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Convince me to use Firefox. I dare you!

Safari is 2 Legit 2 Quit!
(Lijit tee provided by Startup Schwag.)

The mozilla team just smacked one heck of an update with Firefox 3 AKA “The Browser That Has It All” and I haven’t download it. Why? Well, in my own honest opinion, Safari is 2 legit 2 quit!

I love Safari AKA. I’m basically “exclusive” with Safari. It’s been my browser of choice for a long time now, and we’ve developed quite a strong relationship. I like the way Safari looks so apple. It’s clean, efficient and it’s bookmarking skills are quite excellent. Besides the occasional flash plug-in lockout, it’s a lean, mean, sexy browser. And it is, after all, “The World’s Best Browser”. How can you challenge that?

It might be quite a battle convincing me to use Firefox. But I know there are some feisty FF users that won’t let my dare slide! Seriously, are you gonna let me talk trash about your browser? That’s like attacking your motherboard or something.

If you think Firefox is better than Safari tell me why. Oh and let me know what plug-ins you are using and how helpful they are and stuff like that.

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  • Connor
    June 20, 2008 at 9:09 PM

    I love both, usually I leave Safari for and quick searching and Firefox for all the daily stuff like flickr, last.fm, vimeo, etc.

  • Joshua Jenkins
    June 20, 2008 at 9:10 PM

    The only reasons to use Firefox over Safari are plugins (which are also a bane) and the amazing new location bar which finds pretty much whatever you want by sheer magic.

    Other than that Safari kills Firefox in pretty much every realm.

  • felix
    June 20, 2008 at 9:15 PM

    I am now trying to use Firefox 3 for a week and see if it deserve the parmanent place on my dock, displacing Safari from the throne,
    So far its been a good experience.
    Some of the add-ons I have used is: Ad-block, Lenspic, weatherfox (I think thats not the name)
    The nice thing about firefox is that it import everything from Safari, including the often visited URL usually appearing on the address bar.
    Just try for a week, and see how you like it. (the UI had also changed from version 2, which is a nice touch)

  • Cayce
    June 20, 2008 at 9:19 PM

    I use both. Safari is a little more compliant and I love the little things it does like auto fill credit card forms and the find function is slick as hell. I use Firefox mainly because of some of the web development tools available. But my #1 reason for sticking with FF is I can set it to open multiple tabs at start up without any hacks. Webkit sucked me in for a couple months but I switched back to FF after the memory issues were resolved.

  • The Hopper
    June 20, 2008 at 9:22 PM

    Lisa, I like Safari and use it, and of course I test everything I build in Safari, as well as Opera and IE, but FF has made my life a lot easier.
    1. I love the smart way it reads CSS is like if the browser knows what I want (not like IE where I have to hack every other tag line )
    2. Besides been fast, I also like the freedom I have to handle pluins and manage my bookmarks.
    3. I like the developer tools (saves me time)
    It’s a good browser. I recommend it!
    The Hopper
    http://www.nuregime.com

  • John Chow
    June 20, 2008 at 9:24 PM

    Well, if you want to make money online, you would be running Firefox. There are a lot of really cool plugins you can use to get information on a site/keywords/traffic etc. that will come in real handy when it comes time to start that PPC money machine.

    However, if you want to stay broke, then stay with Safari. :)

  • Mostly Lisa
    June 20, 2008 at 9:35 PM

    @John Chow — Oh SNAP!

  • Thommy
    June 20, 2008 at 9:48 PM

    I dont know ab out Safari, but Firefox’s Plugins are really useful. Mailto-Links open a new gmail tab, Linky allows me to open a lot of Links at once and FireFTP turns 1 tab into an FTP client window.

  • Mitchell
    June 20, 2008 at 9:53 PM

    I’m a safari junkie too. Firefox just doesn’t do it for me.

  • Ryan Ray
    June 20, 2008 at 10:04 PM

    Mr. Chow, show me that plugin that you speak of. I heavily use Safari, there are only times when I travel to a website where it sometimes doesn’t render right that I will check it out with FireFox. FF3 has definitely got me to use it more, but not enough to overtake Safari

  • bryce
    June 20, 2008 at 10:16 PM

    Hi,
    first of all, I have to admit, that before FF3, Firefox was not really the best option for macs. But with FF3, that changed. It now integrates very well and its as fast as on other operating systems.
    I use FF mainly because of its performance (it uses less RAM and loads pages with js quicker) and a lot of plugins I like are either not available for Safari or harder to install / maintain.
    Safari is not a bad browser, but with FF3 out there, I dont see any reason to use it, besides hardcore Apple fanboy/girlism (which I think you, Lisa, suffer from).
    Sorry for my english, give FF3 a try and do not let anything shining, that has fruits on it, cloud your judgement.
    Greetings
    bryce

  • Chris Luckhardt
    June 20, 2008 at 10:46 PM

    I say use whatever you like best. I also say, give Firefox an honest try for a week and then tell me if you still prefer IE6/7, Safari or Opera.

