OmniWeb 5 - Will you buy it?

fuzz_ballfuzz_ball
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I just downloaded OmniWeb 5 (the official release) so i can't really comment myself, but so far I'm not seeing anything that would make me want to switch from my free browser (Safari) to paying $30. Has anyone out there found something they like (other than supporting an independent company) - hold the door, I just discovered something *nice* (not sure if $30 worthy). As I was typing this I misspelled a couple words and I see that OmniWeb has underlined them and I can right-click and correct the misspellings. Hmmm, if any of you can point out some other niceties that would be cool.



This isn't about bashing one browser over another, I'm just genuinely interested in hearing what features you have discovered in OmniWeb 5 that would make you pay $30 rather than sticking with one of the many free browsers.



Thanks for you input!



PS - I just discovered something that kills it for me; I just tried to preview this post and OmniWeb 5 doesn't seem to be dealing with this site too well. It keeps prompting me to relogin (even though I told it to save my login) and after I login I get nothing (no preview of post, nothing). Essentially I seemt o be completely unable to preview posts when using OmniWeb 5
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Omnigroup produces some really great software. I have not yet tried OmniWeb 5 yet but it would have to be amazing to get me to switch from Safari. Again, like you it is not a reflection on Omnigroup but more a result of Safari being *that* good. Since you mentioned it though. I may try out the new Omniweb just to see what they've done with it.
  • Reply 2 of 28
    cooopcooop Posts: 390member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by fuzz_ball

    - hold the door, I just discovered something *nice* (not sure if $30 worthy). As I was typing this I misspelled a couple words and I see that OmniWeb has underlined them and I can right-click and correct the misspellings.



    FYI, this is available in Safari too. Edit menu -> Spelling -> Check Spelling as You Type.
  • Reply 3 of 28
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    No way. No sale. Browsers have always been free #1, and #2 I've never seen anything that special about Omni web.

    When OS X first came out it was neat being the first real OS X native browser, but Opera took the center stage because of it's speed, and even IE was faster.

    I used Netscape and mozilla after that, and then Safari came out. I don't think they have much to offer compared to Safari on Tiger.
  • Reply 4 of 28
    fuzz_ballfuzz_ball Posts: 390member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by cooop

    FYI, this is available in Safari too. Edit menu -> Spelling -> Check Spelling as You Type.



    Thanks for pointing that out! Well there goes the one nifty feature I thought I had found in OmniWeb 5



    I'll try it out some more though; after all, maybe there is something in there that I *must* have...we'll see.
  • Reply 5 of 28
    stupider...likeafoxstupider...likeafox Posts: 1,618member
    I'll be buying it. I used Omniweb 4 for a long time before Safari. Even with it's occaisionally screwey rendering (usually on cutting edge web standards compliant sites) it still rocked as a truly Mac OS X native browser.



    Now that Safari has happened, and 5 has used it's rendering engine. It is (probably, not really used it yet) still the best bet for power users that want to configure individual sites, block ads using regular expressions etc.



    The web form editing features is probably enough for me to switch (hit the + sign in the top right corner of the textarea).
  • Reply 6 of 28
    nguyenhm16nguyenhm16 Posts: 203member
    Maybe, but not until I can use the Schubert-IT PDF plugin (currently, it crashes OW). Otherwise it's pretty nice.
  • Reply 7 of 28
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    wow. when the screenshots and movies for omniweb 5 preview came out, people were soiling themselves about how this would be a great browser to pay for. now that it's out, what... silence.



    one thing that makes it awesome-colored in my book is the site-to-site preference settings and wicked-versatile pop-up blocking. plus, i don't see how anyone could NOT want the ability to see their non-foreground tabs load into previews in a side drawer. i've got money hyatt is like "hmmm, gotta add that feature to the list of cool stuff for safari 2.5..."



    and while omniweb does handle appleinsider just fine for me (sorry, fuzz_ball), it does do the extra-login thing when i try to log out of my company's exchange webmail (which, by the way, safari STILL cannot log into...)



    but for a lot of people, safari is "good enough" and not pay for it. but the "restrictions" for using omniweb unlicensed, you have to admit, are pretty light.
  • Reply 8 of 28
    fuzz_ballfuzz_ball Posts: 390member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok

    and while omniweb does handle appleinsider just fine for me (sorry, fuzz_ball), it does do the extra-login thing when i try to log out of my company's exchange webmail (which, by the way, safari STILL cannot log into...)





