With Panther now out, what is the general consensus as the best non-Safari browser? I ask this because lately I've been having some annoying little problems with Safari (lagging, freezing) and want to find an alternative, at least until Safari is updated. For 95% of my browsing, Safari works great, but that 5% is getting on my nerves and IE is just too slow to load every time I need to access a page Safari is having trouble with. I've heard good things about Firebird, and it seems pretty solid, the only problem being a little window it opens that is only visible in Expose. Has anybody else experienced this?
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Best Browser for OS X
- Thread starter beefcake
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I would have said Camino before using it with Panther, and then Mozilla. However, Camino v0.7.0 doesn't work well and the latest build has major flaws--e.g., the scroll bars don't scroll.
Mozilla is best for me but there are a few websites that Safari displays much better.
Mozilla is best for me but there are a few websites that Safari displays much better.
firebird or opera (i'm not sure if opera even makes a version for the max). firebird is definitely what you want to get.
and toss ie5 or whatever you get with os9.
and toss ie5 or whatever you get with os9.
This is a legit question what with Panther just out.
Yes, Opera does make a Mac version, but it currently sucks. I use it for compatibility testing, but that's just about it.
If you're not a Safari fan, I'd say you've pretty much got Firebird, Camino, and OmniWeb to choose between.
OmniWeb has a cool interface, and it uses the same renderer as Safari--that can be a problem or a benefit, depending on the sites you surf. It's not free, though.
I still use Camino, but I admit that version 0.7 (the current stable version) has a few rendering glitches, and the current nightlies are no help. It's good enough for me to stick with at this point, but if they don't get the rendering bugs worked out in a couple months, I'll probably start seriously checking out Safari or Firebird. My wife has already gone to Safari, since the glitches are more severe on Japanese sites.
Firebird is actually looking really good. It uses a slightly newer version the gecko renderer that Camino uses, but in any case the glitches are not there--best rendering of any browser on any platform at this point, if you ask me. It doesn't look very good unless you add the Pinstripe theme (practically a requirement), but with it it's pretty good, and has a lot more preferences than Camino. Not as elegant, but still acceptable.
Mozilla is also an option, but it's just too bloated (and the Pinstripe theme hasn't been updated for the newest version) so at this point Firebird is really looking like a better choice all around. it's also the direction the Mozilla project seems to be headed overall.
iCab is plugging along as always, but unless you've got a VERY slow computer, it's mostly just good for quick HTML-validation checks.
Yes, Opera does make a Mac version, but it currently sucks. I use it for compatibility testing, but that's just about it.
If you're not a Safari fan, I'd say you've pretty much got Firebird, Camino, and OmniWeb to choose between.
OmniWeb has a cool interface, and it uses the same renderer as Safari--that can be a problem or a benefit, depending on the sites you surf. It's not free, though.
I still use Camino, but I admit that version 0.7 (the current stable version) has a few rendering glitches, and the current nightlies are no help. It's good enough for me to stick with at this point, but if they don't get the rendering bugs worked out in a couple months, I'll probably start seriously checking out Safari or Firebird. My wife has already gone to Safari, since the glitches are more severe on Japanese sites.
Firebird is actually looking really good. It uses a slightly newer version the gecko renderer that Camino uses, but in any case the glitches are not there--best rendering of any browser on any platform at this point, if you ask me. It doesn't look very good unless you add the Pinstripe theme (practically a requirement), but with it it's pretty good, and has a lot more preferences than Camino. Not as elegant, but still acceptable.
Mozilla is also an option, but it's just too bloated (and the Pinstripe theme hasn't been updated for the newest version) so at this point Firebird is really looking like a better choice all around. it's also the direction the Mozilla project seems to be headed overall.
iCab is plugging along as always, but unless you've got a VERY slow computer, it's mostly just good for quick HTML-validation checks.
Browser smackdown at Ars
Arstechnica recently did a comprehensive test of all mac browsers:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/003/software/mac/browser/mac-browsers-1.html
Pretty good, He likes safari. I too have noticed the problem with Firebird and Expose - annoying but not important, i think.
