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tavilach · Dec 2, 2004, 10:37 PM

Browsing on the Mac has become a pain in the buttocks.

I use Safari, as it's the best overall browser for the Mac: The GUI is great, it opens reasonably quickly, bookmarking is fanastic, etc.

I use Berkeley's wireless internet, though, which uses Vernier Wireless Authentication. Whenever my PowerBook wakes up from sleep, I need to enter my student ID and password before I can use the internet. Sometimes Safari loads the authentiion screen rather quickly, but sometimes it just...doesn't load it. It just sort of hangs there. I then have to open Firefox, which immediately louds the authentication page. I login, and then close Firefox.

This sort of thing happens far too often, with many web page. If a page has security, I might have to launch Firefox. If a page is just being naughty, I have to launch Firefox.

Is there better solution to this? It's a pain in pooper!

RedHerring · Dec 3, 2004, 08:25 AM

I agree with you about browsers on the Mac, but for different reasons. They're all kooky in their own way. Before I switched to the Mac, I didn't have to use multiple web browsers. I love my mac, though, and don't regret switching at all - this is just an irritation that I've grown acustomed to over the past 6 months.

Safari is great, except that it has weird java & javascript issues on some pages (like my bank website, for instance). I also have issues with Safari on my web-based class site for school. I can't use Safari to upload attachments and it's always opening new windows when I refresh and/or update the class discussion board. I can't upload anything to my Yahoo Briefcase (which I use to back up all of my important stuff) with Safari either. It also drives me crazy that, unlike most other browsers, you cannot set a minimum font size in Safari - therefore to make most pages look right, some other pages have to have tiny font.

Firefox is good, although it doesn't fit in with OS X as well. With a 3-rd party plugin, you can make it use what is supposedly the built-in java engine that comes with OS X. I say "supposedly" because that 3-rd party plugin actually makes Firefox work better with java than Safari (like on my bank website, for instace). So I don't understand why there's a difference. Plus, Firefox is still a little rough around the edges on OS X. It's GREAT on Windows, so I can only hope that future versions catch it up on the Mac.

OmniWeb has a zillion features, but it is slower than Safari, and at least for me, a huge memory hog. My entire system slows down considerably when using it. And since it uses many of the same under the hood stuff as Safari we have the whole java & javascript weirdness going on.

I would love to use nothing but Safari, but unfortunately, that's not an option. I could use Firefox and get by for 95% of my daily stuff, but it is just too quirky. And OmniWeb just drags too much... so instead I switch back and forth and do a lot of

.

cpac · Dec 3, 2004, 09:33 AM

Originally posted by RedHerring:
I agree with you about browsers on the Mac, but for different reasons. They're all kooky in their own way.

Sounds like Camino might be a good browser for you.

F_Elz · Dec 3, 2004, 09:52 AM

Tried Opera?

TETENAL · Dec 3, 2004, 09:55 AM

Originally posted by F_Elz:
Tried Opera?

Opera sucks on Mac.

RedHerring · Dec 3, 2004, 10:36 AM

Originally posted by F_Elz:
Tried Opera?

I have... Opera is ok at best on Windows... but the Mac OS version is awful.

RedHerring · Dec 3, 2004, 10:49 AM

Originally posted by cpac:
Sounds like Camino might be a good browser for you.

Are there any advantages over Firefox that would merit a switch? From my understanding the major difference is that Camino is built specifically for OS X using the same Gecko engine that Firefox uses. I was also under the impression that Camino is a less mature application than Firefox.

I haven't tried it in a while though... maybe I'll give it a go.

Catfish_Man · Dec 3, 2004, 11:02 AM

Originally posted by RedHerring:
Are there any advantages over Firefox that would merit a switch? From my understanding the major difference is that Camino is built specifically for OS X using the same Gecko engine that Firefox uses. I was also under the impression that Camino is a less mature application than Firefox.

I haven't tried it in a while though... maybe I'll give it a go.

Basically, no extensions, but other than that a good bit nicer. I would recommend trying a nightly build. They're a little hit and miss, but in general nicer than the current release (they're dropping 10.1 support, and it's let them do some nice things). Also, Omniweb 5.1b4 is a good deal faster than previous versions. Still rather large though.

cpac · Dec 3, 2004, 11:21 AM

Originally posted by RedHerring:
Are there any advantages over Firefox that would merit a switch? From my understanding the major difference is that Camino is built specifically for OS X using the same Gecko engine that Firefox uses. I was also under the impression that Camino is a less mature application than Firefox.

I haven't tried it in a while though... maybe I'll give it a go.

Exactly what the prior poster said.

Your problem with Firefox seemed to be that it was rough around the edges and didn't feel as much like an OS X application. Camino is the closest thing there is to a gecko-based safari. It's nice and aqua, and fast.

My personal choice for basically everything is OmniWeb, but based on what you said, it sounded like Camino might be right for you.

tavilach · Dec 4, 2004, 05:15 PM

The newest daily builds of Camino are so nice!

Camino is now my default browser. Woot!

RedHerring · Dec 12, 2004, 05:57 PM

Originally posted by cpac:
Sounds like Camino might be a good browser for you.

I've been using it for a while now... and I think you might just have been right