thejokellsaidthis

I like the original FF so much better than Camino. The extensions are what make this app - and now with built-in spell checking in the 2.0 beta, there's no reason for me to fire up Safari again!

I am a long time mac user and in my opinion this is the only browser to use on the mac, just the range and depth of extensions makes this a must have.

I repeatedly try to switch to Camino, but I always find my way back to Firefox. I have yet to find a way to make Camino block ads and scripts as well as Noscript and Adblock do.

So I use Firefox and Safari cooperatively.

I would switch to this, but I just don't like the Windows way of rendering buttons. I like Camino since the developers are always listening to us and are trying very hard to put new features in. The 2nd most requested feature is to have support for Firefox Plugins, and since the 1st one is spell check, which is almost in the nightly (it shows the word is wrong, but you can't open a window to check it)

cant stand firefox, i recommend opera 9. extremely useful and amazingly fast, not like firefox.

that being said, safari is still useful in rss feeds and being able to view youtube videos on my iMac. they show up fine on my PowerBook, but refuse to load at all on the iMac

Such a great browser.. if only it were written in Cocoa.

I love this browser yes it doesn't inherit the great mac theme but I used a grapple skin and their chrome file and gif file plus uno to get it match the osx theme perfectly. I do not know what I would do with out this browser, I mean safari is good and all but firefox is so much better in my opinion. The only thing that I find that I like better in safari is that it will automatically dock a dmg file when you download, but other than that this is a great browser

My main browser because of the plugins & extensions available but many websites' video simply fails to load.

I don't like Firefox for 2 reasons
1. It's not a Cocoa application
2. I don't like extensions, Firefox looks like a Christmas tree to me

OmniWeb 5.5 b1 is much faster. But Firefox is my favorite browser on Windoze.

Very good.....but not as good as Safari

As others have said, the extensions are what make Firefox the killer app of Mac web browsers. Having become reliant on certain conveniences that I get from the Firefox extension community, it's hard to switch away even to prettier and faster browsers!

That said, the speed issue is hugely reduced (I wouldn't say eliminated) by getting an optimized build. Because Firefox is cross-platform, the official download is basically a generic executable that plays nicely with the major operating systems. In keeping with the spirit of open source, dedicated geeks from around the world have taken the code and compiled it with special flags to optimize it for particular platforms. Personally, I like the Deer Park releases from BeatnikPad for my Macbook; it still isn't quite as fast as Safari, but it's noticeably better than the default Firefox.

Firefox themes especially made for Mac OS X

"The themes are based on the Mac Firefox default theme and are designed to fit well in the Mac OS X environment."

http://www.takebacktheweb.org/

@svolix
GREAT shout there. I just did as you recco'md and switched to the Deer Park release. MUCH faster especially if you have more than 4 extensions installed.
The only thing I changed was the icon from the G4 globe back to the standard firefox one.
Here is the link for those who are interested:
http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2006/06/04/firefox-1504

PS as it is the same app only streamlined, it keeps the same file structure so your bookmarks/settings/prefs etc remain unchanged. Simply trash your old Firefox (NOT with Appzapper, just the firefox.app alone, leave the ancillary files) and start using the deerparks version instead.
:D

Google for Adblock, Filterset.G, and FlashBlock. Those three extensions should make your browsing experience a little more pleasant.

"cant stand firefox, i recommend opera 9. extremely useful and amazingly fast, not like firefox."

I don't know what your talking about. firefox 2.0 launches in a bounce and is so much more useful than Opera 9 I could throw up at the notion of switching. as I have previously stated in the Opera 9 comments, it is a cheap copy of firefox at best (gadgets or add ons = extensions) with unnecessary bittorent support thrown in to bloat the app up a bit more. But enough about Opera, this is about firefox. Unquestionably the best browser in its own right, firefox contains anti phishing, tabs (duh), rss or "live" book marks and a built in spell check. However, what makes firefox especially awesome is the extensions. Name one feature that firefox doesn't have, such as mouse gestures (opera) or greater rss (IE) and there is an extension for it. This makes firefox almost impossibe to top because new functionality is literally added every day and it can be customized to fit the users liking. Not to mention the fact that the browser is screaming fast and the 2.0 looks as good as safari does, in my humble opinion.

Name one feature? How about thumbnails of all your tabs (Omniweb & Shiira). How about site specific preferences? And they need to sort those dog-ugly widegets out!! I only open Firefox to make use of those very useful web developer orientated extensions. It just not 'mac' enough. I would say I use it as about as often as Opera (ie not much). They are the same but different. Get used to how either work and they do the job, but they are not for me.

That said, if someone asks me to recommend a browser I would still say Firefox, but only because it is popular enough to run into less problem websites and certainly better than Safari.

I still get locked out of form fields on the old blue & white G3.

@ ajbis
"How about thumbnails of all your tabs (Omniweb & Shiira). How about site specific preferences?"

You need to read the previous comments. As mentioned multiple times, just google for extensions. You want thumbnails? get the thumbnail estension here: http://showcase.uworks.net/index.html
These are actually more advanced than either omniweb or Shiira.

You want site specific preferences? While no one xtension will do it, I have two that give that feature when combined. The fact is that firefox has more features than any other browser ever will because it has so many extensions that cover any amount of functionality you could want. As to it not being mac like, true, but 2.0 looks pretty good

@diggn_it
I can see you have had a quick whip round to bash the other browsers. And yes I'm a fan of OmniWeb. I tend to use every browser I can find. Firefox does indeed have great versatility. I've had a look at and do use some extensions and will launch Firefox to use them. It's just a shame that the user experience is just not as nice. You are left to either leave all the toobars out or go to some length turning lots of nonstandard bit on and off to keep your surfing clutter free.

I work as a designer and also have problems with Mozilla browsers picking up Postscript fonts over the system fonts and then rendering them badly. I also have problems with forms and the search field being locked up on my older mac.

But as I have pointed out before Firefox is a great browsers. Perfect for those who wish to treat their browser like a Swiss army knife for the internet. What other browsers offer may at first appear to be a bit 'touchy feely' is actually tighter integration with a mac users work habits.

Everyone should keep a copy of Firefox in their applications folder, but it's worth having a long think about what one wants from a browsers and shopping around. Most have a little something the others don't.

@ Ajbis

It is true I have given negative commetns to both opera and Omniweb, but I have given POSITIVE comments to shiira, and I have yet to comment on safari. My support for firefox is sincere, as is my frustration with some of its competition. You point about being a designer is well taken. I use firefox for normal user level things, not as a webmaster or developer of any sort. However, with all its extensions I would think that designers would find its tools useful

Yes 'diggn_it' I do indeed find these tools very useful.