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Which browser is best?
- Thread starter mmmdreg
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I'm still with IE...
I've played around with Chimera...and it's great...but there hasn't been a "selling point" yet for me...
can anyone persuade me to make a switch?
I've played around with Chimera...and it's great...but there hasn't been a "selling point" yet for me...
can anyone persuade me to make a switch?
My 2 cents...
I am still using IE. It looks OK, runs fast, and has all the plug-ins that I need.
Omni Web is great. Looks good, feels good, but one problem. It doesn't read the Apple Store quick enough! It like Apple Script or something.
Mozilla is ugly as holy hell. It runs really fast, but its looks are like...barf!
Chimera is pretty nice. It is very quick, but doesn't have enough options yet.
Netscape? Blah...too ugly, and slow
iCab I used to use, but then I found Omni Web. I gave up speed for looks, but...
I am still using IE!
I am still using IE. It looks OK, runs fast, and has all the plug-ins that I need.
Omni Web is great. Looks good, feels good, but one problem. It doesn't read the Apple Store quick enough! It like Apple Script or something.
Mozilla is ugly as holy hell. It runs really fast, but its looks are like...barf!
Chimera is pretty nice. It is very quick, but doesn't have enough options yet.
Netscape? Blah...too ugly, and slow
iCab I used to use, but then I found Omni Web. I gave up speed for looks, but...
I am still using IE!
IE has the most features, but for general browsing, I have found OmniWeb to be very nice. I like the way it cuts down the ads. It also allows you to selectively accept cookies. All very nice features if you ask my opinion. As far as Chimera is concerned, it looks very promising. However, it is so young that I will give it a few more builds before I try to use it regularly. For very complex sites, IE is better because more sites recognize it.
now this is something I need to look into...I've been asking about that type of feature and nobody has pointed me in the right direction as of yet...
he he he....thank u for pointing that out!
netscape is by far the worst of the ones i've used.
sooooo slow.
i use ie because of the plug ins and such. but i'll look into the others when they are much fuller. as of now i use chimera and omniweb occasionally for fun
sooooo slow.
i use ie because of the plug ins and such. but i'll look into the others when they are much fuller. as of now i use chimera and omniweb occasionally for fun
poor netscape...the one that was there before anything else...now the bottom of the barrel...
netscape lost out a few years ago when it was on version 4.x...can't remember exactly....but it was "the slower one"....and then Microsoft waved it's magic wand and IE become the reigning champion...
yeah, netscape used to be great. until like 4.76 or something... i remember having communicator and it just seemed so much slower than it had before. and so far downhill since then. 2 versions up and yet it's that much worse.
i don't get why they wouldn't fix it. do they not realize it's that slow? or rather, why wouldn't they have realized it was heinously slow before putting it out and work out the bugs... oh well. now we're seeing the future of browsers come out of the woodwork
i don't get why they wouldn't fix it. do they not realize it's that slow? or rather, why wouldn't they have realized it was heinously slow before putting it out and work out the bugs... oh well. now we're seeing the future of browsers come out of the woodwork
Right now...
Mozilla is my favorite. It is nearly as fast as Chimera, faster by far than IE or OW. It's also much more stable than IE and extremely compliant. If you think it's ugly, try it with the pinstripe theme. It makes it look much more "Aqua". IE crashes on my machine about every 2 hours. OmniWeb is getting faster and is very pretty, but it's still a bit too slow and buggy to be my #1 browser. I do think OW and Chimera will be slugging it out in the near future.
I've been a part of a number of these browser threads, and I have found two odd things.
1) People make up their minds based on something other than facts (usually dogma (e.g., "Netscape is slow") or outdated information).
2) People seem to care a fair bit about this discussion--probably because people hate to see facts that don't fit with their beliefs.
That being said, I will challenge people to actually check page load times at their 10 favorite pages and see which work best and fastest. Don't just judge based on how long it takes the browser to load, but actually how fast it works. A few sites that I will suggest (because they are complex):
TVguide.com's satellite TV listings.
weather.com's local weather listings
ESPN's home page (especially check the "Insider/Page 2" part)
I know what my results are (that's why I use what I do), but it seems that browsers perform differently on different machines. I am very curious to know what yours are. Also post any other pages you think are good indices of performance.
If you choose your browser based on how it looks, this probably won't help you.
Chris
Mozilla is my favorite. It is nearly as fast as Chimera, faster by far than IE or OW. It's also much more stable than IE and extremely compliant. If you think it's ugly, try it with the pinstripe theme. It makes it look much more "Aqua". IE crashes on my machine about every 2 hours. OmniWeb is getting faster and is very pretty, but it's still a bit too slow and buggy to be my #1 browser. I do think OW and Chimera will be slugging it out in the near future.
I've been a part of a number of these browser threads, and I have found two odd things.
1) People make up their minds based on something other than facts (usually dogma (e.g., "Netscape is slow") or outdated information).
2) People seem to care a fair bit about this discussion--probably because people hate to see facts that don't fit with their beliefs.
