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What is the best browser for Mac?

finchna said:
firefox -- works best for me, no problems with rendering websites i visit, displays all types of multimedia, the flexibility, customization, and utility are unmatched by other browsers.

no need for other browsers but have tried/used many --

safari -- used for testing website compatibility. it doesn't display/render all pages/sites and just doesn't work for too many sites with multimedia to use as a primary browser (and flash sites break more frequently with safari and there still are plenty of them around).

omniweb -- fastest of all the mac browser on my mbp (even faster than chrome) but don't care for the side tabs and can't move them to spread across the top.

chrome -- the browser is fine but makes you sign in to get extensions (that's unnecesary)

opera -- fine but nothing special

seamonkey -- works fine, like FF but more integrated features

camino -- showed promise but development has slowed and is clunky by today's browser standards

To the OP, your website should recognize that i'm using a mac browser and when i click on the download button should download a suitable installer -- i got an exe file -- that made me question the company and the technology. Once i got the mac version, no faster than other browsers, displayed/rendered pages fine, however, there's no way to type in a URL (or URL fill in) so it's a no go for me as there's nothing beneficial about it and it's inconvenient to have to search for a site instead of typing the URL.
Click to expand...

Thats only for "Web Apps" :)
 
MonkeySee.... said:
Thats only for "Web Apps" :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for this information.

When I go to Chrome Prefs I see "Extensions" at the bottom of the left navigation. When I click on that (or choose Extensions in the Window menu) , expecting to see what I see when I click on FF extensions it takes me to a page that says:

"Boo... No extensions installed :-( Want to browse the gallery instead?"

When I browse the gallery everything I click on asks me to sign in. These may be web apps but why does "extensions" take me there. If they want to sell apps or whatever there should be a "web app" nav link/menu item that i can click on. "Extensions" should take me to a page that has such things on it that I can one-click install.
 
finchna said:
When I browse the gallery everything I click on asks me to sign in. These may be web apps but why does "extensions" take me there. If they want to sell apps or whatever there should be a "web app" nav link/menu item that i can click on. "Extensions" should take me to a page that has such things on it that I can one-click install.
Click to expand...
There's a button there that will take you to the Chrome web store, and from there you can click the Extensions box… you're making it harder than it really should be. No need for an account to install extensions.
 
Mackilroy said:
There's a button there that will take you to the Chrome web store, and from there you can click the Extensions box… you're making it harder than it really should be. No need for an account to install extensions.
Click to expand...

Yes, I see the extensions link in the list of the store. i don't think i made this more difficult than it needed to be. chrome has two links to extensions (menu and preferences) and they both take you to a store -- not to the extensions. Those 2 links should be "Chrome Store" and if they make an "Extensions" link it should take you to the extensions.
 
Still, it's only one more click to get to the extensions. Not really a deal breaker.
 
i kinda use all three. mostly firefox, safari if i need to run particular sites, and chrome for an all else fails for both browsers.
 
can't understand the discussion... Firefox is the fastest browser on mac os systems.

Startup is slow - but the fastet while browsing the web.
 
What's my favorite kitchen knife?

Browsers are a lot like knives, they need to be maintained and different designs are better for different applications.

I started with Mosaic, then Netscape, then Internet Explorer, then Mozilla and FireFox and now Safari and Chrome. FireFox has become unusable for me, too much maintenance required to make it behave. I used Safari to take load off of FF but now I've added Chrome to take the rest.
 
LeandrodaFL said:
Usually long time Mac Users prefer Safari

As I switched from Windows, I like to have the close tab button on the right, so I prefer Firefox or Chrome. Since I also like tabs on bottom, and I really like some exclusive Firefox extensions, I choose Firefox.

But on my macbook, where I simply need to quickly check something on the net, I have Chrome, as its the fastest
Click to expand...

I was the total opposite when I switched from PC. I was getting to know a new system, I wanted everything to be consistent in everything that was new to me. I went with Safari right away and loved it. I had Firefox on hand as well because back then (over 5 years ago) not every site worked properly with Safari. That has not been a problem in a long time.
 
Like others have mentioned, I don't think there is a 'best' browser. I tend to rotate between Safari, Firefox, and Chrome myself. I usually switch when I get to a website that isn't working properly in whatever browser I'm using at the moment. At the moment I'm using Firefox Aurora, and haven't had any issues with it at all.. which frankly surprises me given it's alpha status.
 
I was switching between Safari and Chrome. Chrome is just so much faster with normal browsing and tabs. The recent update to Firefox put it right back in the mix as the top. Here is my rankings and can change at anytime with updates. Because Firefox was slowly falling off. Now I have the three main ones on my dock.

1. Chrome - fastest for me and my usage. Kind of bad rendering certain videos etc.
2. Firefox - user interface is the best looking and gestures flow smoothly. Also, almost or just as fast as Chrome with the most recent update. Use to be the slowest.
3. Safari - renders videos the best of the three. slowest web browsing of the three. Plain looking and not as snappy as claimed to be. Also it does have some cool features, but the 2-3 second lag on loading same pages puts it on the bottom of my list. Use to be one of the fastest until Chrome came out.

Like I said, this list can alter as I am constantly checking and loading new updates that change. I have all 3 in my dock and play with them.
 
From an aesthetics standpoint, Safari is the best.

Chrome works the best for me though since it works much better with my Android phone and to my knowledge, syncs across multiple computers. To my knowledge, the latest beta of Safari does this too but it's not out yet.
 
TheMTtakeover said:
I'm probably the only one on here who uses it, but my favorite browser is Camino.
Click to expand...

Is Camino still being updated? I remember using it a few years ago and liking it but it appears that it's still the exact same browser from a couple years ago.
 
throne said:
Is Camino still being updated? I remember using it a few years ago and liking it but it appears that it's still the exact same browser from a couple years ago.
Click to expand...

Feature wise I don't know that it will get any more updates. They are staying true to their mission statement which is to provide an extremely light browser for Mac. It does receive some tweaks here and there and still gets security fixes.
 
Only you can decide what's best for you. Why don't you download all of them and preview them all for yourself?

Try... (will put my opinion on each in parenthesis)
-Safari (best)
-Firefox (decent)
-Chrome (bleh)
-Opera (never used)
-Camino (never used)
-TenFourFox (best browser for PPC, not for Intel)
 
I personally prefer Chrome. I've only recently switched over from PCs so I don't really have much experience with Safari, but from what I've used it just doesn't seem quite as quick as Chrome.

I like Safari the best aesthetically due to its minimalism, but as of now I just can't get myself away from Chrome.
 
First of all, thank you everybody for your contributions.
You are all very helpful.:)

I have to say my impressions of Mac are very high. I have always been a Windows user, but after trying out Mac a few times, I am amazed at how things just work the way you want them to.

The Web browser I work with is "Sleipnir". It is still quite unknown, especially outside of Japan, but I found it to be very easy to use at least for the Mac version. If Safari and Chrome are a lot better, I am amazed at the level of products on Mac.

As I work at the company, if you have any questions about Sleipnir or just need some help/info about Japanese related things, especially the technology scene, feel free to send me a message.
I think all software companies want feedback from their users to help provide better products, so any feedback is welcomed.

rocknblogger said:
I've been checking out the browser you're working on. It's okay but I don't think it's for power users.

Interesting concept though.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by power users?
Please let me know of any issues. Thanks.
 
As far as Lion, if Safari wasn't the best browser already, it definitely became the best since the last update. It's just smoking fast.
 
I think the best is safari, it is simple.
Only the download manager is need to improve.
 
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