What browser do you use?

[GoKyu]

I've been using Netscape forever - it's just always been the better browser in my opinion. Netscape begot Mozilla, begot Firefox...

I've tried Safari, and while it's not a bad browser (certainly leagues better than IE, but then again, what browser ISN'T?), it's pretty plain, and not much in the way of themes or especially ways to extend its functionality, like plugins.

I also really wanted to like Camino - basically Firefox made with the Mac in mind. The only problem I have with it is that it's not as extensible as Firefox, but at least you can add a few things to it.

The plugins are what keep Firefox my main browser, and the quickness doesn't hurt either. I'm about to try the beta after reading some good stuff about it. We'll see what happens

As some others have said: Firefox + adblock plus + Tab Mix plus ... FTW!

 

[iJimmy]

I have both, but I use Safari 4 95% of the time.

 

[MacAndy74]

Safari 4 Beta + Safari 4 Buddy + SafariBlock

Tried Firefox, but I prefer Safari's performance and RSS handing.

 

[MotleyPete]

Safari.

I keep trying Firefox, but Safari seems faster to me.

 

[ayeying]

Firefox. Safari tends to crash with a large amount of tabs for me.

However, Safari is faster than Firefox for me, but Firefox is a bit more stable.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

While I wouldn't expect anyone who doesn't follow Mozilla to remotely know this, Firefox 3.1 & 3.5 are the same thing. They just moved from 3.1 beta to 3.5 beta as they decided they added in enough stuff during the beta process to bump the version up to 3.5

I didn't know that, nor did anything during my 20-minute visit to mozilla.org tell me so. Thanks for the info!

The Acid3 test does the exact opposite of what it was meant to do. Safari and Opera aren't any more standard compliant than Firefox. The two companies simply made the browser pass the test, standards were an after thought, these browsers are optimized to pass the tests. The Firefox team seems to be the only one that is just working on improving the browser rather than street appeal stats. Safari, with each release gets more and more bloated, one of Safari's best features was how light it was. Firefox is improving in its weak areas, OS X integration and appearance. The Safari team seems to not care much about what Safari lacks, good plug in support and security.

I'm not sure where you are getting that Safari is bloated. I've attached screenshots below to prove this (Safari 4 Public Beta, Firefox 3.0.9). Safari lacks plug in support, but I think "light" means what it means, light. Lite versions in the App Store lack features found on the Full version. Same story here. Safari and Firefox non-beta versions both use Google for fraudulent site detection. Firefox might be more secure due to it's add ons that offer such features.

I think Safari and Firefox are both making great headway here. Safari is currently much faster than previous versions and offer a small but useful tray of features. Firefox is not as fast, but it's more universal (works equally well on many OSes) and has add ons. Version 3 brought a much better UI than Version 2. Overall Safari's rendering looks more elegant if you will than Firefox, but Firefox renderings don't differ between platforms.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I've been using Netscape forever - it's just always been the better browser in my opinion. Netscape begot Mozilla, begot Firefox...

I've tried Safari, and while it's not a bad browser (certainly leagues better than IE, but then again, what browser ISN'T?), it's pretty plain, and not much in the way of themes or especially ways to extend its functionality, like plugins.

I also really wanted to like Camino - basically Firefox made with the Mac in mind. The only problem I have with it is that it's not as extensible as Firefox, but at least you can add a few things to it.

The plugins are what keep Firefox my main browser, and the quickness doesn't hurt either. I'm about to try the beta after reading some good stuff about it. We'll see what happens

As some others have said: Firefox + adblock plus + Tab Mix plus ... FTW!

Ahhh... but didn't AOL kill Netscape last year in March? Any browser is and will be better than IE. IE is the worst program Microsoft wrote, second only the Vista. From Apple's Safari benchmark graphs, IE 8 beta was actually dramatically slower than 7... That really confused me.

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.

Nor did I or anyone else claim it is "real world information". But since you mention memory and OS, if on the same exact computer, Safari will render websites a bit faster than Firefox. I agree one test won't prove which is faster, but different tests might. For example, one test for javascript, one for html, etc.

 

[designgeek]

I used to use Opera almost exclusively but I was running into compatibility issues recently and gave the safari 4 another try and that's what i use now. I miss my wand feature though and it took me a while to get the speed dial page on safari configured the way I like it. Opera was better for that. I only use fire fox as a last resort.

 

[Aronnax]

I'm not sure where you are getting that Safari is bloated. I've attached screenshots below to prove this (Safari 4 Public Beta, Firefox 3.0.9).
...
Safari is currently much faster than previous versions and offer a small but useful tray of features. Firefox is not as fast, but it's more universal (works equally well on many OSes) and has add ons. Version 3 brought a much better UI than Version 2. Overall Safari's rendering looks more elegant if you will than Firefox, but Firefox renderings don't differ between platforms.

Hi,
Safari is spit into two parts .. the app. and the rendering engine
Only the Safari app. = 13.4MB
The Webkit.framework from system/Library/Frameworks = 73.6MB Together = 87MB (and only both together make Safari usable)

To compare stuff like this is anyway useless ... only an example that you don`t compare proper ;-)

- And you should compare a beta with a beta or the final with the final.
- Safari is a well a cross platform app.
- Firefox renderings naturally differ between platforms .. the font rendering or the form elements ... are always different and depend on the systems.
and so forth.

 

[Aronnax]

Safari will render websites a bit faster than Firefox. I agree one test won't prove which is faster, but different tests might. For example, one test for javascript, one for html, etc.

Safari Beta 4 is for sure faster than Firefox 3.0*.
But when you compare it with an up to date Firefox Beta looks everything once again different.

By the way,
the last beta from Firefox 3.0 was more than twice as slow on the Sunspider Javascript Benchmark than a currently Webkit development version. The final version only weeks later were then faster on the same Benchmark than Safari 3 (or a Webkit development version).

Only an example that stuff like this can change very quickly ;-)

 

[edesignuk]

Firefox on Windows and OS X. Can't understand why you'd use anything else [and no, I'm not asking].

 

[clevin]

I'm not sure where you are getting that Safari is bloated. I've attached screenshots below to prove this (Safari 4 Public Beta, Firefox 3.0.9).

I want to say something, but somebody already answered. This time, I dont blame you for misleading, because it looks like you don't know the fact about this at all.

Hi,
Safari is spit into two parts .. the app. and the rendering engine
Only the Safari app. = 13.4MB
The Webkit.framework from system/Library/Frameworks = 73.6MB Together = 87MB (and only both together make Safari usable)