6 ms·

I don't really know about all the details of those metrics but I know one thing: Safari is smooth. Actually it was just perfect in the previous years too for me

I don't really know about all the details of those metrics but I know one thing: Safari is smooth. Actually it was just perfect in the previous years too for me anyway. It just works and works super-efficient. That's why I use it. The only reason I have Chrome installed is to test my websites with Chrome and use MetaMask. TBH I never understood why people use Chrome on a Mac unless there is a specific extension or site that doesn't work with Safari. Also, not using anything from Google is a big plus for me to use Safari (or Firefox for the record) anyway.

trilbyglens 4y ago
Anyone who has ever had to test CSS in safari will tell you why. Safari is the laggard, IE equivalent of modern browsers.
- tgv 4y ago
  Testers for incompetent developers who get their CSS from stackoverflow? That's not a very large group.
- can16358p 4y ago
  I test CSS on Safari a lot. It works exactly the same as Chrome for 99.9% of daily cases unless someone is doing very edgy quirks. It indeed has some bugs about autocompletion and messing up CSS in dev tools, needing a site reload, but nothing super major.
deleted 4y ago
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etaioinshrdlu 4y ago
Personally, I like Chrome's UI much more than Safari, and also enjoy the devtools UI much better. Also like many devs, I use the most popular browser by default so I can design for the majority of users (realizing how this may offend some of you...).
- olliej 4y ago
  Indeed, this worked well for the sites that targeted IE, and I’ve seen enough sites saying variations on “designed for ie/chrome” to know you’re not alone in that belief.
- nier 4y ago
  UI? I thought that Safari’s Web Inspector is still behind in naked features.
  - trilbyglens 4y ago
    Safari is far behind in most regards.
bigDinosaur 4y ago
You can't do proper adblocking (e.g. uBlock Origin) on Safari. That's why I don't really use it except when on battery and out travelling - and even then I'll often avoid using Safari since ads are so awful. Yes, I've tried the Safari adblockers, they suck. As far as I can tell they do marginally more at best than a DNS block. Once you can't use uBlock Origin with Chrome due to the proposed Manifest V3, Firefox will be the only real option.
- mullingitover 4y ago
  Same. Safari has always been very performant, but it doesn't matter when you're basically running around naked without ublock.
  - dmitriid 4y ago
    As others have pointed out, the narrative "no adblocks on Safari" is a lie. There's no uBlock Origin, sure, but AdGuard for Safari is a good alternative. And you can complement that with StopTheMadness if you so wish.
  - TheHappyOddish 4y ago
    Maybe I'm crazy, but I've never had browser level ad blocking on any browser on any OS I've ever used, and I've used most of them.
- spudlyo 4y ago
  I've read that uBlock Origin remains difficult to circumvent by anti-adblock techniques employed on sites today, and the sites where ads are blocked by Safari's content blockers simply haven't made the effort yet. I don't have any experience in this area, and would love someone who does to chime in.
  - squokko 4y ago
    Isn't the anti-adblock technique being used today to simply make the content of the site shill for the advertisers? How would that be blockable?
tazu 4y ago
I have to use Chrome on a Mac because Safari refuses to support multiple profiles. I'm a fan of compartmentalization, so my side-business saved passwords are different than my personal saved passwords. Apple would prefer that I create two separate accounts on my Mac (and the annoyance of syncing dotfiles between the two), but Chrome just lets me switch between users seamlessly. It seems like such an easy feature to add, but I'd bet there are Apple politics in play preventing Safari from adding this feature.
- FabHK 4y ago
  I’m using Brave for the same reason - compartmentalisation via profiles (“People”). Keep LinkedIn and other data vacuums quarantined, thank you very much.
  - skrowl 4y ago
    You should check out containers for Firefox. It does the same thing without having to open multiple windows / instances.
    - elcritch 4y ago
      And I find Firefox to be between Safari and Chrome in efficiency. Especially on an M1 Firefox seems to not drain the battery like Chrome.
  - nier 4y ago
    For “dirty” sites like LinkedIn I simply open a new private window in Safari.
- jrnichols 4y ago
  Multiple profiles is the reason I have a chrome based browser on my machine at all. I'll admit it. it's Microsoft Edge. big reason is compatibility with some other Microsoft stuff I use at work. otherwise safari is the daily driver.
celsoazevedo 4y ago
Profiles and extensions, mostly. It's very easy to use and switch between profiles on Chrome. Firefox is not as good here, but at least they have container tabs. Regarding extensions, it's not only the number of extensions available, but what they're capable of doing and the process of discovering them. Sure, you can buy some extension to block ads, but it's still not as capable as the free and open source uBlock Origin. You can hide cookies popups, but probably not auto click the "deny" button like some extensions do. Safari is also a bit too simple for me. I like things that "just work", but also have some control over things. Chrome offers a good compromise, I think. Firefox gives you more power, but their UI isn't as polished as Chrome. I like Safari's power usage but since I got a M1 MBP, I don't worry about the battery life that much anymore, so the higher drain from Chrome/Firefox doesn't affect me.
ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago
My only problem with Safari is the age old algorithm they use for audio pitch correction on sped up videos, i.e. any videos you speed up (i watch at 2.3x) has the audio extremely tinny. Chrome and Firefox don't have this problem.
vishnugupta 4y ago
This is me down to every single detail, including about testing and using MetaMask. To add, Apple’s native support for security tools such as iCloud Keychain, privacy relay, hide my email etc makes it that much more compelling to continue to use Safari.
isolli 4y ago
As a counterpoint, I had to switch to Chrome because: a) Google Meets was unreliable on Safari; b) the search in Safari is terrible (in one instance it could not find a word that other browsers would).
- can16358p 4y ago
  a) I also have the same. Ironically this is on Google, and I really think they don't fix it on purpose. b) Agree with this one.
netheril96 4y ago
I use Chrome on Mac for several reasons: * I also regularly use Windows and Linux. Chrome is familiar and have synchronized across all of them. * I need a proxy extension to bypass China’s network restrictions. The extension was not available on Safari (I don’t bother to check now). * uBlock Origin is more powerful than Safari’s adblockers. For example, uBO can skip the 90 second long advertisement in the front of some Chinese video site.
- astkaasa 4y ago
  you can use system proxy instead, but that may cause other issue.
pontilanda 4y ago
I've been using Safari for years now and I still think it's poor in many areas. URL autocompletion is an absolute joke. Detaching tabs has been browser-crashingly-bad for about a year. Still no way to tell whether the current page has already been bookmarked. Performance is pitiful on large pages (e.g. long PRs on GitHub) to the point typing is takes whole seconds longer. Pointless "apps" for web extensions, which make it unnecessarily complex for non-Apple developers to publish web extensions for Safari. I only use it because it's not Google’s and because it integrates better than Firefox. If I didn't have an iPhone I would never think of using Safari on Mac.

