feature-rich and still retains a ‘Mac feel.’ Safari on Tiger is a huge improvement but lacks the right simplicity and some features.

For example, why does it ask you if you’re sure you want to go into private browsing mode? Duh.

Looking for speed? Firefox, Camino, Opera seem to have the edge. Cross platform? Opera and Firefox. Brushed aluminium? Safari. What about iCab? Aren’t there enough browsers already? MSIE? Puhleeeeze.

Camino, OmniWeb, Safari (Tiger), Firefox and Opera, then Mozilla, iCab, and last, MSIE. Comments, anyone?”

tera
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This was an encore publication of one of Tera’s most popular articles. When I met with her last week I also updated her PowerBook with the latest from Safari, OmniWeb, Opera, and the new, speedy, Firefox and Camino beta versions. And as many other updates as I could find. She’ll have opinions. We look forward to hearing from her soon.

bambi