Arstechnica recently did a comprehensive test of all mac browsers:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/003/software/mac/browser/mac-browsers-1.html
Pretty good, He likes safari. I too have noticed the problem with Firebird and Expose - annoying but not important, i think.
I'm a big fan of Safari, love the tabs... IE allows some access to a few more sites but for the most part I only use Safari.
I used to be a Camino user. With IE as backup for when Camino wouldn't let me do something - like login to some site, or such. Now I'm a Safari user. I looooove Safari. It's simply superb. I've encountered only one site that doesn't work with Safari (well and my xslt demo - but i knew safari doesn't support xslt):
http://www.tiesto.com/
for this site I fire off IE, and the best part is I can do it directly in the Debug Menu of Safari.
joe.
http://www.tiesto.com/
for this site I fire off IE, and the best part is I can do it directly in the Debug Menu of Safari.
joe.
I'm using Mozilla 1.5 for browser and email. The browser has tab browsing like Safari and there are a number of "themes" that you can use to suit yourself. I'm using "Orbit 3+1". The email is pretty neat. Has "junk" mail filter that will learn. It also looks pretty good and has the ability to create folders with filters...something that I haven't been able to figure out in Entourage. Email it would be a toss-up between Mozilla and Entourage IF I could figure out filters on the later. I'm sure they are available but haven't spent enough time with it yet. Entourage does have a pretty good looking interface and if it is like Outlook is pretty powerfull. For some reason I'm just not thrilled with Apple Mail. Don't like the look. Recommend that you try Mozilla.
The new nightly build of Mozilla Firebird is so awesome. There are a few minor bugs, but this is the first browser that can take on Safari in my opinion.
Camino was great in it's day, but development seems to have slowed to a trickle.
Safari or Firebird would be my advice. You should have both on your system for sure.
Camino was great in it's day, but development seems to have slowed to a trickle.
Safari or Firebird would be my advice. You should have both on your system for sure.
Camino dev stopped entirely for a while, and has only recently restarted. The fact that it restarted is why the latest nightlies are so funky
build 2003092700 works great for me (running 10.3)
Depends what you are looking for. If you don't mind Gecko (I personally can't stand it, so Firebird and Mozilla are out) Firebird isn't too bad, but right now only the features you can access separate it from Mozilla; Firebird will eventually just be the browser part of Mozilla, but they are slow to strip unnecessary code away, IMO.
Opera is out there, but it's not that great. It's slow, it's adware, and has some standards issues. Oh, and nobody uses it.
OmniWeb uses the same rendering engine as Safari, but it's tweaked and produces nicer looking pages. Furthermore, it's chock full of features and is highly customizable. It's JavaScript is also less buggy than Safari's. The one drawback: no tabs. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of making OW slow if you have a lot of Windows open or you leave it open for long periods of time. Oh, and for some odd reason, eBay tends to crash version 4.5.
Opera is out there, but it's not that great. It's slow, it's adware, and has some standards issues. Oh, and nobody uses it.
OmniWeb uses the same rendering engine as Safari, but it's tweaked and produces nicer looking pages. Furthermore, it's chock full of features and is highly customizable. It's JavaScript is also less buggy than Safari's. The one drawback: no tabs. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of making OW slow if you have a lot of Windows open or you leave it open for long periods of time. Oh, and for some odd reason, eBay tends to crash version 4.5.
Mozilla and Firebird.
Both them normally get updates ever so often alot Windows users use Mozilla if that says anything about IE I don't know what. I figure the next version of Safari 1.2 should fix alot of the current issues such as Java pages crashing the browser and somethings not displaying properly.
Both them normally get updates ever so often alot Windows users use Mozilla if that says anything about IE I don't know what. I figure the next version of Safari 1.2 should fix alot of the current issues such as Java pages crashing the browser and somethings not displaying properly.
Originally posted by Catfish_Man
Camino dev stopped entirely for a while, and has only recently restarted. The fact that it restarted is why the latest nightlies are so funky
build 2003092700 works great for me (running 10.3)
That would explain how I can move the slider in the scroll bar as much as I want and that's all that happens.
It seems odd that Safari is now more consistent for me since I've installed Panther.