That being said, I will challenge people to actually check page load times at their 10 favorite pages and see which work best and fastest. Don't just judge based on how long it takes the browser to load, but actually how fast it works. A few sites that I will suggest (because they are complex):
TVguide.com's satellite TV listings.
weather.com's local weather listings
ESPN's home page (especially check the "Insider/Page 2" part)
I know what my results are (that's why I use what I do), but it seems that browsers perform differently on different machines. I am very curious to know what yours are. Also post any other pages you think are good indices of performance.
If you choose your browser based on how it looks, this probably won't help you.
Chris
Why...
...does everyone say Omniweb is slow? I'm using 4.1b5 and it's as fast as Chimera on my machine. In order of speed (subjective, I don't care about how fast it actually is, just how fast it feels) this is what it's like on my machine:
1st: Omniweb/Chimera/IE (they're all fast in different ways)
2nd: Mozilla (but it starts waaaaaaay too slow)
3rd: Netscape
For looks:
1st: Omniweb/Chimera
2nd: IE
3rd: Netscape/Mozilla
For features ( I didn't try Netscape long enough to test it):
1st: IE (just barely)
2nd: Omniweb
3rd: Mozilla
4th: Chimera
...does everyone say Omniweb is slow? I'm using 4.1b5 and it's as fast as Chimera on my machine. In order of speed (subjective, I don't care about how fast it actually is, just how fast it feels) this is what it's like on my machine:
1st: Omniweb/Chimera/IE (they're all fast in different ways)
2nd: Mozilla (but it starts waaaaaaay too slow)
3rd: Netscape
For looks:
1st: Omniweb/Chimera
2nd: IE
3rd: Netscape/Mozilla
For features ( I didn't try Netscape long enough to test it):
1st: IE (just barely)
2nd: Omniweb
3rd: Mozilla
4th: Chimera
I use OW, but it is slow, lacks any real JS support, and has trouble with some layouts. So, why don't I use something else?
1. The UI is crisp, clean, simple and easy to use - it's easily better than any other browser.
2. It may not have a huge feature list, but the features it has are very useful and I use them a lot, eg killing ads.
3. I like the Omni Group. They do a lot of great things for the Mac platform, and I enjoy supporting those sorts of companies. If all apps were OG apps, the world would be a better place.
I deleted IE once, but I had to d/l it again not long after. There are some things that I just can't do in OW. I only ever use IE when OW is incapable of doing something.
Chimera looks very promising, but it has not yet been fleshed out enough to use as an every day browser.
1. The UI is crisp, clean, simple and easy to use - it's easily better than any other browser.
2. It may not have a huge feature list, but the features it has are very useful and I use them a lot, eg killing ads.
3. I like the Omni Group. They do a lot of great things for the Mac platform, and I enjoy supporting those sorts of companies. If all apps were OG apps, the world would be a better place.
I deleted IE once, but I had to d/l it again not long after. There are some things that I just can't do in OW. I only ever use IE when OW is incapable of doing something.
Chimera looks very promising, but it has not yet been fleshed out enough to use as an every day browser.
exactly...then Netscape 5 came out...and I think it was because of java...but that took nearly a minute to load it felt like...terrible....that's when I decided never to use Netscape again...
it's not on a single computer that I use nor which I have installed the system on...
I wonder how their future is looking??
Re: Why...
That seems to be exactly what I've seen..but I'm using IE until Chimera comes along a bit more...
That seems to be exactly what I've seen..but I'm using IE until Chimera comes along a bit more...
Seems like we all have to split with IE and some evolving browser, so we can maintain total compatibility, but still feeling like a rebel.
I have used all the main browsers listed for X, and I think Mozilla's the best. Stable, fast, fairly compatible, nostalgic (go netscape!), and non m$. Omni's good, pretty, but not as fast. Chimera looks like it will be king given more time.
Too bad Apple's married to m$, they should come out with their own iExplore.
Lynx is also a good brwser, but there's not too many websites that look good on it.
I have used all the main browsers listed for X, and I think Mozilla's the best. Stable, fast, fairly compatible, nostalgic (go netscape!), and non m$. Omni's good, pretty, but not as fast. Chimera looks like it will be king given more time.
Too bad Apple's married to m$, they should come out with their own iExplore.
Lynx is also a good brwser, but there's not too many websites that look good on it.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but Chimera is not that fast on my Cube. It takes FOREVER to launch, and it's not as fast as IE in terms of page loading. That said, it looks fantastic. I love the antialiasing. Omniweb is pretty slow too. I think I'll stick with IE until an alternate browser can show me some zip on my machine.
Re: Why...
The benchmarks are clear. Mozilla and Chimera are faster than IE, OW, Opera. Here are the I-bench scores of OW, IE, Opera, and Chimera (posted at Chimera's website). Granted, it doesn't include Mozilla and was done before Quartz AA was implemented (which they acknowledge slowed it down a little).
