Why use Safari over Chrome or Firefox?

[scarred]

I use Safari cause I hate Flash. I don't install it.

A lot of websites are finally doing something right, because a lot more videos are starting to show up (thank the iPad for this). Firefox doesn't have h.264 support, so you definitely need flash with it. And Chrome has flash built in (fall back for when I "must" see something).

Also, Safari is fast. And gesture browsing on the MBA is very nice.

[smeggsmeg]

I use Safari i was blown away by how drastically it has improved with 6.

• The addition of being able to search in the address bar was a welcomed improvement.
• I can now watch the pages loading in address bar which seems more appropriate than looking at the bottom of the page.
• The speed the page renders has significantly improved, i was happy with it before but now its much better.

Unfortunatly it isn't perfect and one annoyance for me in Safari which forces me to use Chrome is when purchasing from sites which then do those card validations things where your enter a character from password which corresponds to the number position they requested. It never loads up on Safari. Does anybody else get this problem?

Firefox is not even worth me installing now. I could go and make a brew quicker than a page loads. Its a shame as it was my default pre version 3.

[CylonGlitch]

Is it just me or does Chrome under ML no longer have it's own Flash? I tried it this morning and it gave me the same prompt as in Safari, Please install the Latest Flash Player. . . which I won't do.. that was the only reason I kept Chrome around. I guess I could try re-installing Chrome and see if that fixes it.

[throAU]

Safari is already installed. It works fine.

Less software installed = less bloat, less security holes to patch.


Plus i'm addicted to coverflow history.


Safari on OS X has been fine for me since 4.x

I've noticed a few occasional rendering bugs in 6.x so far, but that's after a full day of use and a quick safari re-start fixes it.

[iDuel]

Safari is fine for me. It comes pre-installed and it works on par to Chrome after the recent 6.0 update.

[Ddyracer]

Originally Posted by audix

iTunes is slow. QuickTime is slow. Safari is slow.

The only reason I'd use Safari is because it's the only browser that plays those cute little animations on Apple's website. That's it.

Not sure what cute animations your talking about? I can see the Macs fly in when I click on the Mac menu. Click on the MBP, and I see a nice pan. All on Chrome.

[maflynn]

Originally Posted by LeandrodaFL

Ive been testing Safari and I find Firefox to be way superior. Am I missing something?

Yes, your missing personal preference. I like and use Safari. It may not be logical, or scientific but I perfer that over chrome, or firefox. Actually what is fact based, is I've found Firefox to be more bloated, and slower then Safari.

Between Safari and Chrome, its a toss up, and I chose Safari

[AzN1337c0d3r]

I've always been bothered by Safari not having the Awesome Bar. Now that they've put it in, I have switched.

The hardware accelerated rendering is a plus. It feels just as smooth as an iOS browser now.

[kpgh554]

Originally Posted by cocky jeremy

Firefox looks and performs like a pile of dog crap.

i agree their new updates have completely f@*&%d it up as always freezing having to force quit. their copy of operas speed dial and safaris top sites is a useless joke.

[Grannyville7989]

I use Safari on OS X for the same reason why I use Internet Explorer on Windows and Firefox on Ubuntu. It comes bundled with the OS, it does what I need it to do, and I haven't had any issues or problems that has made me want to switch to another browser.

[jahala]

I think Safari is a great browser. It is plenty fast for me, well integrated into the system, has had native support for downloading youtube videos for at least the last three major versions, and has awesome swipe gestures for browsing.

I have tried Chrome, Firefox, and Opera on the mac and none of them work as well as Safari for me on the pages I visit.

[audix]

Originally Posted by Ddyracer

Not sure what cute animations your talking about? I can see the Macs fly in when I click on the Mac menu. Click on the MBP, and I see a nice pan. All on Chrome.

Not that. If you view it in Safari, the Retina Macbook and new iPad pages have all kinds of crazy animations floating all over the place and such. It's really cool.

[JuanGuapo]

I'm always surprised when people use Chrome on a Mac. On a PC I understand but I see little reason to use Chrome outside of its customization when compared to Safari.

Since they're all free, there's little reason to not have more than one installed....

For me:

1) Safari (primary, preferred)
2) Firefox (backup, mainly for compatibility reasons)
3) Camino (backup)

My only issue against Chrome is it was chewing the battery down on my early '11 MBP (dual GPU). The reason for this was Chrome tended to prefer using the discrete GPU over integrated for hardware acceleration, thus dropping battery life. Moreover, I've had Chrome crash randomly on both my Macs, randomly, for little or no reason that I can think of. Safari rarely crashes, same with FFX.

My opinion: FFX is probably the most well-rounded web browser of the bunch, and it doesn't rail on the discrete GPU like Chrome does. It's quick, simple, and very customizable. Excellent browser, I'm very happy with it.

