Before the switch, I was pretty firmly committed to Firefox as a web browser and so of course it was the first app that I installed on my new MacBook.
All was not quite right though, although I didn’t realise it until this morning. You see I had thought that this mac was a bit slow, most of what I have done so far has included a web browser (what doesn’t, these days) and Firefox took forever to load. Anyway, long story short I realised that Mozilla haven’t released a universal binary for Firefox 1.5 yet and so I was running it in PowerPC emulation mode (Rosetta).
So in trying to find a build for Intel, I actually took a look at some alternatives and I have installed Camino which as far as I can tell is a Mac native UI around the Gecko rendering engine used in Firefox 1.5.
First impressions
I like it, visually it fits so much better with OS/X and all of the window controls are now looking like the rest of the system. It’s faster too, SO much faster (although much of this will be because of the universal binary) and I also love that it is integrated with the Keychain (I gotta blog about that too :). BUT, and it’s a big but :( It doesn’t seem to support extensions and I don’t know whether I can live with that.
Roll on an official Intel build of Firefox! Or, should I be trying something else in the mean time?
Technorati Tags:
mac, os/x, osx, firefox, camino, switching to mac os/x, macnewbie
27 responses so far ↓
Björn // April 4, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Hi,
welcome to the Macintosh, cool to have you here.
Before trying open source browsers, check out Safari, that’s the default OS X browser. Works pretty well, is Intel-ready (so no Rosetta needed) and delivers a nice web experience.
However, it’s good to keep firefox as 2nd browser - there might be some sites out there that are specifically built for IE/Firefox, and Safari is left out there.
Oh, and there is an Adobe Reader for the Mac - but Preview is by far better.
Matt // April 4, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Try Safari. I used to use Firefox on a windows XP laptop, but now only use Safari on a Powerbook. It has most of the features from firefox (tabbed browsing, privacy options, etc) and it’s FAST! Plus it’s Apple native so fit’s in perfectly witht he rest of the OS X apps.
Andreas // April 4, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Well, why not use Safari? It is the browser that integrates the best with Mac OS X, and it is very good looking (IMO).
You can always use add-ons like Saft (http://haoli.dnsalias.com/Saft/) and PithHelmet (http://culater.net/software/PithHelmet/PithHelmet.php) to add some extra features to Safari. I don’t use them, though, seem to be doing just fine without, but many others can’t live without.
My favourite browser back in the Windows days was Opera. It sucks (like Firefox) on Mac, so I had to find another. I went with Safari.
There are some (poorly designed but important to me) sites that don’t work with Safari, for those I use Camino because it is good looking.
Oh, by the way: You could check this site out: http://pimpmysafari.com/
Andreas // April 4, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Oh. There seems to be a lot of consensus about the Safari-thing.
Kent // April 4, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Unfortunately Camino does not support extensions because it does not use/support XUL as Firefox/Mozilla do. This is why the interface is Mac-ish….and not ugly on the Mac like Firefox is :) - Camino is still a great Gecko based browser though!
Björn // April 4, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Nothing bad to say about Camino, I used it a lot while working at Apple - but Safari is clear #1.
Andrew Ho // April 4, 2006 at 12:53 pm
In case you haven’t discovered it, I use “CamiTools”:http://www.nadamac.de/camitools/index.php to extend Camino (most importantly to customise the search engines in the search bar).
MacPod // April 4, 2006 at 1:22 pm
The universal binary Firefox is fast fast fast. I’m using it on my intel mac until the 1.5.0.2 comes out.
Recent switcher myself.
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Mac:Intel#Unofficial_Builds
rei // April 4, 2006 at 1:45 pm
You can get great Mac-themed Firefox skins at: http://www.takebacktheweb.org
Thomas // April 4, 2006 at 2:15 pm
I run the Intel Firefox too and it rocks! No spell checking though.
thefireguy // April 4, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Yo
Good morning
You have a great blog and welcome to the world of Mac - your going to have a lot enjoyment in the coming months… nice to have you aboard
For Safari related information check out “PimpMySafari.com” it’s most useful for plugin information.
I find Safari has become my default browser for which I run both my life and a small businesses from. My backup choose is Camino, albeit I’m still new to it.
Have fun and thanks for your blog and it’s input… it will only make the community stronger!
thefireguy
Twist // April 4, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Even native versions of Mozilla are pretty slow on Mac OS X from my experiences. The processor specific “DeerPark” builds are a little better but launch time is still pretty slow on every system I have used it on compared to Safari.