    Odd, you're not having a problem with the "Preview Post" and OmniWeb 5? I don't have a problem with Safari logging into my companies exchange webmail, I do it everyday...
  • Reply 9 of 28
    revsrevs Posts: 93member
    I really like the Workspaces in OW5, and the new tabs are kinda ok, although an option for tabs like Safari would be nice.



    Also, OW5 just seems a bit slow, and im used to Camino, which flies along nicely.



    revs
  • Reply 10 of 28
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by fuzz_ball

    Odd, you're not having a problem with the "Preview Post" and OmniWeb 5? I don't have a problem with Safari logging into my companies exchange webmail, I do it everyday...



    yeah, it seems to be the same related bug (at least from its behavior), but working the exact opposite for the two of us. and i'm not exactly blaming safari for the exchange problem. well, i kinda am... i mean, i know it may be something of a system admin "issue," but mozilla (and mozilla-based variants) and ie seem to work with it fine. so i have to think it's safari being less tolerant of an issue on our end than other browsers.



    mozilla works great with it, but mozilla has some terrible kerning/tracking display issues in text fields, which makes composing long emails almost impossible... the cursor will slowly but surely get "out of sync" with the text it is printing on screen in mozilla fields. not a huge deal until you need to correct something, and you have to place the cursor several characters BEFORE the part you want to edit. really disorienting. anyway, i digress...
  • Reply 11 of 28
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,423member
    I know this is fairly political but here goes.



    I've begun to realize that in order for the Mac Platform to achieve its independence we need to support developers that remain "Mac only". We all love to complain about Adobe or Macromedia not utilizing our favorite Apple tech but it's our fault because we chose a program that needs to appeal to the least common denominator.



    That's not why I purchase Macs. I want an exemplarary computing exprerience and I'm just not getting that with some of the major ISVs. With that in mind you bet your ass i'm going to support Omnigroup with purchases of Omniweb, Omnioutliner and Omnigraffle. I'm going to support Rogue Amoeba and Ambrosia SW and Freshly Squeezed. Why?



    Because these companies and more support the Mac. They go to WWDC and decide to hitch their fortunes on the ideology and technology of this platform. This is going to be so important for the future, as moving apps to take advantage of the Core APIs in OSX is going to require that developers committ to the Mac.



    $30 is nothing to me really. I've blown that on clothes or even liquor(ouch). I look at what I get with Omniweb 5 that will pay rewards. Right now I know I'm getting a browser that has some nifty features(flash blocking..thanks Omni!) and I know that when 5.1 comes with a newer version of webcore I'll have more features. It is also likely that by OW 5.5 there will be some nice integration with other Omni apps or other Mac apps. This is just the start.



    Again Safari is nice and I'll use it just like I use Firefox and IE today. But I'm putting my hopes and support behind the "little" companies programming for Mac because they believe.
  • Reply 12 of 28
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hmurchison

    I know this is fairly political but here goes.



    I've begun to realize that in order for the Mac Platform to achieve its independence we need to support developers that remain "Mac only". We all love to complain about Adobe or Macromedia not utilizing our favorite Apple tech but it's our fault because we chose a program that needs to appeal to the least common denominator.



    That's not why I purchase Macs. I want an exemplarary computing exprerience and I'm just not getting that with some of the major ISVs. With that in mind you bet your ass i'm going to support Omnigroup with purchases of Omniweb, Omnioutliner and Omnigraffle. I'm going to support Rogue Amoeba and Ambrosia SW and Freshly Squeezed. Why?



    Because these companies and more support the Mac. They go to WWDC and decide to hitch their fortunes on the ideology and technology of this platform. This is going to be so important for the future, as moving apps to take advantage of the Core APIs in OSX is going to require that developers committ to the Mac.



