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cmeisenzahl · Mar 27, 2005, 02:52 PM

using Camino over Firefox on my G4 Panther iBook? It sounds like they're from the same code base?

I took a quick look at Camino and didn't notice anything striking.

Are any of you guys using it regularly?
http://www.mozilla.org/products/camino/

Thanks again,

Chris

Krypton · Mar 27, 2005, 04:03 PM

Recent thread

Camino is written in Cocoa, and *feels* like a Mac app plus adds Mac only features such as Rendezvous and services.

Firefox is written in the cross platform XUL (similar to HTML but for interfaces) and is slightly less Mac like. Firefox certainly has many more features, greater expandability through extensions and is getting some 'Mac love' recently in the nightlies.

I'd give them both a whirl; I have 4 or more OS X browsers on my machine as they all do some specific task very well, if not catering for all of my needs.

LeeG · Mar 27, 2005, 04:35 PM

I use camino quite a bit, and I really like it.

One problem I find in Firefox, which I am not sure if Camino has, is that when I try to scroll the page using the up/down arrows, it LAGS a LOT. This has been documented before, and I think it has something to do with the graphics engine used in the 1.0 of Firefox. It's so noticeable that I can't regularly use FIrefox. I also find Camino more compatible than Safari (though its the same as Firefox), and it really does *feel* like a mac-app.

I don't know why they don't pool their resources and make the mac Firefox more like Camino....

L

Catfish_Man · Mar 27, 2005, 05:14 PM

Originally posted by LeeG:

I don't know why they don't pool their resources and make the mac Firefox more like Camino....

L

One is Cocoa, the other is XUL, it's not really possible to make Firefox as "mac-like" as Camino. I suggest trying out a nightly build of Camino, they're much better.

selowitch · Mar 27, 2005, 05:35 PM

My worry is that although Mozilla has hired someone to work on both Firefox for Mac and Camino concurrently, there's always the fear that Camino will be dropped.

Camino is a better choice than Firefox for Mac users because it's a Cocoa app and because it simply works a little better.

CaptainHaddock · Mar 27, 2005, 06:11 PM

I believe (I could be wrong) that nightly builds of Camino are also starting to use the Quartz engine for graphical rendering. At any rate, the build I'm running is lightning fast.

selowitch · Mar 27, 2005, 06:19 PM

Originally posted by CaptainHaddock:
I believe (I could be wrong) that nightly builds of Camino are also starting to use the Quartz engine for graphical rendering. At any rate, the build I'm running is lightning fast.

I'm running 2004120113 (v0.8.2); what are you running?
I still think I'll use Camino second to Firefox because FF deals with alternate search engines a little better and it's easier to make the width of things like the search area the size I like (big).

CaptainHaddock · Mar 27, 2005, 11:19 PM

"I'm running 2004120113 (v0.8.2); what are you running?"

I've got 2005032108 (v0.8+) which is the March 21st build. People were saying a lot of good things about that build, and it's been both fast and stable for me.

Camino is my experimental browser. I grab a new nightly every few weeks, particularly after new features have been added.

You mentioned Firefox's search capabilities - I like Omniweb's the best. It's easy to add new search sites. For example, to look up a Wikipedia entry, I just type "wikipedia [search-word]" in the address bar. To look up a word at dictionary.com, I type "dictionary [search-word]". Et cetera.

Camino should implement address-bar searching like that!

CharlesS · Mar 27, 2005, 11:20 PM

Actually, Camino, FireFox, and Shiira all have that feature. However, they only implement searching using GET forms and not POST.

brettcamp · Mar 28, 2005, 02:16 AM

For me, the biggest advantage of Camino over Firefox is the fact that Camino allows you to use OSX Services, which I use a lot to capture , organize, and send text etc. from web pages. Camino also seems a bit faster than Firefox, and often a lot faster than Safari.

selowitch · Mar 28, 2005, 07:41 AM

Originally posted by CaptainHaddock:
"I'm running 2004120113 (v0.8.2); what are you running?"
You mentioned Firefox's search capabilities - I like Omniweb's the best. It's easy to add new search sites. For example, to look up a Wikipedia entry, I just type "wikipedia [search-word]" in the address bar. To look up a word at dictionary.com, I type "dictionary [search-word]". Et cetera.

Camino should implement address-bar searching like that!

Personally, I think I'd rather just pick the dictionary.com icon from the drop down list and type my terms in without to type out the word "dictionary" first. But that is merely a matter of personal preference.

wataru · Mar 29, 2005, 11:15 AM

In my opinion, the visual advantages of Camino are completely immaterial. Firefox wins hands-down thanks to extensions, additional search engines, themes, and overall greater customizability.

If you're really that anal, be sure to check out these excellent themes, and use Firefoxy to make the widgets prettier. I've also compiled a helpful collection of links to Firefox extensions, themes, and more.

CharlesS · Mar 29, 2005, 11:48 AM

Originally posted by wataru:
In my opinion, the visual advantages of Camino are completely immaterial. Firefox wins hands-down thanks to extensions, additional search engines, themes, and overall greater customizability.

Again, it's not only visual, although that's part of it. There are functional differences as well, such as sheets not locking up the whole app, the scroll wheel working everywhere, certain shortcuts working, faster application launching, faster UI speed, that strange bug someone mentioned where Firefox's menus don't work if the download window is the only one open, certain shortcuts behaving the way you expect them to, close buttons in the tabs à la Safari, Accessibility support, etc.

It's all a matter of preference.

Millennium · Mar 29, 2005, 12:38 PM

If you want to trade functionality for "Mac-ness", then Camino is for you.

Millennium · Mar 29, 2005, 12:45 PM

Actually, let me put it another way. Which is more important to you: a good Web browser or a good Mac program? Firefox is the better Web browser, but Camino is the better Mac program. It's a trade-off.

Catfish_Man · Mar 29, 2005, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by Millennium:
Actually, let me put it another way. Which is more important to you: a good Web browser or a good Mac program? Firefox is the better Web browser, but Camino is the better Mac program. It's a trade-off.

Caminio is also faster (ime) and supports middle-click-to-open-tab (which FF 1.1 will support, though).

Millennium · Mar 29, 2005, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by Catfish_Man:
Caminio is also faster (ime) and supports middle-click-to-open-tab (which FF 1.1 will support, though).

Truth be told, I've never seen any appreciable speed difference in either browser. Firefox has supported tab-on-middle-click for me for a long time; I'm uncertain as to why it hasn't been working for you.