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I'm going add a controversial opinion. I've been using Firefox my whole life but recently I'm finding Safari to be a more appealing option than both Firefox or

I'm going add a controversial opinion. I've been using Firefox my whole life but recently I'm finding Safari to be a more appealing option than both Firefox or Chrome. Firefox, and Chrome to an extent, are powerhouses. They have a great community with awesome and really creative extensions. Safari only just started adding extensions and it shows: apart from the usual ad blocker stuff, there's not much out there. But Safari is fast and is tied to the OS so well that it's great for just using the browser as a portal to the web. Safari has a menu option that allows me to save quickly to my Downloads folder. I can use the share sheet to send URLs, snippets of info straight to other apps. Also, if I'm crazy into automation, I can set up workflows via Automator for even more efficient text processing. People champion Firefox as the sole defender of the web, but people often forget that Safari is quite unobtrusive too. Sure, it maybe lacking in pushing the frontiers of web standards, but for the most part, it stays out of your hair too (Firefox has this quirky default homepage that likes you to send these "witty" phrases)

roblabla 9y ago
Safari being MacOS-only doesn't help its cause very much. It's also so far behind on web standards that some started to call it "the new IE"[0]. Since this, apple started to show some new love to safari in the form of the safari tech preview, but it's still far from where it should be... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12051267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12051267
- eriknstr 9y ago
  Furthermore, Safari is proprietary. Firefox is not and most of Chrome is not (Chromium).
  - masswerk 9y ago
    Ahem, Webkit ...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- jeffbax 9y ago
  Ahem, https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/ https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/ Safari does pretty good I'd say. "The new IE" was pretty overblown. Safari is my go-to daily driver for speed, OS integration, and battery life. I use Chrome for developing, but maybe I'll give FF another shot.
otalp 9y ago
On laptops, it's a no-brainer for me(especially when unplugged) because it consumes far less battery. It is also pretty minimalist, and you can easily hide the tab bars so the only thing on your screen when you browse is the web page.
- BafS 9y ago
  Opera do the job well for me, it's minimalist too and seem to perform better than Chrome for batteries life on my machine (also it support the touche bar).
wodenokoto 9y ago
Safari plays extremely well with the rest of MacOS. So well that I don't mind it being behind the curve on web technologies, its adblocking options being inferior or that it is missing some of my favourite plugins. Zooming and scrolling is extremely smooth, the rubber effect when scrolling out of bounds is enjoyable. The transition animation when using two-finger swipe for back/forward makes me feel in control of my browsing, while on Firefox I feel like the gesture can fire at any time, without warning. It also integrates with the MacOS dictionary, and since I do most of my reading on the web, it is nice to be able to easily look up words. I really miss my dictionary when I'm on Firefox or Android. It is also the only browser that can keep my cooling fans quiet on youtube. The user experience on Safari is extremely impressive.
- dubya 9y ago
  Safari has uBlock Origin now, so adblocking is decent. What I still use Firefox for is tree-style tabs, which as far as I know isn't a possibility in Safari.
johnsmith21006 9y ago
You must have a different Safari than the one I have. Apple has the resources to make Safari competitive with Chrome but does not even try. For whatever reason Apple is not interested. The problem is everything today is mobile which means Apple and Google and one is not really trying. This is causing the imbalance, imo.
adam77 9y ago
It's interesting that these recent posts from the FF top ranks don't address this bundling issue. It seems as though the world is moving to an 'appliance' plus app-store model. In that world the browser is part of the appliance and considered part of the purchase by the consumer. In that world, the only way for FF to have a presence is via hardware partnerships. Yet another FF alumni alludes to the threat in a comment on the 'Chrome won' post [1] (my emphasis)... "...for historical reasons Web sites targeting large-screen non-touch devices tend to configure themselves in a more standards-friendly way. ChromeOS is changing that; it has the form factor of a desktop platform, but not the third-party browser viability. If Android expands into that space, or Windows and MacOS get locked down a lot more, then that also closes up the window for Firefox." [1] https://andreasgal.com/2017/05/25/chrome-won/ https://andreasgal.com/2017/05/25/chrome-won/

roblabla 9y ago

Safari being MacOS-only doesn't help its cause very much. It's also so far behind on web standards that some started to call it "the new IE"[0]. Since this, apple started to show some new love to safari in the form of the safari tech preview, but it's still far from where it should be... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12051267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12051267

eriknstr 9y ago
Furthermore, Safari is proprietary. Firefox is not and most of Chrome is not (Chromium).
- masswerk 9y ago
  Ahem, Webkit ...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
jeffbax 9y ago
Ahem, https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/ https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/ Safari does pretty good I'd say. "The new IE" was pretty overblown. Safari is my go-to daily driver for speed, OS integration, and battery life. I use Chrome for developing, but maybe I'll give FF another shot.

otalp 9y ago

On laptops, it's a no-brainer for me(especially when unplugged) because it consumes far less battery. It is also pretty minimalist, and you can easily hide the tab bars so the only thing on your screen when you browse is the web page.

BafS 9y ago
Opera do the job well for me, it's minimalist too and seem to perform better than Chrome for batteries life on my machine (also it support the touche bar).

wodenokoto 9y ago

Safari plays extremely well with the rest of MacOS. So well that I don't mind it being behind the curve on web technologies, its adblocking options being inferior or that it is missing some of my favourite plugins. Zooming and scrolling is extremely smooth, the rubber effect when scrolling out of bounds is enjoyable. The transition animation when using two-finger swipe for back/forward makes me feel in control of my browsing, while on Firefox I feel like the gesture can fire at any time, without warning. It also integrates with the MacOS dictionary, and since I do most of my reading on the web, it is nice to be able to easily look up words. I really miss my dictionary when I'm on Firefox or Android. It is also the only browser that can keep my cooling fans quiet on youtube. The user experience on Safari is extremely impressive.

dubya 9y ago
Safari has uBlock Origin now, so adblocking is decent. What I still use Firefox for is tree-style tabs, which as far as I know isn't a possibility in Safari.

johnsmith21006 9y ago

You must have a different Safari than the one I have. Apple has the resources to make Safari competitive with Chrome but does not even try. For whatever reason Apple is not interested. The problem is everything today is mobile which means Apple and Google and one is not really trying. This is causing the imbalance, imo.

adam77 9y ago

It's interesting that these recent posts from the FF top ranks don't address this bundling issue. It seems as though the world is moving to an 'appliance' plus app-store model. In that world the browser is part of the appliance and considered part of the purchase by the consumer. In that world, the only way for FF to have a presence is via hardware partnerships. Yet another FF alumni alludes to the threat in a comment on the 'Chrome won' post [1] (my emphasis)... "...for historical reasons Web sites targeting large-screen non-touch devices tend to configure themselves in a more standards-friendly way. ChromeOS is changing that; it has the form factor of a desktop platform, but not the third-party browser viability. If Android expands into that space, or Windows and MacOS get locked down a lot more, then that also closes up the window for Firefox." [1] https://andreasgal.com/2017/05/25/chrome-won/ https://andreasgal.com/2017/05/25/chrome-won/