Feature by feature: Firefox vs. Safari
Safari for Windows was no doubt the topic of the week. There is so much to look and try in a web browser that I decided to compile this comparative table highlighting pros and cons of each browser.
Give it a look and let me know what I left out.
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Safari |
Firefox |
Bookmarks
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Bookmarks
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Tab browsing
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Tab Browsing
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User Interface
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User Interface
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Private browsing
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Private Browsing |
History
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History
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Search
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Search
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Languages
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Languages
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Security
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Security
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Other features
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Other features
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Web Development
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Web Development
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Web standards
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Web standards
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I am sure there are more features and points to note on both products but I believe this is complete enough for a user to make up his mind on what browser to try or keep.
In summary I see no compelling reason for a Firefox user to move to Safari unless he really needs Bonjour or SnapBack. Definitely not the binary market Steve Jobs foresees.
On the other hand, I see enough reasons for Internet Explorer 6 users to jump on board. And I guess iTunes users who will will be very probably offered a Safari bundled update soon are the most typical profile. This should help to increase web browser diversity and press web application developers and vendors to embrace web standards as the only way to cope with it.
Comments
Percy Cabello
Tobu, your comment prompted me to check a little further and in fact I see there exist a number of utilities and plugin that replicate some Firefox features, like SafariSource which adds a source viewer with syntax highlighting.
Not sure if a fix exist for every Firefox feature Safari lacks but it would need like a dozen or more compared to Firefox’s 3 – 4 extensions/hacks I mentioned.
Great accessibility tweak for Firefox : Mozilla Links
[...] working on the Safari vs. Firefox story, I found an option in Safari to set the minimum font size for web pages. I checked [...]
Indecisive
I’ve actually switched back and forth between Safari and Firefox a couple times over the past few years (on a Mac, of course), but I’m currently back to Firefox. A few random comments:
Safari’s RSS handling has one simple but crucial feature that doesn’t seem to be available in any way on Firefox: a dynamically updated (numeric) notifier as part of the feed’s bookmark name that indicates that new articles are available. If there’s a Firefox extension that provides this, please let me know.
Safari really does feel more responsive than Firefox especially after intensive use. I presume this is due to the ongoing Firefox VM footprint and memory leak/fragmentation issues that have existed since Mozilla and have been addressed only slightly in recent releases.
The look & feel of Firefox on Macintosh is quite non-standard, so the corresponding complaint about Safari on Windows is a bit disingenuous… In any case, the success of iTunes on Windows suggests that this isn’t a significant issue for most people. (I think this is true for many of the Safari deficiencies listed – most users just won’t care.)
Feature by feature: Firefox vs. Safari « Linux and Open Source Blog
[...] Comparison [...]
Jeremy
Currently, there are no extensions for Safari on Windows. All require OSX which kinda makes sense. Apple Software Update does check for updates for Safari automatically.
Percy Cabello
Jeremy, it checks for updates but doesn’t download them. And they are not updates (patches) but full downloads. Full downloads mean its less probable a user will take it. It may seam it’s then a user’s fault but Mozilla and its patching systems has proved it can be done.
Nick Finkbeiner
“I guess 9 out of 10 phishers recommend Safari.”
I had a good laugh when I read that. :D
Now the more serious part:
I took the Safari browser for a spin, and have had a few issues were sometimes flash objects never appear. I also found the layout of the whole Safari browser quite annoying. The way the buttons are, but that is probably cause im used to Firefox.
Two features that I loved from the Safari browser was how when you drag a site to the bookmark bar, you get to name it then. In Firefox, you have to right click on the newly created bookmark to rename it. Also, the way you can organize tabs by dragging them around on the tabs bar is a really nice feature. Would be neat to see those features in Firefox 3.
A major part of my experience was the speed of Safari. I have a few sites I view frequently, and I noticed Safari load much faster on a few of them. Images loud quite fast too, but about the same as Firefox. I expect the speed of Firefox 3 to be amazingly fast.
