About Web Browsers....
- Thread starter WhateverJoe
- Start date
googolplex
jeff.hume.ca
Do you know neyo?
peteLasko();
Registered
I've been using Mozilla 1.0RC2. (here's the smi) for a little while now, and I must say I really like it. MUCH better (read: faster, less bloated, with cool popunder disable capabilities) than netscape, and it also *seems* more stable than MSIE. I also have been playing with Chimera (here's the dmg) , and it is SOOOOOO promising. I'm very excited, and wish I was a better programmer so I could contribute to the project.
I highly recommend either of these. They were both simple "copy this file to your desktop" type installs. Mozilla has more features, but Chimera is superfast and best of all *cocoa* mmm.
I highly recommend either of these. They were both simple "copy this file to your desktop" type installs. Mozilla has more features, but Chimera is superfast and best of all *cocoa* mmm.
Bluefusion
Into the Breach
Basically, I just want Chimera to have all of the features it needs to be competitive... as I just love the interface for it. OmniWeb is great but development on it is SOOOO SLOW (regardless of what people THINK is happening at OmniGroup, they really don't move too quickly-- OmniWeb, in various forms, has been out since NeXTStep and it's still not on par with IE's rendering)... but also, IE 5.5:Mac is coming out at the Expo in July, and it's supposed to have far faster page rendering and this time be 100% native Cocoa. I have to say, I like the simplicity of IE's interface. If it worked, this would be a good browser. Seriously. Although I can't wait for OmniWeb/Chimera to be fully functional (the last few sneakypeeks have only messed things up more, not fixed things...)
As I have said numerous times before, IMO OmniWeb is the best browser for OS X. Even if IE 5.5 is really fast, don't really care about that too much. OmniWeb has a far better interface to IE's and if possible, I always try to avoid using any Microsoft apps. 
I've tried Chimera, and although it is faster than OmniWeb, I really don't like it that much. I think OmniWeb's interface is a lot nicer, and it's bookmark system is also much better than either Chimera or IE. While Chimera is a lot more compatible with JavaScript and CSS and renders pages more accurately than OmniWeb, it's plugin support still sucks. OmniWeb is much better with plugins like Flash and QuickTime. Also, Chimera doesn't have a real download manager, and OmniWeb's download manager is by far the best of any OS X browser.
OmniWeb 4.1 sp81 did introduce an annoying new table bug, where some frames, tables or toolbars get cut off of many pages, but OmniGroup has improved this a bit in sp87. This bug is the only thing that's keeping OW 4.1 final from being released, so as soon as OW fixes this, 4.1 will finally be released. 5 should hopefully be out by the end of the year or beginning of 2003, which is supposed to fix most of the problems with JavaScript and CSS, so by then OmniWeb should be very close to IE and Mozilla/Chimera in terms of rendering pages.
Adam
I've tried Chimera, and although it is faster than OmniWeb, I really don't like it that much. I think OmniWeb's interface is a lot nicer, and it's bookmark system is also much better than either Chimera or IE. While Chimera is a lot more compatible with JavaScript and CSS and renders pages more accurately than OmniWeb, it's plugin support still sucks. OmniWeb is much better with plugins like Flash and QuickTime. Also, Chimera doesn't have a real download manager, and OmniWeb's download manager is by far the best of any OS X browser.
OmniWeb 4.1 sp81 did introduce an annoying new table bug, where some frames, tables or toolbars get cut off of many pages, but OmniGroup has improved this a bit in sp87. This bug is the only thing that's keeping OW 4.1 final from being released, so as soon as OW fixes this, 4.1 will finally be released. 5 should hopefully be out by the end of the year or beginning of 2003, which is supposed to fix most of the problems with JavaScript and CSS, so by then OmniWeb should be very close to IE and Mozilla/Chimera in terms of rendering pages.
Adam
mattimpact
Registered
I read through this rather lengthy thread, and I have a small comment to make. I use IE5.1.4 in OS X on three separate machines (two at work, one at home) and I have never once had a page crash the browser. I have not noticed anything slower or crappier about IE5.1.4. Most of my workload is research, and most of that research is done on the Internet. I am using a high-speed DSL connection, so maybe that is why I don't notice any slowdown. That doesn't explain why my browser has never locked up.
Bluefusion
Into the Breach
Matt--the IE browser itself is actually quite good. It's the user interface that's the problem. I would suggest that you download OmniWeb (b6 is the best choice, as it seems to WORK, unlike newer builds...) and see what you think about it. IE is not a bad browser, it's just that other browsers are better in certain areas. For all-around use, IE is still the best. Sad, but true. I use OmniWeb though, as I rarely run into pages it can't display, and the interface and antialiased type more than makes up for the deficiencies of its rendering engine, for the moment anyway. Now, when IE 5.5 comes out, as I said before, a new champ may be rising... but until then, OmniWeb is the most feature-rich and nicest-looking browser on OS X. That's my opinion on the matter, anyway.
