why Safari?

[mayoko185]

First off im not trying to throw up flame bate here, just want some honest opinions

I'm fairly new to os x here and im a long time firefox user, and I honestly dont see any benefits safari has over firefox. The only thing I can think of is safari is "faster" which for me is a no-issue as I have a fast connection. A few things that keeps me on firefox pretty much are its addons (AddBlockPlus, NoScript, Cookiesafe, Session Manager etc), does safari have similar addons or addons at all? Just trying to fish for some + Safari has over firefox as at this point I see none

P.S. I normally would just never use safari and continue on with firefox but I read that there are like 4+ million Safari users, and the only thing I can think of why is because it just there (kinda why so many people use IE )

 

[iMeowbot]

Lots of people like Safari exactly because it isn't loaded down with a bunch of extras

That said, there are several hacks around that patch all kinds of extra features into Safari.

 

[SkyBell]

Safari does have some add-on's, although not nearly as much as Firefox. I use Firefox on my Intel Mac Mini, but I use Safari on my iBook G3. Safari tends to crash less and just all around interface with OS X better then Firefox. However, when I have the processing power of my mini, the add-ons just do it for me, as I also used Firefox on a PC.

 

[FadeToBlack]

There's lots of reasons, but here are a few of mine:

It renders pages noticeably faster than any other browser on the Mac, in my experience.

It looks much cleaner than Firefox and the interface just feels better overall. It has that "Mac feel" to it. Safari is also quite a bit more responsive than Firefox.

If you want plugins for Safari, check out Pimp My Safari.

While Firefox is a great browser, I still always come back to Safari because I just love the feel of it.

Safari 3.0 is even better. You can download the beta from Apple and give it a shot.

 

[Vinnie_vw]

I use Safari for news-reading, which includes rss. I found that it summarises rss-posts well and I like that I can keep all this stuff in a browser, instead of a separate reader.

Other than that I used to use Firefox, but found it too clunky. Instead I moved to Camino, which is nice and light and I use as my default reader. Because it is so light, it starts very quickly when I click a link in e.g. a mail or a chat. In the end, that speed won it for me over features.

Edit: To add, I find that a lot of people that come from Windows (and maybe Linux) tend to favour Firefox because that is what they know best. When I switched two years ago, I looked down on Safari. But the Mac-philosophy is very much about doing things elegantly and in the end simplicity is more elegant than featuritis. Case in point: the Aston Martin vs. an SUV.

 

[mayoko185]

There's lots of reasons, but here are a few of mine:

It renders pages noticeably faster than any other browser on the Mac, in my experience.

It looks much cleaner than Firefox and the interface just feels better overall. It has that "Mac feel" to it. Safari is also quite a bit more responsive than Firefox.

If you want plugins for Safari, check out Pimp My Safari.

While Firefox is a great browser, I still always come back to Safari because I just love the feel of it.

Safari 3.0 is even better. You can download the beta from Apple and give it a shot.

Thanks for the link, the Pith Helmet addon looks like the best replacement for Addblock plus (I dont think I could go back to ads after leaving them in the dust ). Maybe ill give Safari 3 beta a try. After reading the many security issues found in it I was going to wait for the final version, is it hard to go back to 2 if I wanted?

I use Safari for news-reading, which includes rss. I found that it summarises rss-posts well and I like that I can keep all this stuff in a browser, instead of a separate reader.

Other than that I used to use Firefox, but found it too clunky. Instead I moved to Camino, which is nice and light and I use as my default reader. Because it is so light, it starts very quickly when I click a link in e.g. a mail or a chat. In the end, that speed won it for me over features.

Edit: To add, I find that a lot of people that come from Windows (and maybe Linux) tend to favour Firefox because that is what they know best. When I switched two years ago, I looked down on Safari. But the Mac-philosophy is very much about doing things elegantly and in the end simplicity is more elegant than featuritis. Case in point: the Aston Martin vs. an SUV.

I tried Camino, I dont know why (maybe because it trys to hard to mimic safari). Also im coming from the linux world so before firefox I used mozila (the thing before FF ). And what do you guys mean by firefox being bloated? Maybe on older hardware Safari would run miles around FF in terms of speed but on my brand new MBP its all a moot point

 

[killerrobot]

Edit: To add, I find that a lot of people that come from Windows (and maybe Linux) tend to favour Firefox because that is what they know best. When I switched two years ago, I looked down on Safari. But the Mac-philosophy is very much about doing things elegantly and in the end simplicity is more elegant than featuritis. Case in point: the Aston Martin vs. an SUV.

