Perfect Browser for Mac OSX

[Event]

What do you think the best browser for OSX is?

Safari blends in well with OSX, but is boring. I love the UI of Opera 9 (I have it set perfectly), but it does not handle flash at all, nor does it like javascript. It is also very fast. Opera 8 is still PPC. The UI for Camino is terrible, the Icons are huge! Small icons barely make a difference at all! Plus, there's little to no opportunity for customization...

What do you think is the best OSX web browser?

[Jase]

Safari

[Jayzee]

Well, you can also use Firefox (UB version is underway) but I personally prefer Camino.

[Event]

Well, you can also use Firefox (UB version is underway) but I personally prefer Camino.

Im looking forward to the UB version of firefox, since that it will be more customizable than camino. Firefox 1.5 in OSX is so bad...

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

i say Safari, fast (uses Quartz) and is very mac like. failing that Opera, not very mac like but on par with Safari for speed and CSS support (have found some things Safari can do that Opera can't).

Now, Camino and Firefox both use Gecko (duh!) and Gecko uses QuickDraw, and as of Tiger, Quartz is around 5 times faster than QuickDraw, so having an engine based on QuickDraw slows them down (and SVG rendering in Firefox is horribly slow, Safari + SVG is many times faster)

[Leddy]

Safari is fine. Why bother changing out?

[NeoMasamune]

I use Safari

[.Neo]

There you go: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=331533&hl=

It's safe to say that the majority of Mac OS X users here on Neowin prefer Safari.

The UI for Camino is terrible, the Icons are huge! Small icons barely make a difference at all! Plus, there's little to no opportunity for customization...

Actually you're wrong. You can acces Camino's package contents and customize ALL toolbar buttons, tabs, tobbers etc. with ease.

Edited April 7, 2006 by Neowave

[JewelziMac]

Safari is what I use. It has everything I need right there.

[the godfather]

i use firefox, Universal Binary now, and so accustomed to it that i cant be bothered changing to Safari :p

[krmathis]

No browser is perfect!

For me Camino is closer to the perfect browser than any of its competitiors.

@Event. As Neowave say, Camino is just as configurable as Safari (or any other Cocoa application).

You can replace all icons and graphics, modify the nib files, etc...

[dotmike]

I use Safari, love it.

[Kartel]

Firefox here, regardless of what OS I'm on. Cross-platform + extensions = more freedom than I can shake a stick at.

[SolidSapphire]

I use Safari because i like it's look but i would love to use Firefox if the UI looked better.

[Anand]

Safari is my first preference.

If not for the rendering problem in Shiira, I'd already be using it.

Edited May 21, 2006 by Anand

[Simon Veteran]

When I get my Mini, Safari seems probable, but I want to try the alternatives. In my visit to the Apple store, Safari was beautiful, fast, and had enough features to keep me happy.

When I get my Mini...

[Hiiragi Tsukasa]

Shiira is my personal favorite.

I never really encountered that render bug though, so if that is a problem, use Camino or Firefox.

[AppleDave Veteran]

What exactly is wrong with Safari?

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I'm going to reply again, but i think it's a good post.

I have what you could call extensions for Safari (a smattering of InputManagers), so my Safari can do adblocking (and a whole lot more, i'll go on more later), i have Tidy integrated in, so i see how many warnings, and the source viewer shows me highlighted errors, i have a little "extension" that prompts me when i close a window with more than one tab (Safari doesn't by default)

Ok, about AdBlocking, it's only one thing that the extension can do, it can block URL's, block images on the page, block JS, block cookies, etc., it can also apply custom CSS styles, embed JS into the pages (like Greasemonkey), and it allows me to run pages through scripts (e.g. i can convert all url's into real click-able URL's using perl and some regular expressions)

So, it's PithHelmet that allows me to do anything to a page, Taboo that shows the pop-up alert when i accidentally click on the close window button, and SafariTidy that loads Tidy in.

Now, there is also a Source Highlighting extension, but 1. i cant find it and 2. it might break with the Safari Tidy plugin.

[Ashiaveli]

I use firefox only because neither camino nor safari have addressbar drop down. unless there is a way to enable it, i gotta stick with the fox.

btw, if there is a way to enable drop-down menu for the address bars in either camino or safari i'd be very gratefull.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

well, my Safari has auto-completion in the address bar (and has a drop-down)

[Konstanov]

Opera is what I use on every operating system....

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Couple more extensions...

AcidSearch updates the search box in the top right hand corner, add's tones of other search services, and allows you to define your own, while retaining the recent searches list (and it can show custom icons, instead of the magnifying glass)

and it's SafariSource that adds source code highlighting, and it works with Safari Tidy (while the web developer extension made Safari crash on boot)

so yeah, Firefox has Extensions, same with Safari (and every other cocoa app's, Mouse gestures?, no problem.), so the whole "It has extensions!" argument kinda goes out of the window.

[Whitster]

I use Camino. For me it seems to be quicker than Safari and I like the layout over that of Safari or Firefox.

[Quillz]

Sorry to bump this old topic, but I just wanted to share my opinion. On the Mac, I prefer Camino to everything else. Sure, it lacks extensions, but I love how well it blends into the Aqua UI. Not to mention it has all the best features of the Gecko engine.