    My extensions:
    Adblock Filterset.G Updater
    Adblock Plus
    Canadian English Dictionary
    ColorZilla *
    DownloadHelper
    Firebug *
    FoxClocks
    Gmail Notiier
    MeasureIt *
    Pearl Crescent Page Saver
    QuickDrag *
    Web Developer *

    * Making websites is pointless without these extensions. Really.

  • Brandice
    June 20, 2008 at 10:46 PM

    If you use the new Firefox, magic jelly beans will pop out of your speakers and then Mozilla mails you a pony.

    CONVINCED MUCH?

    That’s what I thought.

  • Adam
    June 20, 2008 at 11:19 PM

    Oh dear, and you call yourself a nerd! Of course until I get my MacPro later this year I am stuck using the PC version of Safari which really does not do it for me. But hey, download Firfox, try Firefox and you might like Firefox… There might even be some M&S biscuits/chocolate in it for you…. Would that convince you?

  • AJ Batac
    June 20, 2008 at 11:26 PM

    Some useful extensions for FF that Safari still doesn’t have…

    1) SEOquake – into SEO? care about it?
    2) Firebug – web designer/developer? do you have a website you care about?
    3) Shareaholic – are you social? do you care to share?
    4) Web Developer Toolbar – see #2
    5) FireFTP – you still use separate apps like cyberduck, transmit?
    6) ScribeFire – do you still blog outside Safari? Or inside WordPress?
    7) Adblock Plus – how do you block those annoying ad inside Safari again?
    8) FoxyTunes – how do you like your iTunes… inside your browser?
    9) Undo Closed Tabs Button – how do you undo your accidentally closed tab in Safari? History?
    10) Mouse Gestures – do you want to prevent RSI?

    There are 5,050 more to choose from actually if those above still doesn’t convince you.

    I also love Safari by the way, you just have to use the right tool for the job.

    Cheers!

    AJ

  • Jeremy Davis
    June 21, 2008 at 12:01 AM

    I’m with AJ on most of his choices.

    Firebug is a huge advantage when smacking some code around.

    And I’m too used to browsing with gestures to switch. Out of habit I make the “Back” gesture in Windows Explorer when I want to back out of a folder. Sadly all that happens is it makes a rectangle that doesn’t help me much.

  • Convince MostlyLisa to switch from Safari to Firefox : Tech Blog Philippines - TechBlog.ph
    June 21, 2008 at 12:04 AM

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  • Andy P
    June 21, 2008 at 12:17 AM

    You realize you are giving me the finger in British?

  • Pete
    June 21, 2008 at 1:30 AM

    Customizable shortcuts in the URL bar. Type “w apple” to instantly search “apple” in Wikipedia. Or “i Jessica Alba” to search Jessica on imdb.com.

    I don’t know if Safari has this feature. Other than that, I think it’s faster and you can’t go wrong with the massive list of plugins. Make the switch!

  • Matt S
    June 21, 2008 at 2:02 AM

    I’ve been using Safari as my day to day browser since I moved to the Mac last August, only dipping into Firefox for development work (all the plugins previously mentioned). However with the new native look and feel, I’m in the process of giving FF3 a shot as my first choice all the time. And if you _really_ want the authentic Apple feel, check out the themes at takebacktheweb.org.

    As for the JavaScript speed of Safari, it’s even faster in the Webkit nighlies! But.. I use NoScript in FF3 anyway.

  • Chicken Say
    June 21, 2008 at 2:16 AM

    I’ve been using FF for few years but never use Safari before…since JC said “if you want to stay broke, then stay with Safari.” then I might just stick with FF… :D

  • Jay
    June 21, 2008 at 2:35 AM

    The power of Firefox lies in its extensions. I found these 50 best Firefox addons to really overpower Safari.

  • Diego
    June 21, 2008 at 2:37 AM

    Firefox is a choice for windows users who don’t want to use IE7, if you have a Mac why would you consider using firefox. if you’re considering a different browser, try “camino” its a browser from the Mozilla team specifically for the Mac OS X. Search it, if you don’t believe me.

    cheers…

  • Nik
    June 21, 2008 at 2:52 AM

    Because FF only took 4 minutes to load your graphics-heavy website through my Namib Desert Satellite Connection, while IE took 6.

    Oh shit, wrong system… I miss my Mac :(

  • Mark
    June 21, 2008 at 2:52 AM

    It has to be Firefox for me every time. The main reason is the addons that you can download for Firefox. For a web designer “firebug” is a must and Safari just doesn’t have this functionality. It really is essential when fixing code problems etc.

    Like you say Lisa, I also like Safari, its style and looks and also most of its functionality. The one thing I really don’t like which is another reason I use Firefox, is that I cannot get it to open new window links in a new tab instead, but maybe I am doing something wrong?

    So lets turn your question on its head – convince me to use Safari!

  • Bill
    June 21, 2008 at 2:59 AM

    Hi Lisa,
    I really impressed a web design client with the web developer toolbar yesterday. I love Firefox, and I think if you took some time to work with it, you would too. Piclens, Foxytunes, Fireshot, FireFTP, and the list goes on…

  • Dan
    June 21, 2008 at 3:03 AM

    To be honest, Lisa, in my experience there’s not much difference in the performance of either browser. Both are tabbed, both support web standards pretty damn well and both are pretty light and fast to load. I use FireFox because of all the great plugins available, and the fact I don’t use a mac *runs and hides*

    Choice of browser is something web geeks the world over hold very dear to their hearts and as long as that browser isn’t IE, I have no quarrel with them.

