Mac browsers revisited: Safari vs. the rest (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kim]

I've finally jumped from Mac OS X 10.1.5 to Panther and wow! I've missed using Safari up until now and while I like it, I'm actually really impressed with Mozilla Firebird.

Safari has a nice feel, but based on purely anecdotal evidence, Firebird actually seems faster, not only in pulling in web pages but navigating within the browser itself (e.g., switching tabs).

However, what I found most lacking with Safari is the inability to save passwords, much less save multiple passwords to the same site (which Netscape 7.1 does but even Firebird doesn't).

Also, after installing Panther, I was hoping for a quick transition to Safari by importing bookmarks...bahh! No ability to import at this time.

So, are other mac aficionados finding the same or have you found other browser discoveries?

BTW...my goodness, Sherlock has changed a bit since 10.1.5.

 

[Mike Sogge]

There are various utilities available via VersionTracker.com that will allow you to enable Safari's ability to import IE and Netscape/Mozilla bookmarks. I don't know why Apple hasn't enabled it as a standard feature.

My one complaint with Safari is that it will only download 4 items at a time. On a modem that wouldn't likely be a problem, but on broadband it can be a real pain in the neck. I still prefer it over IE, Netscape, Camino and the other browsers, however. I've not yet tried Firebird.

 

[Ken Chan]

Not sure what you mean; I can save passwords with Safari. They go into the Keychain.

I used to use OmniWeb, and liked it. I'm waiting for the new version 5 to see if it surpasses Safari, and might switch back (same rendering core).

//Ken

 

[Derek Williams]

I use camino very fast
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/camino/

 

[Michael*K]

I pretty much use Safari exclusively, but I've been known to use Mozilla/Camino/Firebird on occasion, especially for pages that don't render properly under Safari. Like Ken said, my passwords get saved to the keychain. I haven't found that to be a problem. For now, the IE and Netscape bookmarks only get imported the first time you launch Safari. You can't import them again unless you trash the Safari prefs and re-launch or use a third part utility. The feature I miss most is the ability to save downloads to a directory other than the one that has been predefined in the Safari prefs. The bookmark and download issues are rumored to be addressed in forthcoming updates (the first Safari betas didn't even have tabs) but I'm a little skepitcal. Had a meeting last fall with some of the software engineers at Apple and they didn't sound too eager to open up the browser to a lot of advanced features. They seemed to favor simplicity.

As for Sherlock, I've barely used it since switching over to OS X. Watson (which Apple blatantly ripped off in Sherlock 3) is still is quite a bit faster and well worth the $29 in my book.

 

[DonRoeber]

I use Safari nearly full time. I have a few macs, and a .mac account, so the bookmark synching is a big win for me. On the rare occasions that Safari isn't working properly, I keep Netscape 7.1 around. I mostly need it for sites that are picky about what browser you're using, which is why I don't use Mozilla.

I only ever use Sherlock for checking movie times. And even then, it's kinda inflexible, and I go to fandango anyway. I wish I could tell it that I'd like to see all movies with showtimes after a certain time, and THEN choose the movie title and see where it's playing.

 

[Peter Kim]

Thanks Ken & Michael...I had no idea what Keychain was initially, but I did a little digging around and discovered that I had to select 'User Names and Passwords' in Preferences/Autofill in order to get that working.

Also, I zapped the plist for Safari and now have all of my Netscape bookmarks imported.

So, in the end, I've switched to Safari for now. Actually what did it was when I ran a Bandwidth Speed Test while using Safari. I got the following results:

2.5 megabits per second
Communications 2.5 megabits per second
Storage 311.2 kilobytes per second
1MB file download 3.3 seconds
Subjective rating Great

Yowza!! How the hell did this happen? I've never seen my cable speed so blazing before in both directions (usually 1.5 mbps download on Netscape). I don't know how the hell Safari does it, but I'm sticking with this action for now.

 

[Michael*K]

The new Safari build (not publicly released yet) seems a bit faster than the current version. You'll also be able (finally!) to Control-click on a link and choose what directory to save to, other than the default download directory. You can resume stopped downloads and when a file is being downloaded now, the icon for the downloaded file actually has a moving bar showing the status of the download. You can also download more than four files at a time now. Still no addition for importing bookmarks though. :frowning: