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Best browser to use other than safari?

ls1dreams said:
Safari for PC? Umm.. I don't even know the state of this anymore. No one really does this. As far as I can see it was last updated in May 2012.
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Yeah, I think it's quite odd that Apple has apparently stopped development for Safari for Windows. I would think it's more relavent now than ever, with the iCloud tabs. There is a HUGE audience of iPhone/iPad users that I'm sure would love the capability, likely drawing them in more and more to the Apple ecosystem.

I'm guessing the reason they stopped is because it only picked up negligible market share, and Apple didn't have the resources to continue the project. That's what is frusterating with Apple. They are now larger than they can handle. Moving this slowly on such few projects was ok for the Apple in 2002... 2007... and even 2010.... but now in 2013 they are this huge dominant player to gives the impression of sitting on their hands while all the other tech companies are sprinting on many, many projects.
 
bbfc said:
Safari is the best browser on the Mac.

Just my opinion though.
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Funny you should say that as my question would be which do you think are the two weakest features on OS X. For me I would say Safari and Apple Mail.

I have never been able to get on with the way bookmarks are displayed on Safari, give me any other browser if the bookmarks appear in a list down the side.

Apple Mail - I use Apple Mail as my client, and whilst it is OK I do think it could benefit from further enhancements. TBH if Thunderbird looked less busy then that would be my client of choice.

I also don't like the classic OS X background for Thunderbird i.e. the dot matrix paper look. Why can't they simply use an all white background? Even Apple Mail now has an all white background which to me is a cleaner more minimalist look.
 
Chrome 29 was released yesterday. It's better than ever. I just totally stopped using Safari altogether as I need to use both Linux and Mac at work (for development). Chrome gives me a consistent user experience across all my devices, including iPad.
 
Has anyone tried this browser?

Has anyone tried Sleipnir for Mac? I have tried it and it has its bugs but not a deal breaker
 
vanc said:
Source? Even the Incognito mode does not help? Chrome is also open sourced, anyway.
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No, chromium is Open Source.

Chrome is Chrome plus closed source stuff.

Ergo, Chrome is not Open Source.

Also, look at the Chrome terms and conditions. Or look at their stance on privacy in Gmail (hint: you have no expectation to privacy)
 
Used chrome for a couple years on my iMac, ended up getting a Haswell MBA for college and so far Safari has met all my needs. Fast, light weight, and no crashing for me so far. iCloud tabs and bookmarking to my iPhone is definitely the best thing. Combine ClickToPlugin extension, I can now airplay all my videos from Safari to Apple TV, No need to mirror my entire mac.

I use to love Firefox but ultimately it got slow and less responsive as releases kept coming. Extension wise, I have never found a better extension community and themes then the Firefox community.
 
iDuel said:
Opera Next is something you should look into, they recently changed their browser rendering engine to the opensource WebKit, just like Safari.
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In all honesty I think Opera Next is hands down the best browser by a decent margin. The only thing it lacks is a Dashlane or 1Password extension. There is a Lastpass extension for it but I'm so invested in the other two that it would be hard to walk away from them. Once one of those becomes available, Opera will be my go to daily browser. Unless Mavericks Safari blows me away.

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Lankyman said:
Funny you should say that as my question would be which do you think are the two weakest features on OS X. For me I would say Safari and Apple Mail.

I have never been able to get on with the way bookmarks are displayed on Safari, give me any other browser if the bookmarks appear in a list down the side.

Apple Mail - I use Apple Mail as my client, and whilst it is OK I do think it could benefit from further enhancements. TBH if Thunderbird looked less busy then that would be my client of choice.

I also don't like the classic OS X background for Thunderbird i.e. the dot matrix paper look. Why can't they simply use an all white background? Even Apple Mail now has an all white background which to me is a cleaner more minimalist look.
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Have you ever tried Postbox? It's phenomenal. Built on the Tbird engine but completely different. Give it a try. I think you'll like it a lot.
 
Michael Goff said:
No, chromium is Open Source.

Chrome is Chrome plus closed source stuff.

Ergo, Chrome is not Open Source.