trilbyglens 4y ago

Anyone who has ever had to test CSS in safari will tell you why. Safari is the laggard, IE equivalent of modern browsers.

tgv 4y ago
Testers for incompetent developers who get their CSS from stackoverflow? That's not a very large group.
can16358p 4y ago
I test CSS on Safari a lot. It works exactly the same as Chrome for 99.9% of daily cases unless someone is doing very edgy quirks. It indeed has some bugs about autocompletion and messing up CSS in dev tools, needing a site reload, but nothing super major.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

etaioinshrdlu 4y ago

Personally, I like Chrome's UI much more than Safari, and also enjoy the devtools UI much better. Also like many devs, I use the most popular browser by default so I can design for the majority of users (realizing how this may offend some of you...).

olliej 4y ago
Indeed, this worked well for the sites that targeted IE, and I’ve seen enough sites saying variations on “designed for ie/chrome” to know you’re not alone in that belief.
nier 4y ago
UI? I thought that Safari’s Web Inspector is still behind in naked features.
- trilbyglens 4y ago
  Safari is far behind in most regards.

bigDinosaur 4y ago

You can't do proper adblocking (e.g. uBlock Origin) on Safari. That's why I don't really use it except when on battery and out travelling - and even then I'll often avoid using Safari since ads are so awful. Yes, I've tried the Safari adblockers, they suck. As far as I can tell they do marginally more at best than a DNS block. Once you can't use uBlock Origin with Chrome due to the proposed Manifest V3, Firefox will be the only real option.

