Safari vs. Firefox

[jackc]

I'm giving Firefox a try as my default browser, I was just wondering, why is it that Firefox seems to work better with most sites that Safari has trouble with? I don't know anything about Internet standards, I was just curious given that Firefox is open source and I would think Safari would be able to do at least as well.

I still like Safari a lot, but with the extras that Firefox has (I especially like the full Google toolbar) combined with its working better on many web sites, I'm giving it a shot.

 

[MisterMe]

I'm giving Firefox a try as my default browser, I was just wondering, why is it that Firefox seems to work better with most sites that Safari has trouble with? I don't know anything about Internet standards, I was just curious given that Firefox is open source and I would think Safari would be able to do at least as well.

I still like Safari a lot, but with the extras that Firefox has (I especially like the full Google toolbar) combined with its working better on many web sites, I'm giving it a shot.

Firefox is Gecko-based. Safari is based on KHTML-based via WebKit. Both are approximately equally standard's compliant. That means that they are also equally challenged by those sites that are designed specifically for IE. Perhaps, you could give us the URL to one of the sites that works with Firefox, but not with Safari. But, my guess is that there is a problem with your specific set-up and not Safari in general.

 

[7on]

Yeah, Safari's java cache can get corrupted sometimes which causes some sites to stop working. Sometimes making Safari crash all together.

I used Firefox, but with the slow startup of the app and the slowness of Safari was fixed with 10.3.4, I switched back to Safari. I keep IE around as my backup browser though.

 

[boomtopper]

I have found that safari is really good at decoding Java.
Also Safari is partly open source due to its KHTML background. KHTML comes the KONQUERER browser on the linux platform.

 

[Redboy]

I'm on a slower machine - 350 G3 - and Firefox seems A LOT faster to me. In Safari, if one tab was loading, I couldn't seem to work independently in another tab very well. In Firefox, a slowly loading tab doesn't seem to bog down other tabs. It makes a world of difference for me.

 

[AHDuke99]

david hyatt in his blog says that safari's next update, 2.0 i guess with tiger, will have a rewritten Java engine that will be faster than IE on XP..

So I am awaiting that, I expect Safari can onlt get better, me, I still use Safari over Firefox since I can use Pithelmet in Safari..

 

[jackc]

For some reason, the instant notification didn't work for this thread, but that's another story.

AHDuke99, thanks for pointing out PithHelmet, believe it or not I had never heard of it before. That thing kicks ass. That might change my opinion.

 

[ingenious]

I find Safari faster and easier to use than FireFox, my backup browser on my PB and my default on my PC. Safari's only holdback for me is its horribly slow Java rendering! FireFox uses AFAIK, the same system-wide plugin, why is it so much faster? Sometimes Java will crash Safari, sometimes Safari won't load a java applet if you switch to a different tab while its loading! RRR I still like Safari much better though.

 

[brap]

Firefox is what Safari should be... I couldn't use Safari at all whilst I was on campus last year because of it's downright inability to use SSL through HTTP proxies.

Plus you get all of the Javascript blocking perks, and other associated bonuses. Firefox is, and has been my default browser on both platforms for a long while (since it was called Phoenix). I also find it's not susceptible to the ugly Explorer CSS bugs I keep finding during development... ugh.

Can't praise it enough.

 

[bousozoku]

I'm not sure that either browser renders pages that well. There are still a lot of sites with non-compliant code that can make a mess of any browser.

Still, Firefox is my default browser and works quite well, although I keep a number of others available. I'm not sure why startup time keeps coming into the picture but it doesn't seem important to me. I'm more concerned with overall accuracy and speed, which is where Safari doesn't do so well, for the websites I visit regularly.

Shiira seems a nice alternative to Safari, though, but isn't quite ready even if it's at version 0.9.2. I've found it to do a good job on sites which Safari handles better and I don't have to look at the brushed metal.

 

[fistful]

This might be off topic but how would I go about setting Firefox as my default browser? I'm new to Mac as of last week.

I'm on dial-up and for me Firefox seems to loads faster. Besides it's what I used on Windows so I'll stick with what I know for the time being.

 

[stcanard]

This might be off topic but how would I go about setting Firefox as my default browser? I'm new to Mac as of last week.

It's in the Safari preferences. Maybe not the most obvious position.

The good news is once you set the default, it is a real default (unlike the windows setting...)

 

[Switcherooski]

Firefox my choice on Mac and PC

I use Firefox on my Windows XP system at work and on my iMac at home. It has great support for W3C recommendations, especially CSS. As a web developer, I appreciate that a lot. I really like the Firefox features such as extensions and the ability to add other search engines in addition to Google. I've heard of problems with Safari running some JavaScript (not Java applets) but I don't recall exactly what those were.

One question I have is why you must use Safari to choose your default browser? Why is this not an option in the System Preferences?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I use Firefox on my Windows XP system at work and on my iMac at home. It has great support for W3C recommendations, especially CSS. As a web developer, I appreciate that a lot. I really like the Firefox features such as extensions and the ability to add other search engines in addition to Google. I've heard of problems with Safari running some JavaScript (not Java applets) but I don't recall exactly what those were.