Also, look at the Chrome terms and conditions. Or look at their stance on privacy in Gmail (hint: you have no expectation to privacy)
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The NSA doesn't care which browser you pick, they pick up all your info directly from the ISP, no? I doubt using Safari or Chrome or Opera is going to stop an NSA super computer from reading your email or checking your browsing history..

If you feel the need to hide something, start using coded snail mail because they scan the outsides of letters and packages too. :(

Back to the original topic, I've only been on my '13 MBA for a couple days now and both Safari and Chrome seem very quick on ML, very smooth and very responsive. I have no complaints with either. I think I'll stick with Safari tho, as I've not had problem 1 with it yet. I'm anxiously awaiting Mavericks as I like the idea of an OS upgrade and look forward to trying out a few different browsers once the final version of Mavericks is released..seems like a waste to develop strong opinions of browsers while they're running on Beta (?) software..
 
Have you ever tried Postbox? It's phenomenal. Built on the Tbird engine but completely different. Give it a try. I think you'll like it a lot.
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I have downloaded it. My first thoughts are it's very much like Apple Mail with elements of TB thrown in. TBH though I'm not sure what set's it apart from the aforementioned apps unless I'm missing something.
 
Firefox.

Chrome is good if you like google and use multiple OS's/computers. I personally do not.

Semi relevant browser story

Due to the laziness of mission critical sites not upgrading (since its not their problem if I can't use it), I literally have encountered sites that only work on IE and Netscape. Meaning I was using netscape as late as 2011.
 
Lankyman said:
I have downloaded it. My first thoughts are it's very much like Apple Mail with elements of TB thrown in. TBH though I'm not sure what set's it apart from the aforementioned apps unless I'm missing something.
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You have to use it for a while to really appreciate it. It actually has a better search function than any other email app I've used. I think it has excellent tools for managing your mail by giving you different options on how to classify your stuff. I like how I can mark an email as pending and it'll be pinned to the top of the reading pain. I find that very valuable when I need to follow up but at a later date or time.

Use it for a couple of weeks. I think you will like it but if not, no harm no foul;)
 
I did a test run of the following browsers on my MacBook: FireFox, Chrome, Safari. While Safari is my go-to for web browsing, Chrome is a close second in my opinion (I do love FireFox too :D). Everyone has their preferences though.

I would suggest testing out whatever browsers interest you and go from there..
 
MeUnix said:
I did a test run of the following browsers on my MacBook: FireFox, Chrome, Safari. While Safari is my go-to for web browsing, Chrome is a close second in my opinion (I do love FireFox too :D). Everyone has their preferences though.

I would suggest testing out whatever browsers interest you and go from there..
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Apart from the fact I hate the way Safari deals with bookmarks I also find it so very slow compared to Chrome - like comparing dial up to Broadband.
 
I'm surprised to see firefox so unrepresented here. What's everybody's opinion on firefox? I use safari 99% of the time, but I do occasionally use firefox. Should I switch over to chrome as my secondary?
 
Lankyman said:
Apart from the fact I hate the way Safari deals with bookmarks I also find it so very slow compared to Chrome - like comparing dial up to Broadband.
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It is about a 50/50 split for me when using browsers (Chrome and Safari) on my machine. I tend to use Chrome if I know I am going to be streaming video or things of that nature, and tend to use Safari for my college work and other web browsing.

I can relate to where you're coming from though with the speed difference; sometimes my Safari is slow compared to Chrome and vice versa (that can also be due to my network connection :confused:)

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RichardC300 said:
I'm surprised to see firefox so unrepresented here. What's everybody's opinion on firefox? I use safari 99% of the time, but I do occasionally use firefox. Should I switch over to chrome as my secondary?
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I have FireFox on my MacBook but I rarely use it due to the speed difference between FireFox and Chrome/Safari. I will say that FireFox's extensions and add-ons are much better than others available on other browsers.

As far as switching to Chrome as your secondary browser, that choice is yours. If you haven't used it on your machine yet I recommend giving it a test run to see how you like it.

Hope this helps!
 
Of course the one real killer blow for Safari, apart from those previously mentioned is the way it deals with tabs. The way it opens tabs from your previous session every time it's restarted drives me to distraction. Why is there no option to switch this behaviour off?

Finally is it necessary to have such huge tabs? Apple need to scrap the whole thing and start again with a blank sheet of paper.
 
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