I finally installed Safari 3 this week and wow, am I impressed. I figured the speed increases were a marketing gimmick but you can really notice the difference. Pages render much quicker and Javascript runs much smoother, making the whole browsing experience that much more snappy. One page you can really notice the difference is the Mac page at Apple.com. Load the page in Firefox and try the accordion menu on the right. Now load the page in Safari and try the menu again. The animation is quite choppy and sluggish in Firefox but quick and smooth in Safari.
I started to use Safari as my primary web browser, but there were some things that I really missed from Firefox. Luckily, the Safari user community has bridged this gap with plugins:
- Keywurl
Keywurl is a Safari plugin that emulates Firefox’s Smart Keywords, something that I use a lot in Firefox and can no longer live without in my web browser. - ForgetMeNot
Since the addition of Session Restore in Firefox, I now expect my browser to reopen with the tabs I had open when I closed. The ForgetMeNot plugin adds this feature to Safari.
I am now a fully converted Safari user for browsing the web, though I still use Firefox for web development.
Jonathan E
Hey Brad, have you had a chance to use the Web Inspector much? I haven’t yet, but if it rivals Firebug I’d be inclined to switch to Safari as well. That’s really the only thing that keeps me using Firefox.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:31am
Sean McGrath
Well, you are officially the only person I know running Safari as their main browser on Windows. Like you I love the speed of Safari, but love my pimped out Firefox too much to ever give it up. If Safari had the extensibility of Firefox, I think I would make the switch.
With that said, when I am on my Mac, my main browser is Safari. I’ve always felt Firefox on OS X rather lacking and always leaving much to be desired in comparison to its Windows counter part.
Another thing I love about Safari, is that I find it makes a lot of websites look “prettier”, so that is another plus for it in my books.
I’m glad you are enjoying it though. Hopefully others are doing the same, cause for a while there, I thought Safari on Windows was a lost cause.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:34am
bradt
@Jonathan: No, I haven’t tried Web Inspector, but I’ll have to give it a shot. Like I said, I still use Firefox for web development, but Safari is so much quicker for Gmail, Google Calendar, Maps, etc.
@Sean: Sorry Sean, but you’ll have to hang on to your “first Safari on Windows user you know” award. I’ve been on a Mac for a year now.
I should have clarified that I was talking about Safari on OS X. I’m not actually sure how Safari performs on Windows.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:47am
Alexander Staubo
Glad you liked Keywurl.
With Safari 3.0 you don’t actually need the ForgetMeNot plugin anymore — Safari now has this built in. It’s not automatic, but it works flawlessly. When you reopen your browser, simply select Reopen All Windows From Last Session from the History menu. It will restore your windows and your tabs just like that.
November 30th, 2007 at 1:53pm
Viper007Bond
Must be a Mac thing. http://www.apple.com/mac/ loads a LOT quicker for me in Firefox and the sidebar thingy pretty smooth for me.
Plus, using Apple.com for a comparison of JS speeds is kinda BS. Case in point: the MS site most likely works best in IE rather than Firefox or Safari.
Firefox can handle proper accordions just fine: http://mootools.net/ (move over the colored boxes at the top)
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:49pm
gary
any change of another vote for “?” nhl all star campaign?
December 7th, 2007 at 12:27pm
Brad Touesnard
@Alexander: Thanks for the tip. I didn’t realize that feature was included with Safari 3.0.
@Viper: It probably does perform better on Mac, I haven’t tested Safari 3 on Windows. The Mac page on Apple.com actually uses Prototype and Scriptaculous which are common JS libraries, so I think it’s still a valid test. I tried the Mootools accordions and the animation is still noticeably smoother in Safari 3 than Firefox 2 on the Mac. I am guessing that Webkit performs better than Gecko for animations, at least on the Mac anyways.
@gary: I think I made my point last year and it appears NHL.com actually invested in a new Flash-based voting system with a proper captcha system.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:49pm
Omar
Hey Brad,
Just dropped by to see what’s going on with you and your blog… the allstar voting is not fun anymore without Rory!
And you’re right, you made your point and the new system they have come up with looks less likely to get hacked.
So far, Luongo, Heatly and Crosby are out… I wonder what’s Bettman feeling like right now… that douche…
January 20th, 2008 at 1:00am
Jagtesh Chadha
I have myself felt the speed increase when it comes to JS effects in Safari. This web-app that I’ve been working on works particularly well under Safari, and now also under the latest Firefox (FireFox 3 Beta 4).
There’s just one request I’ve from the peeps at Apple, do something about Safari’s memory consumption!
Also, a common plugin platform for windows/mac wouldn’t hurt.
March 25th, 2008 at 8:25am