What browser do you use?

[michael.lauden]

After watching a number of threads devolve into pissing contests, I'm going to take my chances and jump in where angels fear to tread.

Is it absolutely necessary for everyone to get so "territorial" about such an idiotically unimportant issue as what browser a person uses??? The original poster just wanted a poll of how many people use what. And yet within just a few posts Clevin and SnowLeopard2008 had already gotten into, as someone else so eloquently put it, a hissy fit!

Seriously??? Are people so bored that they no longer have any tolerance of another person's opinion? Are we all still in first grade?

I remember a time when coming to forums like these was fun and informative.....


To answer the original poster, I used to use Firefox exclusively. But I got tired of it not conforming to OS X usability standards as well as other browsers. Not using the Keychain, somewhat choppy scrolling behavior, fonts that don't look quite right, etc. Its definitely a good browser, and for some the plugins may make it a necessity. For me though, I'm currently switching between Safari, iCab (which now uses WebKit and is amazingly fast and configurable), and Camino (more compliant interface and integration with OS X while still using Gecko). Haven't decided which of the 3 I like better.

it's more of a conversation. i'm pretty sure they don't hate each other. plus both have valid points. when you become a moderator you can help us out. but this post just adds noise.



any way - IMO firefox is slower than Safari - but im just tired of the only bug i've encountered in Safari 4 - which is the address bar doesn't select, and you can't hit tab to enter the google search bar. you have to click the google and then click the address bar.

 

[NeXTLoop]

i tolerate other people's opinion, now, fake facts are what i will never tolerate. When those are floating around. Nobody can be informed.

I don't accuse people lie alot, not at all, I do have a long track record on what I say. I do that only when its getting blatant.

Having read both of your posts, and used both browsers in question, the simple fact is that you're both right. There are some things that FF is faster at. But right now, WebKit is also making some serious gains in speed. Even independent testing is showing that Safari is faster in most areas than FF.

Here's a link to a CNet article concluding that, for the time being, Safari 4 is the faster browser on the planet:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49301219,00.htm

Will it stay that way? Probably not. FF is implementing its own JS engine that should close the gap. But for now, as you like to say, the facts are the facts.

 

[clevin]

Having read both of your posts, and used both browsers in question, the simple fact is that you're both right. There are some things that FF is faster at. But right now, WebKit is also making some serious gains in speed. Even independent testing is showing that Safari is faster in most areas than FF.

Here's a link to a CNet article concluding that, for the time being, Safari 4 is the faster browser on the planet:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49301219,00.htm

Will it stay that way? Probably not. FF is implementing its own JS engine that should close the gap. But for now, as you like to say, the facts are the facts.

I was objecting to so called facts put forward by SL08 such as

Acid 3 IS web standard.
Firefox is MUCH slower.
JS IS browser speed.
Firefox doesn't pass many web standard.

Can they be further from truth?

 

[dantherevelator]

I'm a Safari man.

I find Firefox to be erratic, ugly (even with the Safari themes), and slow, but it does okay on standards most of the time.

 

[NeXTLoop]

I was objecting to so called facts put forward by SL08 such as

Acid 3 IS web standard.
Firefox is MUCH slower.
JS IS browser speed.
Firefox doesn't pass many web standard.

Can they be further from truth?

I guess I look at those statements as subjective statements in response to a post asking for people's opinions.

 

[cosmokanga2]

Safari 4 beta + Adblock

I love it and haven't ran in to many glitches. Really fast and topsites is really great.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Seriously? Do we REALLY need another of these threads?

 

[Blue Fox]

^^ It's already here, so we might as well fill it up.

I used Safari 4 for the majority of the sites I visit. There are some sites that Safari won't prompt me to save the password for, but FireFox will. So I have both running in the background all the time, depending on the site I'm browsing. But I love the speed of Safari 4......but prefer the FireFox setup.

 

[SkyBell]

Quit lying to yourself and admit that Safari is faster and passes more web standards than Firefox. Everything else (themes and scrolling) is moot and can be debated.

I don't think there is any way to tell which browser is really faster. Sure, Safari passes the Acid3 test. But that's not real world information. And there really isn't one definitive test to proove which one is faster, due to the many conditions people use those browsers under (How much RAM they have, what OS they're running, etc.)

Really guys, cut it out.

 

[Eric S.]

Firefox + AdBlock Plus = amazing

Same here.

 

[djourd]

safari and omni web

 

[chstr]

you need to make an option for both so I said other

 

[LtRammstein]

I <3 Safari 4 Beta, and the only time I use FireFox is when I'm on Windows.

 

[Watabou]

Firefox with ABP. Totally different internet without ads.

I used to use Safari but I got pissed at it's crashing and the fact that I have to reopen every single damn tab.

I also agree with everything with clevin said.

I'm happy that Mozilla fixed the scrolling on OS X. That's one of the biggest flaws that kept me from using Firefox. But it's smooth now, just like Safari. The only problem, I think, now remains is the start up time.

 

[flopticalcube]

Firefox + Adblock Plus + Tab Mix Plus.

 

[clevin]

Originally Posted by clevin View Post
I was objecting to so called facts put forward by SL08 such as

Acid 3 IS web standard.
Firefox is MUCH slower.
JS IS browser speed.
Firefox doesn't pass many web standard.

Can they be further from truth?

I guess I look at those statements as subjective statements in response to a post asking for people's opinions. I guess I look at those statements as subjective statements in response to a post asking for people's opinions.

opinion? there is places for opinions, of course, but lets take a look at those

Acid 3 IS web standard. This is not an opinion, because its simply a question, does Acid 3 equal to web standard? or not? Acid 3 is a test, it picks 1-10% of items from each standard and test them, since each standards have more 10-100 items, Acid3 obviously doesn't cover all the items, thus it does NOT equal to web standard.

Firefox is MUCH slower? how much is MUCH? i would imagine normal people would think 2-3 second delay is "much slower", does firefox render page 2-3 second slower than any other browser?

Every javascript test out there is running a function 1 million+ times to observe the measurable difference. Even if safari is 1000ms faster than firefox on JS, which webpage does the same function 1 million times? The difference in real world is 0.001ms, somebody tell me he can tell it?

JS IS browser speed. browser speed involves how fast the app open, how fast the content of the webpage getting rendered, how fast the data is downloaded from internet, and how fast the dynamic JS is running. JS, is less than significant in most web surfing. How can that be equal to browser speed? everybody spend more time in waiting for data to be downloaded than waiting for browser to render the data.

Firefox doesn't pass many web standard. you call that a opinion? either it does, or it doesn't, item by item, firefox probably past as much as webkit. If standard is such a high priority, everybody go use opera, which past 50% more standard than both webkit and gecko.

 

[solaris]

Other -> Camino
Since 2005...

 

[mysterytramp]

Other -> Camino
Since 2005...

I've been Camino for over a year now, but 1.6.7 has been acting strangely. On some websites (MacUpdate in particular) the top page in the "Back" queue turns out to be the current page, so the key is useless; other sites, the back key works normally. Some buttons on Yahoo Mail just don't work.

In Safari (3.2.1) and Opera (9.64), these sites work flawlessly.

I've tried to post concerns on the Camino website but they appear unresponsive to permitting new members to post.

mt

 

[Diaresi]

Speaking of RAM, Safari 4 is a monster

It makes Firefox 2.x look efficient

 

[magamo]

Firefox. Waiting for Chrome for Mac.

 

[Melrose]

1. It doesn't matter who believes who. Safari 4 executes JS dramatically faster than Firefox. A fact is a fact, strange or not.

3. Firefox 3.5 is beta (I think a nightly build but I may be wrong). Safari 4 is a public beta. The public does not have access to Firefox 3.5. In any case, scrolling works in both browsers but works much more seamlessly in Safari.

Two of the big reasons I much prefer Safari over Firefox. FF isn't a bad browser, and I greatly credit them with shooting M$ in the gluteals, but I don't like it for day-to-day use.

Quit lying to yourself and admit that Safari is faster and passes more web standards than Firefox. Everything else (themes and scrolling) is moot and can be debated.

I hadn't heard about the standards support in FF3.5 and Safari 4 yet - do you have a link for that information? Thx

Firefox. Waiting for Chrome for Mac.

I think Google made a selfish move releasing it for Windows-only first. I don't expect them to release the Mac version first, but they should have done them both at the same time. Plus, I've used Chrome and the interface and interaction suck, imo. The world doesn't need another browser; Developers have a tricky enough time without having to worry about yet another one to work with. Google's release of Chrome was purely a selfish move.

 

[magamo]

I think Google made a selfish move releasing it for Windows-only first. I don't expect them to release the Mac version first, but they should have done them both at the same time. Plus, I've used Chrome and the interface and interaction suck, imo. The world doesn't need another browser; Developers have a tricky enough time without having to worry about yet another one to work with. Google's release of Chrome was purely a selfish move.

I'm no expert on web developing things, but as a consumer, a new competitor is always welcome. I wish Google had released its browser at the same time for us.

That said, I'm not going to accuse the Mountain View company. I'm blocking Google ads.

 

[clevin]

Google's release of Chrome was purely a selfish move.

why do you think so?

Google did bring webkit to windows platform in a much more decent manner and contribute to the healthy browser options for predominant amount of users.

Google also introduced its fast js engine v8, further diversify the market, which is always good for the end users.

As a firefox user myself, I sure would like firefox to face less competition, but at the same time, I understand, and am glad to see the competitions going on, the effect on firefox project itself is also apparent, mozilla is continuously restructuring gecko engine and has improved its js engine by 500% since firefox 2, 200% since 3.0.

I dont find google's move selfish. not at all.

 

[viperguy]

Safari 3. I have bad past experiences with betas.
But when the new one comes out I will be a pleasure to use it

 

[Gaelic2]

I have always used Safari since it first came out. I am now trying Firefox and found it to be far quicker in loading pages. Safari had slowed down considerably and I may reset it and see if that makes it any quicker. They are both fine browsers but they are merely tools that I use. I can't get anymore wrapped up in the drama shown by some on this thread, than I would for a hammer! Lighten up folks.