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why keep developing safari?

I definitely prefer Safari - it's quicker, has native widgets, and (funnily enough) feels a lot more like an OSX application. It's just about the only colour managed web browser out there too, which is a huge plus in my opinion. (it's nice to see images the way they're supposed to look) I love the new Inquisitor plugin / extension too.

I do have a few complaints, but they're fairly minor. If you command-Q Safari by mistake there's no prompt asking if you're sure you want to, or if it crashes (rare, but more frequent than Firefox) you've just lost all your tabs, and there isn't a single window option either. Another thing that isn't essential, but I can't middle-click a tab to close it, or drag them around to re-order them.

My biggest complaint is that there isn't a good del.icio.us plugin for it yet. I love that with Firefox / Flock, I can replace the regular bookmark system with del.icio.us and have my bookmarks accessible anywhere on any system and across osx/xp etc. This is really the only thing that makes me keep jumping between Safari / Firefox, as it's a very important feature. (but then so is the colour management) I'm just glad that I use an external RSS reader (NewsFire) and password manager now though (1passwd) as it makes switching between browsers a lot less hassle.
 
Safari is great I have never even contemplated switching browsers. But then again I hate having 3rd party stuff installed when I have a perfectly good browser made by the makers of the OS and my machine. Sort of shouts 'less problems' to me :D
 
Oats said:
There are plenty of web browsers to choose from for Mac OS X, my favorite is Firefox. Also, Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox are all cross-platform. Why should Apple keep developing Safari? It doesn't seem to offer any great advantages over the other browsers.

I understand that http rendering technology is important for Apple for the dashboard widgets, and is probably a nice engine to have available for app developers, but it is a bit of a hassle to keep up website compatibility with so many different browsers, especially one that is Mac-only. I would prefer if they dropped the stand-alone Safari browser altogether, and adopted Firefox as the default browser for OS X.

Anyone else agree? Anyone absolutely love Safari for some reason?
Click to expand...

I like using Safari. I know others have different preferences. I have tried many of them, although not for any extended period of time. Many of the benefits in other browsers have little, or no interest for me. Safari does all I need it to do and I never have issues with. Besides, I use IE at work, which make Safari seem even better. If you use something else, why do you care what others prefer?
 
er um if the Mozilla based browsers are so ****ing great how come these forums are peppered with people having problems with them at the moment.

I would not very say Firefox is the even the best browser on the PC platform.

:rolleyes:
 
DerChef said:
er um if the Mozilla based browsers are so ****ing great how come these forums are peppered with people having problems with them at the moment.

I would not very say Firefox is the even the best browser on the PC platform.

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I would says it is. After using IE, Firefox, Mozilla and Opera I'd say FireFox was well out in front for the PC. Doesn't 'attract' Virus' as IE does, but it soon will... No Doubt
 
DerChef said:
er um if the Mozilla based browsers are so ****ing great how come these forums are peppered with people having problems with them at the moment.

I would not very say Firefox is the even the best browser on the PC platform.

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The forums are peppered with people having problems with otherwise reliable equipment and software, too, but I certainly would not jump ship because of someone else's bad experience.

Why would anyone use an Intel-based Mac right now, seeing all the problems "everyone" is having?
 
Oats said:
There are plenty of web browsers to choose from for Mac OS X, my favorite is Firefox. Also, Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox are all cross-platform. Why should Apple keep developing Safari? It doesn't seem to offer any great advantages over the other browsers.

I understand that http rendering technology is important for Apple for the dashboard widgets, and is probably a nice engine to have available for app developers, but it is a bit of a hassle to keep up website compatibility with so many different browsers, especially one that is Mac-only. I would prefer if they dropped the stand-alone Safari browser altogether, and adopted Firefox as the default browser for OS X.

Anyone else agree? Anyone absolutely love Safari for some reason?
Click to expand...

Why don't they just use Microsoft Windows as their OS while they're at it.
They make it easy to use Firefox if you so choose. Out of the box they give you the complete package though. It's about control in the end.

I'll use Firefox for web development, but keep Safari on my launchbar. Though I wish they'd drop the brushed metal look. I think it would look much sleeker with the iTunes look.
 
I tend to switch back and forth between using Safari and Firefox. Right now, I'm using Safari with the Saft plugin. (saves tabs when you close Safari, blocks ads, etc., etc.) Safari just feels better than any other browser on the Mac. It also looks the best!

Firefox is a great browser, as well.

I don't see why Apple would ever stop developing Safari, though. IMO, it IS the best browser on the Mac.

EDIT: I forgot to add my one annoyance with Safari - it's a RAM hog! Other than that, it's great.
 
Oats said:
Why should Apple keep developing Safari?
Click to expand...

Because Safari and it's WebKit cousins are the fastest Mac browsers out there in every benchmark?

Oats said:
It doesn't seem to offer any great advantages over the other browsers.
Click to expand...