I think it's all a comfort issue like you said. Those that have been using macs forever, have been using Safari forever. Therefore are comfortable with it. Those switching, probably were using Firefox on windows, and are therefore used to it.

I've been using PC and Mac for years, and I think FF is the best all around browser (not bloated at all on any platform), not to mention way too many open source plugins available for Mac and PC.
Safari was simple and elegant basically because it was 2 years behind the game. With Safari 3, it's finally caught up some -- but wait until FF 3 comes out, then it will behind again. So summing up, I find that the people who use it are just use to it.

AND PLEASE EVERYONE QUIT COMPARING COMPUTERS TO CARS. It really is an absurd analogy.

 

[epicwelshman]

Safari also supports ICC colour profiles, so you'll see pretty much accurate colour in photos across the web. Firefox makes the colours in my photos all washed out. It's very frustrating.

 

[jemeinc]

After reading the many security issues found in it I was going to wait for the final version, is it hard to go back to 2 if I wanted?

The security holes are for the windows users, not the mac users..
I'm not sure about going back to 2, but I've been messing around with safari 3 now for several days and I don't think you'll even consider going back.. It's a noticeable improvement over version 2, which was already pretty good, imho..

 

[mayoko185]

Safari also supports ICC colour profiles, so you'll see pretty much accurate colour in photos across the web. Firefox makes the colours in my photos all washed out. It's very frustrating.

Im still somewhat new to mac so this maybe true for macs but I never noticed any color issues when using FF in either windows or linux

The security holes are for the windows users, not the mac users..
I'm not sure about going back to 2, but I've been messing around with safari 3 now for several days and I don't think you'll even consider going back.. It's a noticeable improvement over version 2, which was already pretty good, imho..

Well thats prob true, I really didint read much into it. However imho Safari 2.5 just lacks a lot of features I expect in a modern browser. While im sure ver 3 adds a lot of grate stuff iv made it a point not to use a beta version for my main browser (banking/buying stuff/etc). Plus isint the windows and mac version basically off the same codebase? So any potential security issue be it on win/mac (even more so if its a java related one) affect either version?

Like whats been said I think its all a comfort thing. In my everyday life I use windows/linux/mac at an given point of the day and its nice to look at the same browser while doing it

 

[M@lew]

Also Firefox for Mac is nothing compared to Firefox for Windows. The Mac version is way to "heavy" for general use.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Also Firefox for Mac is nothing compared to Firefox for Windows. The Mac version is way to "heavy" for general use.

Interesting... I never noticed this myself, though the upcoming Firefox 3 release may solve this problem.

As for +Safari - it's the only Mac browser that works with .Mac bookmark sync, it doesn't get in your way, it's fast, and the developers actively update it. Yes, Firefox has some of these features too, but I'm comparing against IE for Windows

 

[Taylor C]

I really wish Safari supported keywords (in firefox I type "mr" and it takes me directly to MacRumors), more tab options (I like links to automatically open in a new tab, without holding command) and live bookmarks for RSS feeds.

 

[siurpeeman]

what i like most about safari is that it completes the web address you're typing in the address bar. i can simply type "ma" and hit return, knowing it'll take me to macrumors. i hate using the up/down keys to do that in firefox so much that i simply type out the whole address. i'm also too used to using safari. for example, cmd-shift-arrow key toggles between tabs, and i hate that it isn't the same in firefox. yes, i know cmd-option-arrow key does the same, but i use that key command for sizzling keys. i'm also impressed by safari 3 and the new find feature.

 

[dogbone]

I have FF with a safari theme, I'm trying to go back to Safari because I like the feel. I've not noticed any difference at all with regards to rendering or loading FF and Safari,

Pith Helmet is great and is supposed to be more powerful but I find Adblock plus more convenient to use. Don't forget Flashblock too.

The main thing I miss in FF is drag and drop. In safari I can drag an image straight to the photoshop icon and open it. Or a with a url I can drag the favicon into Mail, can't do either of these in FF.

What keeps me using FF is the control I have for password and cookie management.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I have FF with a safari theme, I'm trying to go back to Safari because I like the feel. I've not noticed any difference at all with regards to rendering or loading FF and Safari,

Pith Helmet is great and is supposed to be more powerful but I find Adblock plus more convenient to use. Don't forget Flashblock too.

The main thing I miss in FF is drag and drop. In safari I can drag an image straight to the photoshop icon and open it. Or a with a url I can drag the favicon into Mail, can't do either of these in FF.

What keeps me using FF is the control I have for password and cookie management.

I agree with you about cookie management - Firefox is definitely better than Safari in that respect. However, I'm not aware of significant differences between Safari and Firefox regarding password management (except for Safari assuming you want to save passwords by default and Firefox assuming you don't).

