Firefox vs. Safari

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I'm not looking to start a flame war, just a genuine debate about which browser is better.



I use Firefox, but I like the Safari text field spell checking feature, which isn't in Firefox. On the other hand, Firefox has type ahead find, which Safari doesn't.



I profess ignorance about some of the other unique features of Safari.



Please weigh in.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    I like everything about Safari, except its slowness. If I'm impressed by the speed of Safari 2.0 in Tiger, I will switch back.
  • Reply 2 of 34
    danosaurdanosaur Posts: 258member
    What's type ahead find?



    I use safari. It's great.
  • Reply 3 of 34
    I wish they made something like the search terms buttons on the GoogleToolbar (probably Yahoo and MSN have them too.) What I'm talking about is how when you type stuff into the search bar it will make buttons, one for each term, and you can click on them, and it will seach for it on the current page. This would be really handy to have built into the browser.
  • Reply 4 of 34
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Danosaur

    What's type ahead find?



    I use safari. It's great.




    That's where it will begin searching for and highlighting the words as you are typing it in.
  • Reply 5 of 34
    koyikoyi Posts: 22member
    I don't like firefox in MacOS X since the display of text tends to blur a bit. Or is this only for me?



    Now I am using Camino browser and I think it is great.
  • Reply 6 of 34
    This has been thoroughly discussed many times already...



    Apple's design philosophy is to keep everything as simple as possible. As a result, customizability and advanced features are often omitted.



    If you're like me and like to customize and control everything, then Firefox is much better. Others prefer simplicity, in which case, Safari is the browser of choice.



    Just compare the number of options in both browsers and you will see what I mean. Further, Firefox has many more hidden options.



    The same goes with most of the other programs as well...
    • I don't use Safari, but use Firefox

    • I don't use Mail, but use Thunderbird

    • I don't use iChat, but use AdiumX

    • I don't use iPhoto, but use iView Media

    All for the same reason. I can't customize things as much as I can with the Apple programs.
  • Reply 7 of 34
    Things like type ahead find, rudimentary RSS and the ability to rearrange tabs can be added to Safari by installing Safari Stand. Make sure you also get hold of Pithhelmet for adblocking, and Acid Search to add extra search channels to safari.
  • Reply 8 of 34
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JavaCowboy

    I'm not looking to start a flame war, just a genuine debate about which browser is better.



    I use Firefox, but I like the Safari text field spell checking feature, which isn't in Firefox. On the other hand, Firefox has type ahead find, which Safari doesn't.



    I profess ignorance about some of the other unique features of Safari.



    Please weigh in.




    i know you dont wanna start a flame war, but this topic has been run into the ground several times. appleinsider has a handy dandy search tool.
  • Reply 9 of 34
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Safari is slow. I don't know why, since its relative Konqueror is much faster, and with so many more options, but I find that irritating. So I use Firefox, and sometimes Camino. I use Firefox in my Linux box as well, so it feels nice to have a kind of consistency.



    What I dislike about Safari, and any browser in general (except Gecko based browser), is the de-centralized extentions. You have to go to 15 different pages to install add-ons. Where as with Firefox or other Mozilla browsers, you have addons.mozilla.org and you can install anything you want there.



    I know this is not Apple's fault, but they could host something like this in their website. Little extentions that make Safari do things it otherwise wouldn't do. Maybe it's against their UI 'philosophy', but not every user cares about it either.
  • Reply 10 of 34
    hugihugi Posts: 33member
    Safari 1.3 (in OS X 10.3.9 released just now) is much, much faster for me than 1.2 (or FireFox, for that matter).
  • Reply 11 of 34
    the web developer bar in firefox makes it number one for me alone.



    plus the tabs work better press apple + 2 takes you to the tab your second tab etc, much better than safai.
  • Reply 12 of 34
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    Firefox still feels faster to me.



    If you don't think Firefox is fast, perhaps you need to do this to really speed it up:



    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1299854/posts
  • Reply 13 of 34
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Hugi

    Safari 1.3 (in OS X 10.3.9 released just now) is much, much faster for me than 1.2 (or FireFox, for that matter).



    The new safari does blaze through pages.
  • Reply 14 of 34
    chipzchipz Posts: 100member
    Safari 1.3 that came with OS X 10.3.9 is a lot faster. The only thing I wish Safari had is a button for HOME. It would be so much easier to use rather than having to go to history and click home.
  • Reply 15 of 34
    Quote:

    Originally posted by chipz

    Safari 1.3 that came with OS X 10.3.9 is a lot faster. The only thing I wish Safari had is a button for HOME. It would be so much easier to use rather than having to go to history and click home.



    Can't you just go to the View menu and push Home to make the Home button appear? Or press the Home key. This always pisses me off, because I often press it expecting it to go to the beginning of a line of text.
  • Reply 16 of 34
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by chipz

    Safari 1.3 that came with OS X 10.3.9 is a lot faster. The only thing I wish Safari had is a button for HOME. It would be so much easier to use rather than having to go to history and click home.



    Safari has a little house here, and I can click it to go to home-page.
  • Reply 17 of 34
    chipzchipz Posts: 100member
    White Rabbit,



    Thanks for the tip. I had forgotten all about that. I clicked on Home and the symbol appeared on my menu bar. Thanks once again.
  • Reply 18 of 34
    formatc2formatc2 Posts: 176member
    What a complex topic...



    It's really all opinion, so I'll give mine.



    I wish Apple would have chosen the Gecko renderer, the engine that powers Mozilla-based browsers.



    Choosing Gecko would have given web developers one less target to worry about.



    I'm not sure of the reasoning behind the KHTML vs. Gecko choice... but here are a few guesses:



    Apple & Linux. To me, there are two different ways to say OS X: OS "ten" and OS "x" as in the letter. This was really a brilliant move on Apple's part.



    I wasn't an Apple user/owner before OS X. But I was a UNIX user in my profession. To me, the "x" in OS X meant UNIX. Long story short, I bit because of UNIX.



    So the point of this story is this: Apple wants to attract UNIX and UNIX-like (Linux) OS users, and is doing a damn good job.



    Thus KHTML. That K is KDE. One of the big guns in the Linux desktop space. KDE is gaining corporate attention because of strong Windows lookalike/actalike themes.



    Here is your warning/notice: Linux desktops will happen! Apple will need to address the problem. Using KHTML, and contributing innovative development back into it, causes Apple to gain some type of foothold into the Linux desktop.



    No, I'm not expressing myself perfectly, but I hope you see the point.



    Apple is very busy blurring the lines between OS X and Linux. The most blurred lines are under the hood, especially on the server end.



    UNIX is the trump card of OS X in my honest opinion.



    I look forward to see how Apple continues to address the oncoming Linux desktop.
  • Reply 19 of 34
    I think I read somewhere that the reason they chose KHTML was because Gecko was very slow at the time that they started development on Safri.



    It wasn't till Firefox that it was vastly spead up. Before, they only had the full blown Mozilla browsers and the Netscape browsers based off it. Those two browsers take ages to start up compared with Firefox.
  • Reply 20 of 34
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by WhiteRabbit

    I think I read somewhere that the reason they chose KHTML was because Gecko was very slow at the time that they started development on Safri.



    It wasn't till Firefox that it was vastly spead up. Before, they only had the full blown Mozilla browsers and the Netscape browsers based off it. Those two browsers take ages to start up compared with Firefox.




    Firefox takes an age to start up on both the Mac and the PC. It also doesn't comply with the apple GUI rules. The two reasons I don't use it.
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