# What Browser Do You Use?



## gob129 (Feb 10, 2011)

I'm just wondering what browser(s) people on the forum. I know of Camino, Safari, Firefox, Stainless, and Chrome.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

I use Safari, after all it came with my Mac, is fine tuned to run with my Mac and just works with my Mac. I've used it ever since inception and while I have had minor issues with some releases, none so big that they ever caused me to switch to a non Mac browser.


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## Paddy (Jul 13, 2004)

Safari 99% of the time, Firefox (usually the latest beta) about 1% and once in a blue moon, IE 8 (running under Parallels/Win 7) when I hit that impossibly badly coded site that only works with IE.

I have Click to Flash and AdBlock running.

For a long time, I used the nightly builds of Webkit as my primary browser. But now that we've got plugins etc. I'm sticking with the official Safari releases since I'm not sure what happens to the plug-ins when you're constantly updating the browser! Playing on the bleeding edge in browser-land was fun though...


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## racewalker (Sep 20, 2010)

Sense I switched from Linux to mac I kept using Chrome but also use Safari some of the time. I find FireFox getting very bloated.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Camino 1.67 for 99%, Safari for the balance. Reason I started using Camino was when I first switched to OS X, Camino was the only browser that could import my Netscape bookmarks.

When Camino 2 rolled out I downloaded it, it worked like garbage & has one bug that is a deal breaker for me. Reverted to 1.67, more or less happy camper.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

Firefox for most things and Chrome the odd time.


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

Safari exclusively. Can't let go of things like Ctrl-Cmd-D (for dictionary lookups), for example.

Used to be a Firefox user exclusively since I generally work on OS X, Linux, and Windows but I'm mostly Mac now so Safari it is!


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Safari. Even though I have my complaints about the Spinning Beach-Ball of Death, I'm accepting my share of the blame, since I tend to run with 30+ tabs open at any given time... 

I keep FireFox around for the odd website that is coded for MSIE, which FireFox seems more forgiving of... I have Chrome on my HD, but have no idea why I keep it around. Also in there are Camino, Fluid, Flock, ...even MSIE 5.2.3 (thanks, SINC) when I want to see how crappy the Internet used to be.... Yes, I'm a bit of a hermit...


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## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

More safari users than I would have thought. I wonder whether the Mayor can post some stats on this site's traffic broken down by browser?


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## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

3 browsers;
Safari, Safari, and Safari.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

Safari 99.9% because 99.9% of the time Safari works with the sites I visit.

Then, Firefox when Safari craps out on some site and MSIE via VMware Fusion when in Windows...but that I generally avoid, preferring to surf on OS X instead.


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## johnnyspade (Aug 24, 2007)

racewalker said:


> Sense I switched from Linux to mac I kept using Chrome but also use Safari some of the time. I find FireFox getting very bloated.


I would have posted the exact same thing.


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## Digikid (Jun 22, 2010)

I use Firefox only.

Chrome: SPyware...will not go near it.
Safari: Junk....IMHO Clunky.
Camino: Never heard of it


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## steviewhy (Oct 21, 2010)

sudo rm -rf /


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

Camino here as well. Noticeably faster than other browsers especially with older gear and/or slow pitch cable. Better ad blocking as well.

Safari or Firefox for the very occasional site that Camino can't handle.


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## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

Only using Chrome now.


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## Paul82 (Sep 19, 2007)

Safari about 80% of the time Chrome 19% and Firefox 1%, I switched from Firefox a couple years ago as it was getting rather bloated and the newer webkit based browsers blew it out of the water performance wise... This has changed as the beta of firefox 4 holds it's own in terms of performance but it has yet to give me a reason to switch back...


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## james_squared (May 3, 2002)

Another vote for Camino. It's my main browser, but I do use Firefox or Safari here and there for the occasional site. I tried Sunrise the other day and it seemed okay.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

Safari, it came with my mac. While at work though I use IE because it came with my PC for work.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

FireFox because of its customizability. I find Safari clunky by comparison. I like the fact that it is open source and there are literally thousands of plugins, addons even skins to tailor it to just the way I want it.

Its da bomb. Plus it has a cool icon.


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

Safari, both on OS X and Windows.


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

i have an iphone, several macs and a mobileme subscription so........safari for me


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Safari, because it's finally better than Camino with Extensions, and because Firefox is a steaming, heaping, pile of bloated and slow crap on OS X - it's great on Windows


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

> Firefox is a steaming, heaping, pile of bloated and slow crap on OS X


x2. i have no idea why anyone would want to use it. i think the 6 year old IE i used to have on my last macbook pro was about as fast as firefox


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## WestWeb (Jul 11, 2009)

Chrome because it's fast and has a strong set of web development tools now. Plus I like how well Google has simplified the way we interact with a web browser. 