mullingitover 4y ago
Same. Safari has always been very performant, but it doesn't matter when you're basically running around naked without ublock.
- dmitriid 4y ago
  As others have pointed out, the narrative "no adblocks on Safari" is a lie. There's no uBlock Origin, sure, but AdGuard for Safari is a good alternative. And you can complement that with StopTheMadness if you so wish.
- TheHappyOddish 4y ago
  Maybe I'm crazy, but I've never had browser level ad blocking on any browser on any OS I've ever used, and I've used most of them.
spudlyo 4y ago
I've read that uBlock Origin remains difficult to circumvent by anti-adblock techniques employed on sites today, and the sites where ads are blocked by Safari's content blockers simply haven't made the effort yet. I don't have any experience in this area, and would love someone who does to chime in.
- squokko 4y ago
  Isn't the anti-adblock technique being used today to simply make the content of the site shill for the advertisers? How would that be blockable?

tazu 4y ago

I have to use Chrome on a Mac because Safari refuses to support multiple profiles. I'm a fan of compartmentalization, so my side-business saved passwords are different than my personal saved passwords. Apple would prefer that I create two separate accounts on my Mac (and the annoyance of syncing dotfiles between the two), but Chrome just lets me switch between users seamlessly. It seems like such an easy feature to add, but I'd bet there are Apple politics in play preventing Safari from adding this feature.

FabHK 4y ago
I’m using Brave for the same reason - compartmentalisation via profiles (“People”). Keep LinkedIn and other data vacuums quarantined, thank you very much.
- skrowl 4y ago
  You should check out containers for Firefox. It does the same thing without having to open multiple windows / instances.
  - elcritch 4y ago
    And I find Firefox to be between Safari and Chrome in efficiency. Especially on an M1 Firefox seems to not drain the battery like Chrome.
- nier 4y ago
  For “dirty” sites like LinkedIn I simply open a new private window in Safari.
jrnichols 4y ago
Multiple profiles is the reason I have a chrome based browser on my machine at all. I'll admit it. it's Microsoft Edge. big reason is compatibility with some other Microsoft stuff I use at work. otherwise safari is the daily driver.

celsoazevedo 4y ago

Profiles and extensions, mostly. It's very easy to use and switch between profiles on Chrome. Firefox is not as good here, but at least they have container tabs. Regarding extensions, it's not only the number of extensions available, but what they're capable of doing and the process of discovering them. Sure, you can buy some extension to block ads, but it's still not as capable as the free and open source uBlock Origin. You can hide cookies popups, but probably not auto click the "deny" button like some extensions do. Safari is also a bit too simple for me. I like things that "just work", but also have some control over things. Chrome offers a good compromise, I think. Firefox gives you more power, but their UI isn't as polished as Chrome. I like Safari's power usage but since I got a M1 MBP, I don't worry about the battery life that much anymore, so the higher drain from Chrome/Firefox doesn't affect me.

ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago

My only problem with Safari is the age old algorithm they use for audio pitch correction on sped up videos, i.e. any videos you speed up (i watch at 2.3x) has the audio extremely tinny. Chrome and Firefox don't have this problem.

vishnugupta 4y ago

This is me down to every single detail, including about testing and using MetaMask. To add, Apple’s native support for security tools such as iCloud Keychain, privacy relay, hide my email etc makes it that much more compelling to continue to use Safari.

isolli 4y ago

As a counterpoint, I had to switch to Chrome because: a) Google Meets was unreliable on Safari; b) the search in Safari is terrible (in one instance it could not find a word that other browsers would).

can16358p 4y ago
a) I also have the same. Ironically this is on Google, and I really think they don't fix it on purpose. b) Agree with this one.

netheril96 4y ago

I use Chrome on Mac for several reasons: * I also regularly use Windows and Linux. Chrome is familiar and have synchronized across all of them. * I need a proxy extension to bypass China’s network restrictions. The extension was not available on Safari (I don’t bother to check now). * uBlock Origin is more powerful than Safari’s adblockers. For example, uBO can skip the 90 second long advertisement in the front of some Chinese video site.

astkaasa 4y ago
you can use system proxy instead, but that may cause other issue.

pontilanda 4y ago

I've been using Safari for years now and I still think it's poor in many areas. URL autocompletion is an absolute joke. Detaching tabs has been browser-crashingly-bad for about a year. Still no way to tell whether the current page has already been bookmarked. Performance is pitiful on large pages (e.g. long PRs on GitHub) to the point typing is takes whole seconds longer. Pointless "apps" for web extensions, which make it unnecessarily complex for non-Apple developers to publish web extensions for Safari. I only use it because it's not Google’s and because it integrates better than Firefox. If I didn't have an iPhone I would never think of using Safari on Mac.