What factors are making people think that IE is fast (it's not)? What makes it (or any browser) feel fast? Why does that matter more than if it is fast? Netscape's benchmarks are actually pretty good, but becuase 6 (there was no 5) was such a piece of crap and it takes so long to load, people have given up on it.
If you'd rather base your choice on fact (rather than feeling), I will again, suggest you try TVguide.com in all of your browsers and see how long each one takes. Don't base results on feeling, but on *time*.
Lastly, do we use Macs because they look better or because they work better? If it's the former, I think we're confused, and the Mac is in deep shît.
Chris
p.s., Chimera 0.2.6 just came out this morning. It seems more stable than 0.2.5 and deals with some pages better (e.g., ESPN.com). It's pretty, too.
I think this is what people tend to do. Why? Would you prefer a car that "feels" faster in a race?
The benchmarks are clear. Mozilla and Chimera are faster than IE, OW, Opera. Here are the I-bench scores of OW, IE, Opera, and Chimera (posted at Chimera's website). Granted, it doesn't include Mozilla and was done before Quartz AA was implemented (which they acknowledge slowed it down a little).
What factors are making people think that IE is fast (it's not)? What makes it (or any browser) feel fast? Why does that matter more than if it is fast? Netscape's benchmarks are actually pretty good, but becuase 6 (there was no 5) was such a piece of crap and it takes so long to load, people have given up on it.
If you'd rather base your choice on fact (rather than feeling), I will again, suggest you try TVguide.com in all of your browsers and see how long each one takes. Don't base results on feeling, but on *time*.
Lastly, do we use Macs because they look better or because they work better? If it's the former, I think we're confused, and the Mac is in deep shît.
Chris
p.s., Chimera 0.2.6 just came out this morning. It seems more stable than 0.2.5 and deals with some pages better (e.g., ESPN.com). It's pretty, too.
i got the chimera 26 version just now and it won't start up. the app keeps quitting when trying to start up.
i've restarted, trashed prefs, redownloaded... everything.
so much for making that switch
i've restarted, trashed prefs, redownloaded... everything.
so much for making that switch
Chimera
Another example of how software behaves differently on different computers. This is the most stable build of Chimera I've had in a long time. It's been up for over an hour with no crashes on my machine.
Also, I believe this is the first time I've seen one of these polls in which IE doesn't have a majority of the votes (40% right now)! That's pretty cool. People are trying new things, and our options are getting better!
Imagine the day when Mac users only need one browser.
Chris
Another example of how software behaves differently on different computers. This is the most stable build of Chimera I've had in a long time. It's been up for over an hour with no crashes on my machine.
Also, I believe this is the first time I've seen one of these polls in which IE doesn't have a majority of the votes (40% right now)! That's pretty cool. People are trying new things, and our options are getting better!
Imagine the day when Mac users only need one browser.
Chris
With the Mozilla 1.0 first release, it became my main browser. I like it much more than IE. I have also had a lot of luck with Chimera, except for the fact that I can't get it to download anything (I am using .0.2.3, I will update it when I get back from work). I LOVE the anti aliased text though. I got spoiled on it when I first tried Chimera.
I use Mozilla for downloading and I use Chimera for everyday browsing.
I am very pleased with Chimera and I hope the development continues!
I use Mozilla for downloading and I use Chimera for everyday browsing.
I am very pleased with Chimera and I hope the development continues!
Change change change...
Check out how much the results of this poll have changed since the last time we did it:
Old thread
Interesting.
Chris
Check out how much the results of this poll have changed since the last time we did it:
Old thread
Interesting.
Chris
the 0.2.6 release of Chimera is probably the first majorly buggy release so far, and the guys are hard at work on it. In the meantime I would recommend 0.2.5 instead as its fairly stable and is a good indicator of how far this browser is coming along and at what speed.
Chimera 0.2.5
if the link seems broken, then i am still uploading it, wait about 5 minutes max.
Chimera 0.2.5
if the link seems broken, then i am still uploading it, wait about 5 minutes max.
Your mileage may vary
Chimera 0.2.6 has crashed once on me in the past 36 hours. It's the most stable one I've had since I started using it (version 0.1). Maybe that's because the developer has the same machine. Maybe it's the fresh mountain air. Or maybe it's the hot dog I ate for lunch.
Whatever it is, it's great!
Chris
Chimera 0.2.6 has crashed once on me in the past 36 hours. It's the most stable one I've had since I started using it (version 0.1). Maybe that's because the developer has the same machine. Maybe it's the fresh mountain air. Or maybe it's the hot dog I ate for lunch.
Whatever it is, it's great!
Chris
i still haven't gotten 26 to work on my machine...
and that link to 25 didn't work for me... you posted this afternoon so i think you're done uploading... right?
was it me or was the link messed up? i definitely want to get 25 (i tossed it once i got 26, only to not be able to get it on the web anymore..)
and that link to 25 didn't work for me... you posted this afternoon so i think you're done uploading... right?
was it me or was the link messed up? i definitely want to get 25 (i tossed it once i got 26, only to not be able to get it on the web anymore..)