Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How to make Firefox the #1 Browser on your Mac and kick Safari's Ass!!!!!!!!

nylon

nylon

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 26, 2004
1,417
1,063
I'm a New Mac user. I have tried Safari as well as Firefox. I think Firefox is far superior to Safari, especially on the new Intel Macs. Firefox 1.5.0.2 loads pages considerably faster then Safari. Additionally the implementation of Tabbed browsing is better. Multible tabs open faster when loaded together.

Additionally there are a number of extensions available that make surfing a pleasure.

To those people who say the GUI of the Standard Firefox install is unappealing please go to the following page:

http://takebacktheweb.org/

I used the Brushed theme at the bottom which fits perfectly with OSX. If you continue to the essential extension section of the said website you will find 2 extensions that are necessary:

Tab X
Sage (please use the CSS style sheet on the same page to mimic the Safari RSS GUI)

Here are a couple of screenshots of Firefox running on my MBP:

Screenshot_1.png


RSS:

Screenshot_2.png
 
Do you have 2GB of RAM in your MacBook?

Firefox runs better with 1.5.0.2 but it's still like a fat kid running up a mountain of sand compared to Safari on my 2Ghz/1GB MBP.

Also, you should really check out NetNewsWire 2.1 if you are into RSS.
 
I have the same spec machine as you my friend. Try comparing Safari loading pages on a wireless connection vs Firefox. Also Firefox is infinitely more versatile then Safari. Safari needs to mature for a little while longer.
 
PlaceofDis said:
Camino is where its at. thats what i say.
Click to expand...

I love Camino, but I like the built in RSS of Firefox. I don't want to have a separate RSS reader.
 
The Firefox version 2.0 alpha was exceptionally fast compared to either Firefox version 1.5.x or Safari, so I think we'll see a lot of improvement. However, Safari will continue to improve, also.

Camino will always be quick but will probably never achieve much as far as flexibility and extensibility.
 
So am I the only one who really doesn't like camino? I can't think off the top of my head, but when I gave it a go for about a week, it constantly screwed up rendering (really bad like), and especially choked on pages with embedded media (qt or wmv's). So bad that all of the tabs would have the movie playing back on it, in the location it should be on in it's actual tab. But if you go to the tab it's supposed to be playing on, it's only half there, and the controls are whited out. Not grayed out, but that part of the screen is just completely blank. So you can try and pick out where you think the buttons are, and you might be right. Or wrong. Not that it matters, as you could only see half of the video anyway.

And while it seemed faster on the first day of browsing, it really wasn't. I've found that any time I try out or switch back and forth between browsers, the new one (or old one that I'm switching back too) always feel faster. It's a mind thing for me.

Anyhew, after about a week of trying to love camino, I found myself constantly opening pages up in Safari that didn't load right in Camino. No point in having two browsers open so that you can try and fall in love with one of them that really isn't moving any faster than the other, and only renders non media pages correctly (sometimes)...

Bah. Just a mini-rant from me. People are really sensitive about browser choices though, so don't take this as me saying Camino sucks (though I think it does pretty bad) for everyone. I use firefox every now and then, but leave it mostly to my wife (who loves it, and doesn't really like to use safari).

I just threw a skin on firefox earlier today from that same site, but it still doesn't 'feel' as good as safari to me. Doesn't flow quite right. Still doesn't quite feel like a mac app to me. So it goes. Guess that's why I like safari?
 
Camino is buggy.

To be honest I am fed up with browsers on my Gg Mac, the mbp is fine. Seem like Im just having a terrible experience since switching back in october. I dont like any of the browsers and how they run on mac. Firefox continues to give me hell, with freezes and beach balling just by going to the menu. Safari is okay, but you dont get context clues with your pointer at the bottom of the page....Camoni and Shiira are buggy and unpredictable.
I loved firefox way more on my windows machine, than I do on the Mac.
I think I might try IE out...
 
kkapoor said:
I have the same spec machine as you my friend. Try comparing Safari loading pages on a wireless connection vs Firefox. Also Firefox is infinitely more versatile then Safari. Safari needs to mature for a little while longer.
Click to expand...

So I have been trying out Firefox for the last 2 hours and I now know why I dislike it but hopefully someone can help me fix it.

The Problem: Using the up and down keys to scroll pages in Firefox is way to slow. It's way slower than Safari, and I think thats why I find it sluggish.
 
treblah said:
So I have been trying out Firefox for the last 2 hours and I now know why I dislike it but hopefully someone can help me fix it.

The Problem: Using the up and down keys to scroll pages in Firefox is way to slow. It's way slower than Safari, and I think thats why I find it sluggish.
Click to expand...

I scroll using the trackpad so its not a problem for me.
 
treblah said:
Do you have 2GB of RAM in your MacBook?