 

[clevin]

However, I'm not aware of significant differences between Safari and Firefox regarding password management (except for Safari assuming you want to save passwords by default and Firefox assuming you don't).

firefox can save multiple pair of password/username for same webpage, while AFAIK, safari can't

what i like most about safari is that it completes the web address you're typing in the address bar. i can simply type "ma" and hit return, knowing it'll take me to macrumors. i hate using the up/down keys to do that in firefox so much that i simply type out the whole address. i'm also too used to using safari. for example, cmd-shift-arrow key toggles between tabs, and i hate that it isn't the same in firefox. yes, i know cmd-option-arrow key does the same, but i use that key command for sizzling keys. i'm also impressed by safari 3 and the new find feature.

there are multiple ways to get what u want about auto complete.
1. set about:config->browser.urlbar.autoFill to true or
2. install addon "auto complete manager" or
3. set keyword for bookmarks, so just type in keyword, it will go to website (sure u can set ma for macrumors, u can even set as 1 if u want.)

for your keyboard problem, try keyconfig

 

[netdog]

Because it's fast and it renders text beautifully.

Also, Inquisitor is a very nice plugin and the new "FIND" feature for finding text on a page is really nice, and a great improvement from previous versions of Safari.

To be honest, I always used WebKit until Safari 3 beta was released, and now I only use Safari. Haven't run across pages that I can't load as I used to, so even Firefox has gone entirely unused since the recent release of Safari 3.

It's nice. Try it.

 

[dogbone]

However, I'm not aware of significant differences between Safari and Firefox regarding password management (except for Safari assuming you want to save passwords by default and Firefox assuming you don't).

I've just had a look and at first I couldn't even find the 'password' bit because it's not where I expected it, (security) it's in fact in the 'Autofill' section which is technically right but a bit odd. When I looked I can see no way to view my password like I can in FF. There's just the url and my username, so what happens if I want to have a look at my passwords?

The box in safari says 'Usernames and Passwords' 'Edit', but when I click 'Edit' I don't see any passwords or a way to reveal them But I am dismayed to know that muliple usernames and passwords are not in Safari, what happens on a site like eBay where you'll want a name for your selling account and one for a buying account or another name for the user forum.

 

[Corrosive vinyl]

I have used all 3 apps talked about here, Safari, Camino, and firefox.

I recommend that PC users try firefox, but not mac users. I am currently using Safari, and sometimes Camino. Camino works like firefox because it is made by mozilla, but it takes up a lot less disk space, and therefore does not have that bloated feel. Safari is great because it is bare bones, except if you pimp it out. plus it is OS X native, built into it, just like IE, but better, cause it works! that makes safari very fast, even with some additions. may I recommend adding the debug menu to safari... http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070611144942562. this gives it automatic new features without that pesky download.

 

[clevin]

Camino works like firefox because it is made by mozilla, but it takes up a lot less disk space, and therefore does not have that bloated feel.

I find your statement amusing.

 

[GFLPraxis]

First off im not trying to throw up flame bate here, just want some honest opinions

I'm fairly new to os x here and im a long time firefox user, and I honestly dont see any benefits safari has over firefox. The only thing I can think of is safari is "faster" which for me is a no-issue as I have a fast connection. A few things that keeps me on firefox pretty much are its addons (AddBlockPlus, NoScript, Cookiesafe, Session Manager etc), does safari have similar addons or addons at all? Just trying to fish for some + Safari has over firefox as at this point I see none

P.S. I normally would just never use safari and continue on with firefox but I read that there are like 4+ million Safari users, and the only thing I can think of why is because it just there (kinda why so many people use IE )

Safari's faster, and Safari 3.0 has a WAY better search function when searching through text on a website.

FireFox has middle-click autoscrolling and extensions.

The reality is that they're pretty much on par, except that FireFox has extensions. If you use extensions, that tips the scale to FireFox (which is why I use it). If you don't use extensions, then Safari works great so most people don't bother downloading FireFox.


I use FireFox. Usually.

 

[clevin]

The reality is that they're pretty much on par, except that FireFox has extensions.

default tabbed browsing in firefox is much better than safari. as well as cookie/password etc mentioned above by other users.

 

[epmatsw]

Opera ftw!

 

[dogbone]

I forgot about searching pages, FF's way, where a little box opens at the bottom is much better than that ridiulous extra window that opens in safari2. And FF will highlight the word in an easier to see colour rather than the default system highlight colour, and will also use case, if necessary. When I'm searching for a word I want to see it in a garish highlight not some sophisticated muted tone.