Other than it's intense speed.

Oats said:
I would prefer if they dropped the stand-alone Safari browser altogether, and adopted Firefox as the default browser for OS X.
Click to expand...

Apple made this huge mistake in the past, relying on a third party browser. Internet Explorer:Mac was the default Mac browser for years... and look what a pile of crap that became in the end. Apple realized that relying on third party developers to make all the apps was not smart. In the Mac OS 7 - 9 days, hardly any Apple software would ship with the computers other than the OS and AppleWorks. Not a very impressive assortment. Now look at how much Macs can do out of the box, with only Apple software.

Oats said:
Anyone absolutely love Safari for some reason?
Click to expand...

You're going to find that LOTS of people love Safari.
 
I only use Safari now. I used Firefox sometimes for certain sites at our school that required it. But then I discovered that they are a political organization (did one of their first advertisements by handing out cards at an anti-Bush rally in Europe) and then that just turned me away.
 
I guess I'm alone on this one. I only use Firefox, so much so, that I got rid of the Safari icon off my dock.

I love tab browsing, I love how it saves some of my passwords and I just think it renders the sites I visit most often better than any browser.

That said, I think Safari is a fine browser, leaps way beyond anything MS had to offer on a Mac, but in the end, I'll stick with FF, thank you very much. ;)
 
barkins said:
I love tab browsing, I love how it saves some of my passwords and I just think it renders the sites I visit most often better than any browser.
Click to expand...

Safari does everything you mentioned. And it's arguable that it renders CSS better than firefox as well. I believe it was the first browser to pass the acid2 test.
 
barkins said:
I love tab browsing, I love how it saves some of my passwords and I just think it renders the sites I visit most often better than any browser.
Click to expand...

Umm...

Picture 1.png
Safari's tabbed browsing.

Picture 2.png
Safari's password auto-save.

I believe Safari also renders more sites accurately (perhaps not the ones you always visit), and I know it constantly benchmarks faster.

EDIT: Apparently in the long time it took me to prepare my post two other people jumped ahead of me.
 
I think it's good to have safari as a back up browser - I normally use FireFox, whenever a website gives me trouble I just try opening it in safari and everything is usually honky dory...

Another thing is that my web-banking won't run propperly in FireFox but works fine in safari!
 
I just love the way safari works. I have a backup copy of firefox, just because there are some utilities I use, but the fact that safari is better intergrated into the OS and consumes less memory and processing power makes it a must-use for me. I am working into a computer that is 5 years old atm (my G5 broke last month) and safari is far more optimized than firefox imo.
 
I love Safari, I never really use anything else, I have Camino, and Firefox installed but really don't use them. Safari renders pages just fine for me, they look a lot better then IE. I really haven't found a web site that doesn't work with Safari, at least not that I use. And another big thing is Safari is just faster then Firefox, I just timed it Safari opens in 1 Second, Firefox takes 8! (and yes Safari was quit compleatly). I didn't buy this fancy new Dual Core iMac to wait 8 Seconds for a web browser to load.
 
todd2000 said:
I love Safari, I never really use anything else, I have Camino, and Firefox installed but really don't use them. Safari renders pages just fine for me, they look a lot better then IE. I really haven't found a web site that doesn't work with Safari, at least not that I use. And another big thing is Safari is just faster then Firefox, I just timed it Safari opens in 1 Second, Firefox takes 8! (and yes Safari was quit compleatly). I didn't buy this fancy new Dual Core iMac to wait 8 Seconds for a web browser to load.
Click to expand...

The launch times don't bother me TOO much, but it does get annoying sometimes. Seems to me like Firefox 2.0 was faster when it was in Beta. I think it was RC2 that was the fastest. I can't remember for sure, though.

Safari is very fast.
 
todd2000 said:
I love Safari, I never really use anything else, I have Camino, and Firefox installed but really don't use them.
Click to expand...

This is similar to my situation. I have BonEcho, Camino, and FireFox installed in a sub-folder of my Applications folder called "Alternate Browsers" - there for the occasional use or to see how my web pages look in them.

Because of the nature of one of my sites (System 7 Today), I also have Internet Explorer 5 (classic), Netscape 4.8, Opera 5 (classic), and iCab 2.9.9 (classic) installed to see how my pages for that site look in those.

I also have VirtualPC installed, to test pages in the horrible horrible IE for Windows browser.

todd2000 said:
Safari renders pages just fine for me, they look a lot better then IE.
Click to expand...

That's because IE for Mac officially was discontinued in June of 2003 after being allowed to deteriorate to such a low point that it was the butt of many jokes.
 
I think one main reason to keep developing it is to have a browser of their own to include in every OSX installation. If you didn't have a browser to begin with, you wouldn't be able to go online to get something else. :p

Safari is my main browser since making the switch in April. I like the speed of Omniweb but hate the tab layout. I use FF as my backup browser.
 
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