Firefox runs better with 1.5.0.2 but it's still like a fat kid running up a mountain of sand compared to Safari on my 2Ghz/1GB MBP.

Also, you should really check out NetNewsWire 2.1 if you are into RSS.
Click to expand...
I use NetNewsWire Lite ...since it's free, and it's all you need if you just want to view RSS feeds. I do agree though ..it's far superior to the experience of RSS inside the browser.
 
I have yet to find a way to use the keyboard to switch between tabs in FireFox. Also, having ONE close button for a CRAPTON of tabs is stupid. It shouldn't take two clicks to close a tab. Also, even with plugins, the scrolling is still crap.

There was something else I was going to say, but I forgot :eek:
 
Counterfit said:
I have yet to find a way to use the keyboard to switch between tabs in FireFox.
Click to expand...

It's the as in Camino. Hold option & Apple and press the right or left arrow to scroll left or right through your open tabs.
 
Counterfit said:
I have yet to find a way to use the keyboard to switch between tabs in FireFox. Also, having ONE close button for a CRAPTON of tabs is stupid. It shouldn't take two clicks to close a tab. Also, even with plugins, the scrolling is still crap.

There was something else I was going to say, but I forgot :eek:
Click to expand...

check out tabx extension, or FF2.0 builds (it's built into 2.0)
 
mkrishnan said:
Also, if I'm not mistaken, Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab.
Click to expand...
that it does.

I prefer the tab shortcuts in firefox, because while I'm using safari, I can't switch between tabs via kb if I'm in a text field - I have to use my mouse, and either click out of the text field, or pick the tab I want to look at. Just one of those small things that annoys the buggers out of me.
 
I wish Safari had the speed and lightfooted feel of Shiira. Safari has become a dog under 10.4.6. Its infuriating.
 
Gecko based browsers all very well and good if you have a fast broadband connection, indeed the way it renders the page in one go it may well give and illusion of being faster.

I have firefox on my system for its extensions(thats the only reason) but all this talk of speed and stability of one browser over another its people seeing what they want to see:rolleyes:
 
One thing that really bugs me about firefox is that when you type something in the url window, IT DOESN'T bring you to the page sometimes. It will give you the top target AND THAT SUCKS! I'ts fine if you want to go to apple.com - just type apple, enter and bam. But for other sites, it doesn't just give you www. and the .com with the address in the middle.
 
technicolor said:
Camino is buggy.
Click to expand...

Hmm, do you mean the program or the way it displays websites?

It displays websites badly because the website owners don't recognise it, they've made non-IE versions of their site for Firefox/Safari but check for these specific browsers with the user agent string (instead of Gecko as they should but often don't), i felt the same way about Camino but after switching the user agent of Camino to Firefox using CamiTools I haven't looked back, its amazing and so much faster than Firefox.
 
mkaake said:
I prefer the tab shortcuts in firefox, because while I'm using safari, I can't switch between tabs via kb if I'm in a text field - I have to use my mouse, and either click out of the text field, or pick the tab I want to look at. Just one of those small things that annoys the buggers out of me.
Click to expand...

Yeah...both systems seem to me, to have benefits. The big thing I don't like about Firefox and the US iBook keyboard is that there is no Option key on the right side of the space-bar. So I can change tabs one-handed (with my right hand) in Safari but not FF. But then using Ctrl-Tab, I can change tabs one-handed (with my left hand) in FF but not Safari! :rolleyes:

Mmmm, one other thing you could do for what you describe, mkaake, is to tab out of the text box (for some reason, when I tried this just now, I have to hit tab twice to get the focus to leave this text box... the first tab doesn't seem to do anything) and then change tabs. At least you can do that completely from the keyboard. One that strikes me as odd is that, I would figure you could apple-L to change the focus to the URL bar, and then do it, but that doesn't seem to work in Safari for some reason....

God, we're geeks! :eek:
 
njmac said:
One thing that really bugs me about firefox is that when you type something in the url window, IT DOESN'T bring you to the page sometimes. It will give you the top target AND THAT SUCKS! I'ts fine if you want to go to apple.com - just type apple, enter and bam. But for other sites, it doesn't just give you www. and the .com with the address in the middle.
Click to expand...

Press Option + enter to automatically get www and .com added to what you type in the address bar.
 
kkapoor said:
I used the Brushed theme at the bottom which fits perfectly with OSX.
Click to expand...
I prefer the iFox theme. Brushed has ... well ... too much brushed metal.

kkapoor said:
If you continue to the essential extension section of the said website you will find 2 extensions that are necessary:

Tab X
Sage (please use the CSS style sheet on the same page to mimic the Safari RSS GUI
Click to expand...
Don't forget adblock.
 
I tried iFox but I don't like the tabs. They seem a little unrefined compared to the rest of the GUI.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back