I ditched Firefox as my main development browser as it was just getting way to slow.
I don't use safari because it lacks any serious web developer support.


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## digitddog (Jul 5, 2006)

Chrome. Fast and simple interface with a combined location and search field. Plenty of extensions. But mostly I love the ability to create keyboard shortcuts to specify a specific search engine.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Camino because it's the only one that works with all web sites I regularly visit.
It's also the only one that allows multiple rows in the bookmark bar.


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## Funkynassau (Apr 13, 2008)

Safari


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## ertman (Jan 15, 2008)

Safari.

I use firefox when I need something that runs custom code better.

I had used chrome for a while, I liked the minimal screen real estate. However, I have been getting more concerned with how Google is operating or at the very least how they present themselves.


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## Newdeal (Nov 2, 2009)

I tried chrome, it was ok but I really like to use safari top sites and chrome just doesn't have anything that works as well. More importantly than that the flash blockers for chrome don't seem to work nearly as well as click2flash does for safari click2flash is perfect the ones for chrome miss alot


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## K2ACP (Sep 11, 2010)

PM G5 & new Macs- Safari, but I have Chrome as backup, never use it though...
iMac G3 & older Macs- Opera, Safari is sooooo slow 
PC- Netscape, I was raised on it


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## mrhud (Oct 30, 2007)

Safari.

Firefox when I need/have no other choice.

Syncs between my other Macs and iPhones beautifully.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

I use the extensions in firefox daily so it's the only choice for me.


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## mgmitchell (Apr 4, 2008)

I'm a fiddler. No, not THAT kind of fiddler. Or even that OTHER kind of fiddler. But I do fiddle. I tend to grab for the latest trend in browsers. First discovered Safari when I got my first MB in '07. Stuck to it. I have FF and Chrome on my dock, but rarely use them. I guess they're there just in case I want to fiddle. I actually converted to Camino for quite a stretch in the fall; found it clean and functional. But I guess I wandered back to Safari because of ClickToFlash and the Activity tool for instant downloading for YT. The beach ball annoys me - but that's probably my fault for having too many tabs running. So I'd say 90/10, Safari, Camino.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

Andrew Pratt said:


> I use the extensions in firefox daily so it's the only choice for me.


+1 And thus the virtue of open source.


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## Myko (Apr 12, 2010)

Safari always on Mac, Google Chrome on work PC


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## Digikid (Jun 22, 2010)

screature said:


> +1 And thus the virtue of open source.


At least we agree on something.

Well said!


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

Digikid said:


> At least we agree on something.
> 
> Well said!


:lmao: Oh I am sure we agree on many things... we just got started off on the wrong foot.

Peace Digikid.


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## garf1108 (May 30, 2006)

Firefox and then, Safari


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## mjollymo (Dec 5, 2009)

Safari for the most part. If I am visiting a site that uses flash, I switch over to Chrome.


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## kkritsilas (Mar 1, 2010)

Firefox across the board (OSX, several varieties of Windows, Linux and Solaris). Doesn't feel that slow to me. I do like a few of the plugins for Firefox (Better Privacy, Download Status Bar, Forecast Fox).

Kostas


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## Zen44 (Oct 25, 2010)

I've been divided between Firefox and Safari, but I'm using Firefox at the moment.

Pros for Safari: tight OS integration (including Keychain and Spotlight), speed, and overall UI.
Cons: Not as many extensions as Firefox (the current selection on apple.com is laughable; does anyone know of a better repository?), certain sites break with Safari.

Pros for Firefox: Extensions, extensions, extensions, and it being open source (although Safari is based on open source, so the latter doesn't really count)
Cons: Is slower than Safari, but plays nicely with everyone online. Does anyone know if Firefox 4 is faster?


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## Digikid (Jun 22, 2010)

screature said:


> :lmao: Oh I am sure we agree on many things... we just got started off on the wrong foot.
> 
> Peace Digikid.


DItto.


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## Zen44 (Oct 25, 2010)

Digikid said:


> I use Firefox only.
> 
> Chrome: SPyware...will not go near it.
> Safari: Junk....IMHO Clunky.
> Camino: Never heard of it


Chrome has spyware??? Never heard of that before--can you point us to any articles that would mention this somewhere? Any articles that I found online dated back to 2008, and don't know if they're still pertinent.


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## Paddy (Jul 13, 2004)

> Chrome has spyware??? Never heard of that before--can you point us to any articles that would mention this somewhere? Any articles that I found online dated back to 2008, and don't know if they're still pertinent.