The download manager of Safari is missing one small but key feature. When s file is done downloading, I couldn’t seem to click it to open the file, whether it be a application installer or just a compressed file. It just wouldn’t open. Where as in Firefox, you double click and the file opens right up.
Anyways, I found this article very interesting, and I am greatly looking forward to the release of Firefox 3.
~Nick Finkbeiner~
Bob
Indecisive, as a recent new user of iTunes I can say I do not like the look and feel of OSX on Windows. This is the biggest reason I won’t try Safari as it is not Windows “compliant”.
You said: “Firefox on Macintosh is quite non-standard, so the corresponding complaint about Safari on Windows is a bit disingenuous”. Not really. You will note (I cannot find the link right now) that the Firefox crew is trying to make Mozilla apps look more like proper OSX apps. My point being that eventually Firefox will get the look and feel of a OSX application. I bet Safari will never get the look and feel of a real Windows application.
Percy Cabello
Bob, I agree. Firefox may not have a 100% look and feel in Mac OS X currently but it’s working on it (native widgets, Keychain/Growl integration) and will get there. Apple on the other hand obviously doesn’t care a bit about making Safari fit in Windows UI.
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Popos
The extension “Tab to Window” (http://sogame.awardspace.com/ttwindow/ or https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2062) can also be used to merge tabs into single windows and multiple windows can be merged into one as tabs.
Percy Cabello
Thanks Popos, that’s the one I was trying to remember. I couldn’t so I pointed to Tab Mix Plus which, of course, is an overkill for just this.
Michael
I think you have been a little biased, like saying Firefox 3 passes the Acid Test. I think you should really wait till Firefox 3 is out for that.
And as some else said mentioning extensions is unfair, because that makes Firefox the best browser there is because you can always get the features you want :p
Percy Cabello
Michael, Safari 3 is in beta, Firefox 3 is in alpha is the comparison is unfair it is on the Firefox side. You think Firefox 3 final may have some change that make it fail Acid2 test? Really?
Jeshua
I have been testing Safari for a while now and also see no good reasons to move away from Firefox. Safari is just not that good. They just now got tabs. That took way to long.
Denny
If you just compare the out-of-the-boy-features, then Opera would have a much more features than Firefox. I think the number of features is not the most important thing for the average user. Most people dont even use 20% of the features of Safari/Opera/Firefox. They dont need no themes, developer tools. So ease of use and speed are much more important.
PS: Camino also supports Bonjour. Maybe you should ask them what they plan with it.
Abhijeet Upadhyay
safari is good but i am not able to understand why it is not opening the mesenger thing of gmail …
not at all showing the list of online people at gmail and I am not able to chat on gmail ..what the hell is this …
Comparativa entre el safari y firefox 3 // menéame
[...] Comparativa entre el safari y firefox 3mozillalinks.org/wp/2007/06/feature-by-feature-firefox-vs-sa… por espuk hace pocos segundos [...]
Robert Smelser
Safari 3 does restore sessions, but it’s in an odd place. In the History menu, you can choose either “Reopen last closed window” or “Reopen all windows from last session.” I’m not a session-saver, so I can’t attest to how this compares with Firefox.
Also, check out the new Web Inspector in the WebKit nightly builds may answer some of your Web Development criticisms. You might want to add “resizable text fields” to Safari’s other features as well as near-compliance with CSS 3.0 (supports 18 of the new styles).
One huge plus Firefox has over Safai that you might want to add is compatibility with sites that use rich text editors. Safari 3 (supposedly) supports these now, but it has been pretty flaky in my experience. Finally, I doubt Safari’s spellchecker will support multiple dictionaries in the near future.
@indecisive: Have you tried Camino?
John Bowers
Nice article. Wanted to point out that the safari toolbar is in fact customizable (I think it is under the edit menu on windows but don’t quote me–Can’t look at it now as I have neither a Mac nor a Windows machine here at work-sola linux.), however still not as customizable as firefox.
