Camino 2.0
Like I’ve always said — it’s just likely Firefox, only better. Version 2 has a raft of new features, but I’m especially intrigued by enhanced annoyance blocking, which lets you choose whether to allow Flash to display.
Posted Thursday, November 19, 2009 in Web-browsers
Google Chrome first impressions
When Google came out with a “developer release” of Chrome for the Mac, I couldn’t resist having a look. I’m all too aware that it’s not even beta — it ate the first version of this post — but the download should still give some idea of where we’re headed.
The first thing I noticed is that it’s snappy, as if it were trying just a little bit harder to render the websites I visited. Of course, this always seems to be the case with a new browser or new version of a browser. It’s good to see, though, that Google is determined to give Apple a run for its money when it comes to speedy browsing.
I’ve grown accustomed to using Safari’s bookmarks sidebar over the years, so it was one of the things I immediately missed in Chrome. It quickly imported all of Safari’s settings, but you’re forced to drill down from a menu to find the bookmark you want.
I know all the cool kids are typing in the URL field these days, but what if you can’t remember the name of a site or just want to browse what you’ve bookmarked? Here’s hoping the final version does bookmarks in a way similar to — or better than? — Safari. At least we can hope it will be better than Firefox’s poor implementation.
Chrome definitely comes out ahead of Safari with tabs. Apple tried putting them on the top, but did it in such an awkward way that they were forced to backtrack. Chrome’s tabs are done in a manner that leaves plenty of room for you to grab the top of the window, and there’s no confusion over a single tab acting differently from multiple tabs. And all this is done without sacrificing any of the viewport’s vertical height. Good work.
Overall, the look of the interface is one that Mac users will find acceptable, if a bit “toyish.” Already, it looks better than Firefox, which has struggled to fit in with the Mac experience. Strangely, Google felt compelled to offer various themes for Chrome. You can easily choose and install them from a gallery. I tried about 20, and couldn’t find anything that improved on the default. They look fine by themselves, but once applied they’re awful.
In the end, the developer preview isn’t much to go on at this point. But if this is a sign of things to come, Mac users should soon find themselves with another serious option for day-to-day web browsing. Looking forward to it.
Posted Monday, October 26, 2009 in Web-browsers
Opera 10
Opera has taken the wraps off the latest version of its innovative web browser, and ars technica has a first look. Besides the usual performance tweaks, the most dramatic change is the addition of thumbnail pictures in the tabs. How useful is this? The test will be whether other browser makers copy — or don’t copy — the idea.
Posted Tuesday, September 1, 2009 in Web-browsers
The little web browser that could
Of all the major web browsers available, Opera is an anomaly because it exists in and of itself to make money for the company that creates it. But how?
Apple, Google and Microsoft all offer free browsers, and make money from them indirectly. Apple, for example, likely hopes that having a kick-ass browser on the iPhone and iPod touch will attract more developers, more apps and more customers.
They also likely wanted to ensure that Mac users had at least one great browser to choose from in the absence of support from Microsoft, and so continue to sell Macs. (Of course, in recent years we’ve had a blossoming of options for the Mac.)
With Firefox, an open source effort, there is no attempt to make a profit, although some revenue is generated through Google searches to offset costs.
But let’s get back to Opera. It looks great and works great. Version 10 is in beta, and promises lots of awesome features and innovations. I especially like the look of the visual tabs. Clearly, development is going full speed ahead.
Still, what keeps them going? Look at these recent figures for market share — they’re hardly inspiring. Overall, Internet Explorer is holding its own. Firefox, Safari and Chrome are making small gains. And at the tail end is Opera, hovering around two per cent. Even Chrome, which was released only a few months ago, has surpassed it.
So how can they possibly be making money? An artlicle at ZDNet UK attempts to answer this question in an interview with Opera chief executive Jon von Tetzchner. Basically, they bring in most of their revenue by providing a free browser for mobile devices and generating cash through deals with “content partners” — which are listed on the Opera business site as Google and Yahoo.
So, it turns out, Opera’s main business model is not much different from that of other browser makers — ads from Google searches.
In the end, only the people who run the company know whether this will be enough to sustain them. In a way, Opera reminds me of Apple before the iPod made it a huge success. A small band of loyalists kept it going through its darkest hour, and they continue to promote it even now. Nowadays, we have blog posts from fans like this, which should ensure that Opera always has at least a small but important role to play in browser development.
Here’s hoping.
Posted Friday, August 14, 2009 in Web-browsers
SeaMonkey 2.0 Beta 1
Development of SeaMonkey is moving right along with improvements to its browser and mail components. Most notably, the browser is now uses the same technology as Firefox 3.5.1.
Too bad about the other components, though. SeaMonkey also contains a newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editor. There is no word on improvements — if any at all — to these parts. It would be especially nice to see the HTML editor beefed up as a good open source alternative to apps such as Dreamweaver. It’s a tall order, but still . . .
Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2009 in Web-browsers
Those darn Firefox bookmarks
One thing that’s proving to be a deal breaker for me with Firefox is the way it organizes bookmarks in the sidebar.
With Safari, when you click on a folder in the sidebar, you get a list of all its bookmarks in the main part of the window along with their URLs. Click on another folder, and the list instantly changes.
With Firefox, when you click on a folder, it toggles open and the bookmarks are listed below it. This isn’t so bad if the folder is near the top, but if it is in the middle or near the bottom, you wind up having to scroll to see the entire list. And if you want to switch to another folder, you first have to close the one you’re in or you’ll wind up with a real mess.
Clicking on bookmarks also brings different results. With Safari, the sidebar disappears and the entire browser window is devoted to the site you’re visiting. With Firefox, the sidebar remains in place, creating a cramped view of the site. Some might argue it’s handy to have the sidebar stick around if you’re visiting a lot of sites, but I prefer to have it get out of the way.
Another thing I appreciate about Safari is that each of the bookmarks has a favicon to the left of it instead of the generic icons shown by Firefox. It’s a small thing, but it’s one of those nice touches that you come to expect from Apple products.
Posted Thursday, July 2, 2009 in Web-browsers
StumbleUpon for Safari
Speaking of Firefox, one of the main things I use it for is the StumbleUpon toolbar add-on, which allows you to randomly browse websites in categories of your choosing. You can also give them ratings, write reviews and share with friends.
StumbleUpon is not officially supported for Safari, but there are a couple of ways to get around this. First, you can use a demo by clicking on this link. The toolbar doesn’t have all the features of the official version, but it looks slick and covers the basics. Second, you can install Stumbli. It puts another menu in Safari, with options for stumbling, reviews and so on — not quite the same as having a toolbar, but you can always use keyboard shortcuts. They want $4 for it.
Posted Tuesday, June 30, 2009 in Web-browsers
Firefox 3.5 is out
The latest version of Firefox is out, and it’s faster than ever — or so they say.
According to Mozilla’s test results, Firefox can load Javascript-laden websites in mere milliseconds. This is a good thing, because an increasing number of sites use applications based on Javascript in one way or another. Think of all those sites that let you share documents, edit photos or backup your files.
Other features include anti-phishing and anti-malware technologies for better security, thousands of add-ons for customization, and enhancements to private browsing.
I’m a confirmed Safari browser, but I’ll be taking the latest Firefox out for a spin over the next few days to see how it compares.
Posted Tuesday, June 30, 2009 in Web-browsers
The weird tabs are gone
The final version of Safari 4 is out, and the controversial tabs across the top that showed up in the beta are gone. Can’t say I’ll miss them. In their place are tabs similar to those in version 3, but with nice shading that makes it easier to distinguish one from another. Thank heavens sanity prevailed.
The progress bar in the address space is also back — sort of. There is now an indicator at the far end with a dark background that says “Loading.” At a certain point, the background turns clear. The jury’s still out on this one. In limited testing, it seems the background goes clear after a few seconds regardless of how much of the page has loaded.
Posted Monday, June 8, 2009 in Web-browsers
Stainless does tabs right
There has been much rumination and wringing of hands over the positioning of the tabs in Safari 4 beta. It’s not just the fact that they’re at the top — there are other problems. First, there is no longer a proper title bar to grab onto for moving the window around. Second, the first tab takes in the three dot-widgets on the left, which makes it seem as if that tab alone has control of them. Third, the tabs expand to take over the entire width, which is non-intuitive. Fourth, you have to grab onto little tread marks to rearrange them.
So is there a better way? Yes there is, and you can try it out in Stainless — a web browser that started as a proof of concept and has progressed into a full-fledged project. It has some great features, but let’s start with the tabs. First, even though the tabs are at the top, there is still a strip above them for a proper title bar. Second, the first tab doesn’t take over the widgets. Third, the tabs are all the same size — unless, of course, you have so many that they have to adjust to fit. Fourth, you can grab the tabs anywhere if you want to rearrange them.
Why didn’t Apple think of that?
Stainless was originally designed to demonstrate how a Mac browser could have independent processes in each tab, just as Google’s Chrome does. With web-based apps now more prevalent, this will become an important technology. If one website crashes, you’ll be able to carry on your work in another tab. Stainless goes a step further by offering parallel sessions.
[They] allow you to log into a site using different credentials in separate tabs at the same time. This new technology is woven throughout Stainless, from the private cookie storage system, to session-aware bookmarks that remember the session in which they were saved.
Another neat trick is a shelf on the side where you can place favicons for your bookmarks.
Stainless is only at version 0.5.1, so there are still lots of features missing. It looks quite promising, though, and is definitely an app to keep on your radar. It’s a small download and launches wicked fast.
Posted Thursday, March 5, 2009 in Web-browsers
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