On the other hand, Safari is a great, clean, simple browser that does its job well. My favorite thing about Safari is how clean and simplistic it is. The "Reader" function is by far my favorite feature in Safari.

Using Safari or FFX, I'd have to say that battery life on my MBP is arguably better under Safari (namely because of FFX's extensions). Both are 64-bit as well.

[richard.mac]

1. It's already there
2. Apple develops it, so will always integrate better with OS X.
3. Seems to load pages just as fast as other good browsers. I feel Javascript is just as quick as Chrome.
4. Toolbar is slim, lightweight, no huge fonts.
5. Fast animations and smooth scrolling
6. Great keyboard shortcuts, Chrome ones feel a bit more Windows.

1 Caveat. Why does Safari Web Content chew so much RAM for things I'll probably not want to browse again? Videos, hi res pictures I've already seen. If I haven't browsed it for ages, clear it from the active RAM.

Also for Safari 6, don't like how RSS is gone and there's a huge Reader button on the right.

[Vizin]

.

[Ddyracer]

Originally Posted by audix

Not that. If you view it in Safari, the Retina Macbook and new iPad pages have all kinds of crazy animations floating all over the place and such. It's really cool.

Image
Image

I can't tell from a blurry screenshot. Maybe make a video?

[audix]

Originally Posted by Ddyracer

I can't tell from a blurry screenshot. Maybe make a video?

Turn down the volume and it can be seen like 20 something seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBoX786ZZgM

[scarred]

Originally Posted by Vizin

You can disable flash on any browser.

Installing it is a crime in itself. :P Web developers need to realize we don't want it anymore, and to stop using it. "Clicktoflash" type addons still tells the server you have flash. The message is starting to get through, but still kinda slow... web sites like the verge are still using it.

Firefox does not support h.264 directly like Safari. A lot of videos are starting to 'just work' in Safari, but not in firefox. You really need flash if you use firefox.

Chrome has flash built in. Dislike using it because of all the flash ads (again, those are starting to go away, but not quick enough). I'm not going to install Ad Blocker, no point... use safari without flash, and the ads aren't bad at all.

[Ddyracer]

Originally Posted by audix

Turn down the volume and it can be seen like 20 something seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBoX786ZZgM

Yep i see that on chrome.

vid:

[audix]

Originally Posted by Ddyracer

Yep i see that on chrome.

vid:

YouTube: video

Whut ... but you're using a Mac though...

I don't see that on any of my browsers on Windows 7.

I could see it on my iPhone with Chrome browser. Is it a video or HTML 5? The animations are cool, and as you scroll down you can see all sorts of stuff like the backlit keyboard.

Kinda creepy but cool.

[Ddyracer]

Originally Posted by audix

Whut ... but you're using a Mac though...

I don't see that on any of my browsers on Windows 7.

I could see it on my iPhone with Chrome browser. Is it a video or HTML 5? The animations are cool, and as you scroll down you can see all sorts of stuff like the backlit keyboard.

Kinda creepy but cool.

You mean the the MBPR animation? It's most likely HTML 5 yes. Don't really know why you can't see it on Windows. Maybe Apple detects your machine and blocks it out. Or maybe your missing HTMl 5? It could many things.

[Mr. Retrofire]

Originally Posted by Ddyracer

Yep i see that on chrome.

vid:

YouTube: video

I see the same animation in a virtualized version (VMware Fusion v3.x.x) of Leopard 10.5.8 with Safari v5.0.6. Nothing special. Even the VMware virtual graphics card can do it. The only problem i see is that i must reload the page to see the animation.

[audix]

Originally Posted by Ddyracer

You mean the the MBPR animation? It's most likely HTML 5 yes. Don't really know why you can't see it on Windows. Maybe Apple detects your machine and blocks it out. Or maybe your missing HTMl 5? It could many things.

What's really cool though is there's some behind-the-scenes stuff going on with the website, because it tracks how you've scrolled down. Like they look like still images, until you've scrolled down to it, and then they start to move.

I wonder if Apple keeps track of what people look at on their site?

No other site has this.

[Ddyracer]

Originally Posted by Mr. Retrofire

I see the same animation in a virtualized version (VMware Fusion v3.x.x) of Leopard 10.5.8 with Safari v5.0.6. Nothing special. Even the VMware virtual graphics card can do it. The only problem i see is that i must reload the page to see the animation.

I never said it was special. I was just proving that it could be seen on chrome on the mac. Next time, track the conversation better instead of jumping in please.

[philden]

I prefer to use Safari because of the preference to disable tabs completely. This can be done in Firefox but is more complicated. I haven't seriously tried Chrome.