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

Safari or Firefox

B

BigMoo

macrumors member
Original poster
This might be a silly question, but which one do you prefer? Safari or Firefox?
 
I like Firefox!!! I've used it since December of 2004 (about when it came up) and although I have tried to use other browsers, i keep coming back to it as I simply prefer it. A lot of guys will tell you Chrome due to fewer resources, but I found that when using add-on's, the resources used were not dramatically different from Firefox.

Asking which one we preferred is smart! 🙂 I was reading an article the other day about which browser is 'best' and it seems that it is a question in which the answer varies depending on the user's needs. With that said, the amount of add-ons for Firefox may be larger than other browsers, but Chrome will almost surely catch up and go beyond simply due to Google's popularity.

It is worth noting that today's browsers are so customizable that you can have them do virtually whatever you want and appear in a dramatic different array or forms. I remember in the late 90s when I used Netscape Navigator, it was a WYSIWYG system; even the older IE versions were not very customizable. I would say Mozilla Firefox was the change in this as I vaguely remember in the mid 2000s that it would do features that other browsers at the time could not.
 
It's funny that you noted you used netscape in the late 90's and it was more of a WYSIWYG interface, because i am reading a book about globalization and how the world was "flattened" called The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman and it notes in his opinion the 10 things that flattened the world and i believe the second one was the creation of Netscape. Netscape was pretty much the first interface that was widely accepted and created the internet accessibility for the every day average joe.

But yea, when i first got my mbp a couple months ago, i decided to try out Safari. I too had been an early user of firefox, i wanna say around 2005, which was when is started really using computers and getting more into them. I just like the feel of it, and my school of thought is that if it's not broken don't fix it. So no matter what i try i, like you, always gravitate back to firefox. 😛
 
I prefer Chrome over either of them. Firefox IMHO got too bloated and I've just never really taken to Safari.

BigMoo: it's interesting to read Pankaj Ghemawat's counterarguments to Friedman's piece. Both make good points.
 
Really? Firefox or Safari? Who talks browsers without Chrome in the mix?

110% Chrome!

65% Safari

10% Firefox

<3
 
Firefox.

It doesn't matter which browser I use, as long as I can watch videos of vaginas with teeth and other disgusting things, I'll continue to stick with what I have now.
 
Firefox has so many addons

Also safari doesn't support different search providers for the right hand search box. I use that 100x a day
 
On low end systems (Core2Duo, RAM > 4GB, slow mechanical hard drive) Safari really isn't an option. If you're browsing with several tabs, Safari slows down the whole machine as it is really RAM hungry.

Chrome performs MUCH better on such system. If you have a high performance system, all three browsers perform equal. Chrome's sync is nice to have if you work with several machines or in a team, though.

I use Chrome for work related browsing, and Safari for private stuff. I'd go all Chrome, but their home screen that is limited to 6 pages makes me still use Safari.
 
Safari definitely. It's a much faster, refined and easier to use browser than the others. It's very sophisticated and doesn't feel like a toy as IE, FX and CH do.
 
I have been using Firefox for years now.

I have tired all 3 (Safari, FF and Chrome) on my Mac and I still like using Firefox more than the others but Chrome does really work well.

I also like Firefox Sync as I still use other computers, if I bookmark something on one, it will be bookmarked on the others.
 
Firefox has so many addons

Also safari doesn't support different search providers for the right hand search box. I use that 100x a day
 
I have tried most of the browsers pretty extensively.

Firefox..I just don't like. Never have, never will.

Camino is better than Firefox, but still..no..

Chrome is pretty good..until I decide to watch a video, at which point it basically cripples my computer.

Safari is fast, doesn't eat up all my CPU, and looks the cleanest in my opinion.

Conclusion: Safari all the way.
 
for PC's its a firefox win, but for mac.. it has to be....
CHROME!

google chrome is no. 1

bui;built in flash (so no adobe flash required, unless there is something i have missed)
built in PDF, no downloading PDF's (well firefox does this too, but still.. firefox needs adobe)

you can compare the features of both, and Chrome on Mac = NO. 1!!
 
Firefox is the greatest because it is so customizable, nice icon, upcoming interface in Firefox 4 looks simply amazing ion a Mac, and the AWESOME BAR!!!
 
I continue to use both along with Chrome. I keep FireFox because I visit a few sites that do not render properly in either Safari or Chrome. I keep Safari because it is the only one that works with OS X's text substitution feature and I use that daily with web mail. And I have Chrome as my Flash enable browser whereas it is blocked with the other two.

Looking forward to trying out the FF beta given the positive comment earlier in this thread.
 
For me it is
85% Opera because they not only invented most usability features they also provide the best and most efficient implementations. It is fairly different though form most browser and therefore a long time Firefox User has a hard time switching and vice versa.
10% Chrome as it is a lean browser that works well and fast with all google services.
4% Firefox as I sometimes need one of its powerful plugins. There are some plugins from different research groups that you can only find in FF. I rarely need them.
1% Safari as sometime I just start it up to see if something doesn't work on any browser at all much like a last resort test with IE on Windows. It is IMO the worst browser of them all. Very bad resource handling, mostly useless features instead of decent ones and it really shines at nothing. Safari was terrible crapware on Windows and I still don't like it on OSX. I do actually prefer Windows IE over Safari as this one at least shines in the compatibility section.
 
I'm a firefox user, but like Chrome a lot as well.
The only downside to Chrome in my opinion is that it defaults to the Nvidia card (and I hate switching them manually).
 
BigMoo said:
It's funny that you noted you used netscape in the late 90's and it was more of a WYSIWYG interface, because i am reading a book about globalization and how the world was "flattened" called The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman and it notes in his opinion the 10 things that flattened the world and i believe the second one was the creation of Netscape. Netscape was pretty much the first interface that was widely accepted and created the internet accessibility for the every day average joe.
Click to expand...
When I first started using the internet (in 1996, I think) everybody used Netscape Navigator. I literally did not know anybody who used anything else. When I went to university 1998-2000 every computer (Unix & Windows) ran Netscape. They must have had a market share of at least 95% at their peak! And yet somehow they could not stop losing everything in only a few years.

btw. I use Firefox but will give Chrome a whirl some point soon. Don't like Safari at all.
 
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