    $30 is nothing to me really. I've blown that on clothes or even liquor(ouch). I look at what I get with Omniweb 5 that will pay rewards. Right now I know I'm getting a browser that has some nifty features(flash blocking..thanks Omni!) and I know that when 5.1 comes with a newer version of webcore I'll have more features. It is also likely that by OW 5.5 there will be some nice integration with other Omni apps or other Mac apps. This is just the start.



    Again Safari is nice and I'll use it just like I use Firefox and IE today. But I'm putting my hopes and support behind the "little" companies programming for Mac because they believe.



    I'll try OW5 but it would have to amaze to grab me. I did however buy Omnigraffle Pro and OmniOutliner though so I certainly do believe in supporting developers of good Mac software (especially when it completely kicks ass like OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner).
  • Reply 13 of 28
    macanoid(tm)macanoid(tm) Posts: 344member
    I bought a license, simply because I love the new OW5 interface and all the features is has. Where else can one browse the net in Colorsync

    Render-engine-wise the browser is ok enough with enough room for improvement but meanwhile good enough for my needs





    Hats of to Omniweb for this great product!!
  • Reply 14 of 28
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by macanoid?

    I bought a license, simply because I love the new OW5 interface and all the features is has. Where else can one browse the net in Colorsync



    i feel really bad for breaking your innocent spirit here, but, believe it or not, you can also enable this in IE5's preferences.
  • Reply 15 of 28
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Bancho

    I'll try OW5 but it would have to amaze to grab me. I did however buy Omnigraffle Pro and OmniOutliner though so I certainly do believe in supporting developers of good Mac software (especially when it completely kicks ass like OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner).



    hey murch, i feel you had a very eloquent post, but bancho brings it home... namely, you and i would always pay for QUALITY software we think is WORTH the asking price. you wouldn't pay $300 for omniweb, right? no matter how good it is. but it's still better than, say, icab (used to be a day when icab looked positioned to be where safari is today... and then it just died on the vine). or better than opera (though i haven't played with the most recent version yet).



    and on the flip-side, there's lots of terrible shareware out there that doesn't deserve its asking price. and in the end, that's what we want to support is GOOD software, not just ANY software. but the ball of inertia needs to start somewhere for some of these developers, i suppose.



    that having been said, omniweb 5, from a FEATURE standpoint seems perfect in my book. that justfies about half of the asking price. but i need to see what zeldman and the standards crews say about it, as well as online banks, and they need to fix this strange double-login issue with some servers/firewalls.



    so right now, omni gets $15 of my dollars. do they have a rent-to-own plan?







    p.s. i agree about how great graffle and outliner are, but the thing omni doesn't play up enough, what really made me buy both, was how well they work TOGETHER. list your ideas in outline format, import into graffle -- wham! -- now it's just time to sex it up with all the bells and whistles mac os x has to offer. visio can't TOUCH that.
  • Reply 16 of 28
    macanoid(tm)macanoid(tm) Posts: 344member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok

    i feel really bad for breaking your innocent spirit here, but, believe it or not, you can also enable this in IE5's preferences.



    I stand corrected, Sir. It's been a while since I last used that.
  • Reply 17 of 28
    fuzz_ballfuzz_ball Posts: 390member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by fuzz_ball

    PS - I just discovered something that kills it for me; I just tried to preview this post and OmniWeb 5 doesn't seem to be dealing with this site too well. It keeps prompting me to relogin (even though I told it to save my login) and after I login I get nothing (no preview of post, nothing). Essentially I seemt o be completely unable to preview posts when using OmniWeb 5



    Okay, turns out my preview post problem was related to cookies. When i was using the beta, I had cookies turned off. I didn't realize that the final release would just inherit the beta settings, so I tweaked it to allow cookies (for AppleInsider only) and now it is working
  • Reply 18 of 28
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    I've got my OW 5 license. There are isolated places where I need to fall back on another browser, but it handles its duty as my main browser with grace and aplomb. It's worth it for workspaces alone, per-site preferences rock, and the overall feel is polished and smooth.



    It's certainly worth the cost of upgrading my OW4 license.
  • Reply 19 of 28
    danmacmandanmacman Posts: 773member
    I don't buy software.
  • Reply 20 of 28
    zapchudzapchud Posts: 844member
    Maybe I will if it catches up with Safari in terms of speed of stability. The OW feature-set is excellent. :-)
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