See the Wikipedia article - the section on usage tracking.

Google Chrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Zen44 (Oct 25, 2010)

Paddy said:


> See the Wikipedia article - the section on usage tracking.
> 
> Google Chrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Thanks for the info; I was always skeptical of Chrome, and now I know why!


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## digitddog (Jul 5, 2006)

Paddy said:


> See the Wikipedia article - the section on usage tracking.
> 
> Google Chrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This throws me for a loop. I hadn't realized that Google did this and I find it disturbing. Anyone tried this Chrome-based, non-usage-tracking browser?


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## Lichen Software (Jul 23, 2004)

Safari for most things. Firefox for the odd thing on the MacBook Pro. TenFourFox on the G4 PB. This is a port of the latest version of FireFox, but will run on Power PC machines


For old machines I will also run Classilla in classic environment. It seems to just plow through things that bog other browsers.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Zen44 said:


> Thanks for the info; I was always skeptical of Chrome, and now I know why!


That why I don't use Chrome or gmail and use Google search less & less.

I don't have anything to hide, it's just nobody's damn business...

/tangent


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

I use Chrome. Safari beach balls for me far too much.

Thanks about the tracking in Chrome. I didn't know that. I'ill use iRon from now on.


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## digitddog (Jul 5, 2006)

*For the privacy obsessed, Chrome-alternative SRW Iron*

I've started to use SRW Iron as of last night (link in my last post). It doesn't import any extensions or keyboard search shortcuts from Chrome, so you'll have install the extensions again and manually re-enter the shortcuts. But aside from this small barrier, it seems to work pretty well so far. 

Note that both xmarks and lastpass seem to work well. There is an option to import bookmarks and settings from Safari and Firefox, but not Chrome. (Probably due to the source codes lineage in Chrome.)

From what little I've read (the comments in macupdate.com), it sounds like Iron is based on source code that may be an iteration or two behind the most recent stable release of chrome.


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## kyoru (Jan 15, 2009)

I use firefox, just like how the address bar auto fills the correct website I want from my bookmarks. Chrome doesn't do this too well but it's quite snappy.


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## singingcrow (May 6, 2005)

I used to use Camino, but when Firefox was at version 1.5 I switched over. That was a few years ago, and in the last year and a half I was led to believe my computer was getting sluggish.

Recently, Firefox had a major crash. As a result, my toolbar bookmarks were scrambled i.e. either the addresses were the wrong ones or were deleted, yet they were listed in bookmarks, but most weren't visible in the actual toolbar anymore. So, I panicked, tried Safari again, and again didn't feel comfortable with it, and this thread brought me back to Camino. I remembered how zippy it was, so I downloaded it imported my bookmarks, made a few adjustments, and Voila! It's like night and day!

And bonus! there's no more scrolling sound effects. Man, that was annoying!

So, for me.... Camino, all the way!


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

singingcrow said:


> ...*And bonus! there's no more scrolling sound effects.* Man, that was annoying!
> 
> So, for me.... Camino, all the way!


Don't what you are referring to there... I have used FireFox almost exclusively for years and have never had any scrolling sound effects.


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## singingcrow (May 6, 2005)

screature said:


> Don't what you are referring to there... I have used FireFox almost exclusively for years and have never had any scrolling sound effects.


Since 3.0 there was this ticking sound, almost like a winding up of a watch. The faster I scrolled, the faster the sound. I got used to it after a while, but it's so nice to hear silence while I'm browsing the net. I couldn't have been the only one? Maybe it's because I'm still on a ppc?


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

singingcrow said:


> Since 3.0 there was this ticking sound, almost like a winding up of a watch. The faster I scrolled, the faster the sound. I got used to it after a while, but it's so nice to hear silence while I'm browsing the net. I couldn't have been the only one? Maybe it's because I'm still on a ppc?


Never heard this in my life either on Macs or PCs with FireFox I think it is just you.


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## singingcrow (May 6, 2005)

screature said:


> Never heard this in my life either on Macs or PCs with FireFox I think it is just you.


Not PC... PPC, as in non-intel version of a mac, as in a powerbook. I think that might have had something to do with it. Of course, yes, it might just be me. :yikes:


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

singingcrow said:


> Not PC... PPC, as in non-intel version of a mac, as in a powerbook. I think that might have had something to do with it. Of course, yes, it might just be me. :yikes:


No I know you said PPC and what it means... I haven't used a PPC Mac in so long I can't remember if I was using Firefox on it or not but most likely. I was just *adding* that even on a PC no clickity click sounds when scrolling.


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