11/11/03
11Firebird for OS X
Mozilla Firebird for Mac OS X now has a sweet new default theme created by Kevin Gerich and Stephen Hollander. Until now, Firebird has always looked too ‘PC’ , but many find it the fastest browser on the OS X. This new default theme is beautiful, and well thought out. It makes all the difference and it now looks more OS X than Camino. Firebird removes all the ‘extras’ found in Mozilla, such as email and chat, but keeps the Javascript console, which I find immensely useful for web development.
If you’ve not tried Firebird before, or you’ve been put off by the interface, go and try the latest nightly build.
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Egor Kloos said 1745 days ago:
Is it me or is this new Firebird for OSX faster? It feels pretty snappy to me. Safari maybe my default browser, but Firebird may give it a good run for it's money. One can always change ones mind.btw. the page behind the nightly build link is no longer there.
Jon Hicks said 1745 days ago:
I'm finding it snappier too. Other than a few bugs, my only grumble with Firebird is the lack of native form widgets. As far as I know, there is nothing that can be done about that.Sorry about the nightly build link - I screwed it up. OK now...
Jason Derifaj said 1745 days ago:
I haven't tried Firebird for OSX yet, but I do run camino on my Mac at work and I think its great. I'm a hardcore firebird advocate for the windows machines I use.Anyone using IE over firebird is crazy. Just plain crazy. While I do feel Safari to be a great browser,if I was stranded on a desert island, it would have to be firebird.
Judi said 1744 days ago:
Firebird has been my default browser for a few weeks now. Safari "feels" much too slow in comparison, and Firebird doesn't get confused by its cache. The tabbedbrowser extension (available for all the Gecko browsers) is amazing.Jon Hicks said 1744 days ago:
Thanks for the tip Judi - although I can't get it to install. Will keep trying...Egor Kloos said 1742 days ago:
That's it, I'm sold. Hello Firdbird, goodbye Safari!Jon Hicks said 1742 days ago:
It seems that the Tab Browser Extension doesn't work with the pinstripe theme (or 0.7).Another useful one I've found is the web developer extension:
http://texturizer.net/firebird/extensions/#webdeveloper
This gives you a menu letting you do things like validate CSS, resize the window to 800x600 etc. Great stuff!
Marc Nothrop said 1734 days ago:
Yeah, the browser situation on the Mac is an interesting situation... a number of good browsers, that make it hard to stick with one!Safari's definitely a good browser, but I'd long held out hopes for the Gecko engine; in some ways we lose out on x-platform compatibility, but I guess it's understandable that Apple wanted control without the complication of AOL's (former) involvement.
Anyway, I've not heard much comment on my main reasons for favouring Safari; it's the UI details.
I agree that native widgets are highly desirable, but it seems unlikely that the main Mozilla project would include those (unless Camino somehow decided to fold into Mozilla/Firebird... or native widgets could be patched in as an extension (probably not possible.)
But the main differences in support of Safari are in usability; text fields have spell check, drag and drop, it's services-aware in text fields, text on pages and offers the 'Open URL' service. Via Bundles you can have ad-blocking and URL redirecting (PithHelmet), true full-screen browsing, OmniWeb-like URL shortcuts and more search sites than just Google via the contextual menu (Saft).
Firebird doesn't offer much native support, but it's very extensible, sortof leaving Camino in an awkward position; it definitely is 'more Mac', but is that enough to justify the effort, when Firebird looks like it'll keep getting better (even with the statement that the project won't concentrate on Mac OS.)
Jon Hicks said 1732 days ago:
Marc,Thanks for that. I agree, being able to use the services menu is a good reason to use Cocoa-based browsers. Camino still has promise, and has the added ability to undo when typing in form fields. Also, if Omniweb ever comes out with tabbed browsing, it'll be a serious contender for me. In the meantime, I continue to flick between Safari, Camino and now, Firebird.
DeWaun Simmons said 1717 days ago:
I will have all the major browsers loaded, if for nothing more than web development and site testing, but, like the previous poster, I too, continue to flick between Safari, Camino and Firebird. All three have strengths, weaknesses and unique qualities. For now, All three will round out my arsenal for favorite browsers. Although on my old G3/266, Firebird launches slowest and Camino next with Safari the fastest, I think both Camino and Firebird are a tad bit more responsive than Safari, for some reason. Of course, look what I'm tryin' to do to my li'l G3 Beige machine... trying to force feed OS X JAGUAR down it's little 266mhz throat. I'm so ashamed! :-)Jon Hicks said 1717 days ago:
Wow! I'm amazed that you get anything to work on that! More power to you!I'm still flicking between Safari/Camino/Firebird, with a slight dalliance with Omniweb (just needs tabbed browsing support)