John Bowers
Few more things: there is find as you type in Safari. What do you mean there isn’t? (Ctrl+F) Probably the best around with the large orange highlighting of the words you are searching for. (Please please please put this in FF3) Also, there is a nice DOM traversal gadget (at least on Mac) in Safari 3 beta that works really well, but must not be in the windows version (sadly, hopefully that will come because it is really cool.)
Finally I really like the little orange button in the search bar and address bar that will allow you to jump back to the root of a page or back to your original search results page. Maybe that is also in FF3-I’m still using 2.
Percy Cabello
Wanted to point out that the safari toolbar is in fact customizable (I think it is under the edit menu on windows but don’t quote me
OK, I’m quoting you anyways. If there’s a way to customize the toolbar please let me know. I just checked again and couldn’t find a way.
I really like the little orange button in the search bar and address bar that will allow you to jump back to the root of a page or back to your original search results page
That’s SnapBack. The SnapBack extension mimics the manual part of Snapback but no automatic marking for typed urls and searches. I’ll update this article and post a review later. It is definitely not scheduled for FF3.
there is find as you type in Safari. What do you mean there isn’t?
FAYT is a feature that allows text to be searched just by typing within a web page. You can activate pressing / or ‘ (to search only links text). You can also avoid the / and ‘ commands at all by checking Search for text when I start typing in (Tools menu, Options, Advanced page, General tab).
Get Safari’s Snapback on Firefox, partially : Mozilla Links
[...] a recent comparison I did between Firefox and Safari for Windows, I missed to mention a extension that adds at least [...]
foxiewire.com
Feature by feature: Firefox vs. Safari : Mozilla Links
Safari for Windows was no doubt the topic of the week. There is so much to look and try in a web browser that I decided to compile this comparative table highlighting pros and cons of each browser.
Mary Lyons
Can you please let me know what the price(s) are for Safari Internet Browswer for pc’s (Windows XP and Vista?
Robert Smelser
@Mary,
It’s a free download at http://www.apple.com/safari. Doesn’t cost a thing.
ffdsuifhiu
umm LiAR!!! YOU CAN TOTALY CUSTOMIZE THE TOOLBAR IN SAFARI, it looks and acts as itunes does, and you CTRL+click to open a new tab you should definatly do youre research better and not side with one if you are doing a coppairison
Feature by feature: Firefox vs. Safari « alll about linux
[...] Comparison [...]
xeev
There is a status bar in Safari.
And Safari has “Find as you type” – Feature that looks much better.
nujad
when did u down load safari cuz some of the things u mentioned are a thing of the past
Percy Cabello
nujad, indeed: “Posted on June 15, 2007
Safari for Windows was no doubt the topic of the week.” Beta 1.
Paul
If Safari on Windows was as good as Safari on OSX it would be a fair fight.
No mention that Safari for Windows is only a beta….and Firefox is a much more evolved browser on the OS. Way to go mr. Bias :D
I would re-do this if Safari becomes like it is on OSX….because on OSX Safari wipes the board with Firefox.
Percy Cabello
“No mention that Safari for Windows is only a beta….and Firefox is a much more evolved browser on the OS. Way to go mr. Bias”
You tell that to users. Safari (2003), as a product is older than Firefox (2004). It’s new on Windows. Anyway this review is based on the first Safari beta so you may better just ignore it.
Shantanu Raj
Safari is way better than Firefox or Thunderbird, infact its the best web browser in the world.
Just try it Dude.
ben
This was tested using Safari 2 for Mac OS X. Safari 3 for Windows should only be different by replacing cmd with ctrl.
- Open a new tab: right click and select “New tab†out of a menu of two items, one of which is “Reload all tabsâ€
- Open a new tab: press cmd-T.
- Looks and acts totally out of place: it was designed to fit with OSX, surprisingly enough.
- Little bit of toolbar customization available. Not as much as in Firefox, though.
