I’m a fan of both Firefox and Safari and regularly use both on my Macs. I like Firefox because it lacks some of Safari’s “Squirrely-ness” with some websites –particularly those using scripting, and I like Safari for private browsing, and because it is so fast. So after a day of use, am I prepared to drop Safari forever for the Fox? Click through, and lets discuss.
Factor 1: Speed – Edge: Safari.
Webkit rocks, there’s no denying it. My tests below using a site load time timer, show that on average Safari is remains 34% faster than Firefox. Filed under: ‘things that make you go, Hmmm?’, the only site where Firefox was faster was Microsoft.com
Factor 2: The “Mac Experience” – Edge: No one.
Firefox 3 promised a more native UI. My question: How could you tell? The new Firefox UI is pretty, and this is less a critique of the Fox, than the tower of babel that OS X applications user interfaces have become. Even Apple has become universally inconsistent on this point. Uh.. Fellas”¦ try reading this.
Factor 3: Cool Browser Tricks – Edge: Firefox.
The google search bar is cool, but how many times have you wanted to find a site you’ve previously visited. Go to the address bar and start typing in a topic and it will automatically search you history for you, pulling up sites that are the best match. Seriously, it’s only been a day, and I don’t know how we’ve lived without this feature.
Summation
Are the features in the new Fox enough to make me dump Safari? Sadly no. Firefox just isn’t up to speed with Webkit yet, and it lacks one feature I can’t live without, Private Browsing (never you mind what I need that for –that’s why it’s called private).
That said, Firefox retains a place on my Dock right next to Safari, and will likely become my browser of choice for research, simply for it’s ability to manage and search history. We’d love to hear from you on this topic, what do you love about the new Fox, what do you hate?
Leigh McMullen leads the Advisory Services & Strategy practices for the professional services arm of one of the Big-Five firms. He has written several books that would cure any insomnia you might have, and is an avid Mac junkie.