One question I have is why you must use Safari to choose your default browser? Why is this not an option in the System Preferences?

Because stupid Apple decided to move it from System Preferences to Safari when they released Panther. I don't know why this was done either, and I think it was a dumb idea too. I've tried Firefox, and I like it - I prefer Safari, though. I use Shiira too (based on the same WebKit core that Safari is).

 

[radhak]

I find Safari faster and easier to use than FireFox, my backup browser on my PB and my default on my PC.

I agree, Safari works where it counts : speed and reliability. On Mac, FireFox needs quite some tune-up. I found that even Firebird (ie, earlier release of FireFox) works better than FireFox, so i gave up and use Safari most of the time.

But of course on Wintel, nothing can beat FireFox, not even IE.

 

[titaniumducky]

I agree, Safari works where it counts : speed and reliability. On Mac, FireFox needs quite some tune-up. I found that even Firebird (ie, earlier release of FireFox) works better than FireFox, so i gave up and use Safari most of the time.

But of course on Wintel, nothing can beat FireFox, not even IE.

Not even IE? IE is a horrible browser! It's slow and unresponsive. It has a billion flaws. It has no tabbed browsing. It doesn't have a popup blocker....

IE shouldn't even be considered. The phrase "not even..." implies that item is good. IE is as evil as Microsoft itself. Well, maybe not that bad but horrible enough.

 

[titaniumducky]

Camino?

How does Camino compare to Firefox. I want to download a backup browser and want to know what you guys recommend.

I could obviously download both, but I would never have a chance to test them against Safari to decide which one I like better. It'd be much more convenient just to use one.

So what do you guys think? Camino or Firefox?

 

[radhak]

Not even IE? IE is a horrible browser! It's slow and unresponsive. It has a billion flaws. It has no tabbed browsing. It doesn't have a popup blocker....

IE shouldn't even be considered. The phrase "not even..." implies that item is good. IE is as evil as Microsoft itself. Well, maybe not that bad but horrible enough.

On Wintel, it is not. It opens up pretty fast, offers a number of features, allows the 'google' bar (Netscape doesn't) and more. I have timed IE vs FireFox on Wintel a number of times, and IE was faster more than half the time. Give credit where it is due.

But it is the number and depth of extensions available for Firefox that make Firefox the real king of browsers on this platform. Many of these extensions don't work on the Mac.

 

[radhak]

How does Camino compare to Firefox. I want to download a backup browser and want to know what you guys recommend.

I could obviously download both, but I would never have a chance to test them against Safari to decide which one I like better. It'd be much more convenient just to use one.

So what do you guys think? Camino or Firefox?

I preferred Safari to Camino. The look and feel was not great for Camino. It seems to be very like Safari, without the sleekness.

 

[DGFan]

Because stupid Apple decided to move it from System Preferences to Safari when they released Panther. I don't know why this was done either, and I think it was a dumb idea too.

The reason they gave is that the new setup allows for an unlimited number of default application types. The old setup only allowed for a handful (mail, browser). The idea is that all applications of a particular type (ie. browser) will enable the particular capability in their preferences.

I can see the logic in also keeping it in the system preferences, but the new way of doing things also makes sense to me. However, it will take some time before all the existing browsers have this upgraded capability.

 

[DGFan]

But of course on Wintel, nothing can beat FireFox, not even IE.

I am running FireFox on W2K and it crashes on me at least 3-4 times a day. That lack of stability has kept me away from FF on OS X. I use Camino. It has all the features I want and never crashes.

 

[DGFan]

I preferred Safari to Camino. The look and feel was not great for Camino. It seems to be very like Safari, without the sleekness.

Are you using a version of 0.8 Camino or the older release? The old 0.7 release is put to shame by FF and Safari but the 0.8 beta just plain rules IMO

 

[wrldwzrd89]

The reason they gave is that the new setup allows for an unlimited number of default application types. The old setup only allowed for a handful (mail, browser). The idea is that all applications of a particular type (ie. browser) will enable the particular capability in their preferences.

I can see the logic in also keeping it in the system preferences, but the new way of doing things also makes sense to me. However, it will take some time before all the existing browsers have this upgraded capability.

OK - I see now. The problem is that we're in transition, and Safari is the only browser that's aware of this. Once we get out of this transitional period, this problem will go away.

 

[boomtopper]

I am suprised at how popular firefox is. I thought that safari might be more popular. Anyway i am going to check out firefox now and see how good it is.

 

[Twonk]

firefox rocks

Firefox is the fastest broswer I have used an a Mac. Safari is nice, but just that bit slower. I agree about the daft location for setting your default web browser in Safari - not at all a logical place. Firefox is also better from a web development perspective.

I still find myself having to use IE because of badly coded sites. IE 5 on the Mac is a bug ridden POS and I hate using it , but that's life until web standards are properly understood and implemented. Maybe if more poeple complained to site owners this change would come about?

Fight the power!