Dan // April 4, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Intel optimized FireFox:
http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/mozilla_and_firefox
Stephen Waits // April 4, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Opera. Give it a chance. You will never go back.
Mike Peck // April 4, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Universal Version of Firefox here on my new MacBookPro. I like it, except the stupid deer park logo :)
Justin // April 4, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Safari is ok but if you want a KHTML browser with more features and one that is Wicked fast try Shiira they have both PPC and Universal downloads. I still you firefox most of the time though.
kitch // April 4, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Recent switcher also.
I immediately gravitated towards firefox from my pc experience. The intel build of 1.5.0.2 is lightning fast (much faster than safari actually) and have the extension support I crave. So i have stuck with it.
Camino was ok, same speed as firefox. gave me a more mac experience, no extensions.
safari is nice, but its slow as hell and no extensions
my 2 pence
Mark Kalderon // April 4, 2006 at 8:32 pm
This page has extensive comaprison of web browsers on the mac:
http://darrel.knutson.com/mac/www/browsers.html
Here is another vote for Shiira, but iCab and OmniWeb deserve consideration as Safari alternatives.
Dave Child // April 5, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Opera. Every time. Safari is ok, but nothing special. Opera, though, is special.
Ferdie // April 5, 2006 at 5:37 pm
I downloaded Camino after reading this post. I must say that I do like it. And I do notice that it’s a bit faster than Firefox (my iMac has a PowerPC G5 processor), which I was using until yesterday. I have a question about Camino though and maybe someone could help me out. In Firefox, when you click on a link and hold the command key, the link automatically opens in a new tab. This doesn’t work in Camino. Does anybody know what I should be pressing instead? I tried a combination of different keys but I couldn’t make it work. Incidentally, I did discover that clicking on a link while holding shift and command will open the new browser window BEHIND the current active window. Although I can’t imagine how that would be useful in any way. Hehe.
Darren Meadows // April 5, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Anybody notice performance issue with Safari lately? I am also new to Mac - got a 20″ IMac G5 for Christmas - I have noticed a slow down - to almost an unbearable crawl. I have found some temporary measures to help but it was not like it was when I first got my Mac. Still enjoing my Mac experience, but I run a network with both PC’s and the Mac. I agree however the Mac community is extremely helpful and passionate about their machines.
Machine // April 5, 2006 at 7:37 pm
I’ve used pretty much every web browser on my aging TiBook and I’ve found Camino + CamiTools was faster (and less of a memory drain) than Firefox and more aethetically pleasing than Safari.
From the CamiTools website:
The CamiTools are a Preference Pane for Camino 1.0. They provide you a wide range of options to adjust Camino to your demands:
- a toolbar search engine editor for Camino
- an image and script blocker for Camino
- Flashblock for Camino
- configure many aspects of Camino
- it lets you switch the appearance style (Aqua, Unified or Metal) and hide the status bar
- open your existing Camino profile or create a new one
- define your own styles for the pages you’re visiting
- sync your bookmarks with a ftp server
CamiTools adblocking is quite excellent!
saul harvey // April 6, 2006 at 1:36 am
look at http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/
its where the expermental or test versions of firefox are located.
it does show some universal binarys for ppc and intel machines so they are working on it.
blagermeister // April 12, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Haven’t used Firefox on a mac in at least a year, Safari the same. Firefox was too slow to startup, so much I had to check to see if the process was running or if I didn’t click the dock icon correctly. Safari had rendering issues on Microsoft tech sites like TechNet or on improperly coded ecommerce websites. I switched to Camino around .90 I think and haven’t looked back. Clean, quick, and doesn’t seem to have the rendering issues. But to be fair, I haven’t used Firefox or Safari in awhile. Camino has worked nicely since it’s late beta days and I can’t see any reason to go back. Especially with that tired brushed metal facade.
Carlos // July 25, 2006 at 6:43 pm
I was in a store with a really busy internet.
With safari i opened the apple website complete in 30 seconds
I downloaded webkit and i opened the website at 25
I downloaded Opera and i opened the webiste at 10 seconds
asis // February 22, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Hi there i’m new at macintosh, i bought a powerbook g4, i’v tryied Firefox, Opera, camino and safari and so far they are all very slow and sometimes i fell like i’m going to make something bad LOLOL, anyone know what could be? maybe some properties? hum?
thanx for help =)
zorro // March 17, 2007 at 1:55 am
asis go to this link and see the comments of mac users — closer to your date
http://www.digg.com/software/Using_Safari_can_slow_your_system_down_as_much_as_76_vs_Firefox