- Open a manually entered web address in a new tab: cmd-shift-Enter. In a new background tab: cmd-Enter.
- Automatic updates: tell Apple Software Update to run itself regularly.
- You never mentioned that Safari is, on average, almost twice as fast as Firefox. (apple.com/safari)
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hans
Clearly, this article wreaks of bias. But that’s what I like about it.
My concern is not with Percy, bur rather with the reader who couldn’t detect the apparent bias all over this article. “Firefox 3 passes Acid2 test”, though, I think is a giveaway enough. :)
Eric
incorrect/out-of-date info.
few things:
-you can access manually entered website by pressing Alt+Enter
-there is a feature like restore session: Reopen All Windows From Last Session (found under History)
there are many reasons for switching to Safari:
-more eye candy. nice blue highlight when entering text, adding bookmarks,
-simplicity. Safari is not clogged up with add-ons and buttons. easy to learn
-new features: resizeable text field, drag tab off to make it a new window (very nice visual effect), merge all windows, ability to import both ie and safari favorites and bookmarks,
Tim
Personally i prefer firefox.
The only reason i refuse to use any apple software on my pc is because i hate the interface,it does not look like a windows app nor does it behave like a windows app. When they decide to use the windows API to draw the interface of all their apps than i will give it ago.
Morbus
Safari sucks so much I can’t even begin to describe it. It’s invasive and intrusive on windows, doesn’t work right, missing a few little things, and generally feels wrong for a long time Firefox+lotsandlotsofextensions user.
It is fair to include extensions in the comparison. In fact, it’s so much fair that is the reason why Firefox is better than every other browser out there. It’s faster (Fx3, of course), it’s THE fastest, it’s secure (and with NoScript, AdBlock Plus and CS Lite it’s THE most secure) and it’s very customizable. You get what you want to get, you have what you want to have. You work how you want to work. Of course, if you’re one of those paranoid geeks that say extensions are a security issue and whatnot, then you don’t get the sweet candy Firefox has to offer. Including resizeable textareas, using an extension with the same name. And lots more, of course. It’s the beauty of open source.
And with all this safari on windows and stuff, I think the browser wars really do benefit from it, because Internet Explorer will have to work harder, will have to become more standard compliant, and generally tips the ballance more to users choosing what browser to use.
And if they use Safari and they like it, that’s always a good thing. It’s always a good thing when people use browsers that they like and love. I for one love my Firefox:
BEAT THAT SUCKA!!!
MorbusMay 27th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
And by “that” I mean: http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/4922/62925503mv8.jpg
:)
Advait Sarkar
You can tell where a link will take you on safari. Just look at the bottom left-hand corner of the frame. Well, atleast that’s how it works on Mac OS X.
JAMMYC
Firefox 3 just blows Safari out of the water. A fairer fight would be Webkit vs Firefox.
BTW: this thing was done ages ago before all those new features came into place.
Safari sucks
I had started using Safari, i was using Windows. But cos of this Safari most of the times windows crashed. I hav uninstalled it. FF 3 roxxxx
LobsterMan
Speed, Speed, Speed!!!
While FF 3 is cool and awesome, it can’t compare to Safari speed wise.
iPuppytoo
(Note to Safari Sucks:
Safari isn’t built for Windows until the August 2009 update for Safari 4. )
I just installed Firefox 3.5 on my Macbook Pro. It ran pretty well, but when i went onto a graphics intense website, it crashed. So i tried it again, running the webpage on both Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4. Again, Firefox 3.5 crashed, and surprisingly, Safari 4 didnt.
I wonder what is the problem with Firefox 3.5? In the end, i still choose Safari 4 for stability – I never needed the features in Firefox 3.5 even though I am a web designer.
Tobu
It’s not really fair to add firefox extensions to the comparison. After all, you don’t know much about what extensions safari has.
(I do not consider firefox usable until two of my top extensions have been installed)
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