Very Disappointed with Firefox

Amie

Amie

Mac Convert for Life
So after hearing much praise about Firefox, I decided to download it as my secondary browser--for variety, when I get bored with Safari. Firefox lasted about 10 minutes on my computer before I uninstalled/trashed it. I was very disappointed in it--slow scrolling and not as fast downloading Web pages as Safari. Plus, it was causing all kinds of crazy log messages in Console, which Safari does not do.

So that was the end of that. Back to Safari for me...
 
I agree. I think Firefox is crap on the mac by comparison to the alternatives. I don't have issue with page renderings and what not. It is more a matter of feel. I think FF "feels" terrible. I was initially attracted to the plugins/extensions, but found them to be somewhat overrated for my needs.

That said, I've been using the Camino nightlies for about a month now as my "main" browser. I use the CamiTools extensions (http://www.nada.de/mac/index_en.html) and they work flawlessly and give me a few nice additions that Safari had a rough time with (read: blocking flash ads).

In any event, my opinion on why there is such a hoopla over Firefox in these forums and the mac community in general is more a "rubbing off" of the hoopla that surrounds Firefox on the Windows and Linux platforms. IMO it doesn't come close to acting like a mac app *should*.

Oh and I'm curious about something. Why do you care about the Console output by a browser/How often do you watch it?
 
Definitely Camino is the way to go if you want something like FF but without it being FF. :D
 
I don't have any problems with Firefox at all. Perhaps it is not as "Mac-ish" as Safari, but the interface is better than Camino IMHO. The rendering is a bit slower than Safari, I agree, but not by much. Conversely, the rendering is much higher quality and more standards compliant than Safari. This is important to web developers like me, because we are sick of having to purposely write bad code to make pages render properly in safari or even worse IE. Firefox never claimed to be the fastest or most Mac-like browser. It's only claim is that it is reliable, cross-platform, and standards compliant. If you don't like it, and want to use Camino, that is perfectly fine with me since they use the same rendering engine. But for me Camino has a very "unfinished" look and feel, plus it crashed on me 3 times during my first week of using it, so I will stick with Firefox.
 
If I could just wean my Mom of Internet Explorer, I'd be happy.

Like most Mac users she needs multiple browsers just to complete various banking and other day-to-day tasks. But when she's "play" surfing she still uses IE.
 
Well, i use both Windows and Mac machines so just the fact that there is one browser you can use on any platform is a big plus.

However, that said I actually recently switched back to Safari on the Mac though after upgrading to Tiger. I am completely addicted to RSS feeds, and didn't want to install a seperate program to read them. At first i was a little frustrated at the way safari display's rss but now i prefer it (especially the # indicator that tells you how many new RSS's there are).

The other feature i liked in FF was the 'find as you type'. But since running across the acidsearch plug-in it seems that is a none issue.... except for Camino.... does it have this yet?

t
 
cfleck said:
I agree. I think Firefox is crap on the mac by comparison to the alternatives. I don't have issue with page renderings and what not. It is more a matter of feel. I think FF "feels" terrible. I was initially attracted to the plugins/extensions, but found them to be somewhat overrated for my needs.

That said, I've been using the Camino nightlies for about a month now as my "main" browser. I use the CamiTools extensions (http://www.nada.de/mac/index_en.html) and they work flawlessly and give me a few nice additions that Safari had a rough time with (read: blocking flash ads).

In any event, my opinion on why there is such a hoopla over Firefox in these forums and the mac community in general is more a "rubbing off" of the hoopla that surrounds Firefox on the Windows and Linux platforms. IMO it doesn't come close to acting like a mac app *should*.

Oh and I'm curious about something. Why do you care about the Console output by a browser/How often do you watch it?
Click to expand...

Thanks. Maybe I'll give Camino a try...

I check my Console for system logs every now and then. I just like to know what's happening with my computer on the inside, behind the scenes. The Console messages can reveal a LOT about what's going on with your computer, hardware, applications, etc.--if you know how to read them properly. The logs are also quite helpful when troubleshooting--you can see where the source of the culprit is via Console. So, that's why I check it every so often.
 
Oops. I just checked Versiontracker.com. Camino is not freeware. It says "Beta" ... whatever that means. Guess I'll stick with Safari! I'm very happy with how Safari operates and have had no problems at all, but I just wanted a secondary browser for variety. But not if it's not freeware! Thanks, anyway, though.
 
Of course it is (in a way). It's under development, like Firefox.

I can suggest the processor optimized version of Camino, compiled for a certain processor type. Pretty neat fast. Have a look here if you want to check it out:

Newer G4 (PPC 7450)
G5, G3, older G4 (PPC 7400)

They are compiled from the Camino Nightly trunk, means there COULD be problems, bugs etc. But I have not expirienced any serious problems at all.
 
I'm currently using the actual "alpha" version (v0.9-a2) of the next release of Camino, which would be version 0.9. So far, it's been pretty stable. Although it's stil in the "zero-dot" release :p, 0.8 is considered to be the stable version. incidentally, when Firefox was at version 0.9 it was pretty stable, and I had been using it since 0.6.x. So don't worry too much about it. It is free and open source, so it should be pretty good. Give it a test drive and see what you think.
 
If Camino and Firefox are both freeware, why is Camino listed as "Beta" and Firefox is listed as "Freeware"? There must be a difference in the two, otherwise there wouldn't be two different terms, right???...
 
Well, Camino hasn't been "officially" released as a stable version. In other words, it's not a FINAL release, but it's stable for those who don't mind using 0.x releases even though it is in the BETA stage. Usually when it's close to the 1.0 version, it's pretty stable. Just some features and minor bug fixes here and there. Firefox on the other hand, has already been released as a final 1.0 version long ago. They might still be working on some more optimizations for Camino and making it more "Mac-like" before they make the official 1.0 release. Once the Mozilla Camino team deem it "ready for prime time," they will most likely make a FINAL release of the browser.

However, both are free and open source.
 
Basically what nixgeek said. I use the 0.9.x optimized nightlies for about four months now, and have expirienced no serious problems at all (slight things, but nothing serious)
 
nixgeek said:
Well, Camino hasn't been "officially" released as a stable version. In other words, it's not a FINAL release, but it's stable for those who don't mind using 0.x releases even though it is in the BETA stage. Usually when it's close to the 1.0 version, it's pretty stable. Just some features and minor bug fixes here and there. Firefox on the other hand, has already been released as a final 1.0 version long ago. They might still be working on some more optimizations for Camino and making it more "Mac-like" before they make the official 1.0 release. Once the Mozilla Camino team deem it "ready for prime time," they will most likely make a FINAL release of the browser.

However, both are free and open source.
Click to expand...
Oh. So ... "Beta" just means that it's a freeware application that's currently in developmental stages?
 
Amie said:
Oh. So ... "Beta" just means that it's a freeware application that's currently in developmental stages?
Click to expand...

Correct :) Though very close to releasing a 'final' 1.0 release, as far as I know
 
When you get right down to it pay-for or free software can be released "beta". I essentially means that the developers aren't ready to put that "final release" tag on it yet. You basically have to look into some of them to find out if they are going to be free or not.

In this case Camino will be free.
 
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