  • Sandra
    June 21, 2008 at 3:18 AM

    I rather use Firefox instead of Mozilla just because I think it is nice when you can change the style of the browser. I personally do not get that some people think that the grey Safari browser is looking good. All that gray bores me to death…

  • Skiant
    June 21, 2008 at 3:42 AM

    +1 with Dan.

    By the way, i’m a long time Firefox user (recently tried Opera but it didn’t convinced me), and i’m quite a expansion-holic.
    Here’s the list :

    – Adblock Plus : No more ads on the web! <3
    – Back to the top : Go to the top (or bottom) of the page in a single click.
    – Batch Download : Allows to download the whole pack of image galleries.
    – BBcode Xtra : Adds bbcode/html/Xhtml insertion to the right-click menu. Very useful for hardcore boards users.
    – Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer : Very handful to keep the same bookmarks from my home installation to my Mobile Firefow installed on my portable hard drive.
    – Location Navigator : useful to browse images gallery with incremental names.
    – Ma-config.com (french site) : Hardware-detection plugin, in order to get the latest drivers. I guess it’s not very useful for mac-users.
    – Minimeter : web traffic restriction monitor. Great when your ISP sucks.
    – Mouse Gestures Redox : Allows to control your browser by doing drawings with the mouse. Looks like a gadget, but i can’t do without anymore.
    – NoScript : block any potentially harmful script on web pages.
    – Web Developer : various useful web dev tools.

  • Ed Lau
    June 21, 2008 at 3:45 AM

    As a recent Mac convertee, FireFox made me feel more at home since I was using it for a long time on my Windows machines. While I can see why Safari is a better option than FF2, FF3 is faster and has great plug-ins.

  • David
    June 21, 2008 at 4:33 AM

    It’s tricky isn’t it!? FF now has an extension to deal with online pdf reading and nice skins, along with the myriad of plugins, but it hasn’t got near webkit for css support yet, or satisfying the Acid test. Safari/Webkit has quite an array of SIMBL plugins and that fantastic Inspector.

    I actually run neither, favouring iCab because of it’s adaptability, filters and geo meta data support. It’s also faster and when run on a webkit nightly scores 100/100 in the Acid test as well as being faster still. It also gains the newer webkit Inspector in this guise, but some versions of iCab have an altered Framework, so don’t allow this shell script to functioning.

  • Mathew Ballard
    June 21, 2008 at 5:03 AM

    Before I really get into I will say that I like Safari, when using it on a Mac. But, do think that FireFox is much much better. Now remember saying this:

    “I love FireFox 3. I’m basically “exclusive” with FireFox. It’s been my browser of choice for a long time now, and we’ve developed quite a strong relationship. I like the way FireFox 3 looks so apple. It’s clean, efficient and it’s bookmarking skills are quite excellent. It has no flash plug-in lockout, it’s a lean, mean, sexy browser. And it is, after all, “The World’s Best Browser”. How can you challenge that?”

  • flo
    June 21, 2008 at 5:29 AM

    To make FF3 look more “apple” take one of aronnax themes at http://www.takebacktheweb.org/
    For me it’s mostly that while safari is extendable too, most of it’s good extensions cost money, and with 20+ tabs open, FF is more stable most of the time. Other extensions I use are PicLens (although available for safari too), Stylish, Foxmarks, Firebug, Adblock Plus (Safari equivalent costs money) and the Quartz PDF plugin (uses preview to display pdfs in the browser) Plus bookmark syncing is essential for me, and the only thing safari is good at is syncing with the iphone. Also, I like FFs behaviour when you click an rss link (remembers what you want it opened with) much better then safaris embedded rss view), cause I can directly add it to google reader. That said I do use safari from time to time, and engine-wise it’s probably the better one, so if the above things don’t bother you no reason to switch i guess.

  • Dana
    June 21, 2008 at 6:28 AM

    Safari user here, too.

    I do use FF at at work (Windows, ugh) but I just have, like, one or two extensions installed: Firebug (a javascript/HTML debugger) and twitterfox. Twitterfox is entertaining because, aside from sending twits its icon turns red when Twitter is down, so it’s kind of amusing to see it flash between red and green all day.

    At home on my Mac, I have both installed but I tend to use Safari because the interface is cleaner.

  • David
    June 21, 2008 at 6:38 AM

    Oooer aren’t we all getting competitive :-D See what you’ve done Lisa!

    Here’s a little comparison chart for current versions. (NO, I’m not doing any more browsers…)

    Sunspider
    iCabWK 2477.0ms
    Webkit 2653.3ms
    Firefox 3905.0ms
    Safari 4241.2ms
    iCab 4611.4ms

    Acid 3
    Webkit 100/100
    iCabWK 100/100
    iCab 75/100
    Firefox 71/100

  • Richard Standbrook
    June 21, 2008 at 6:45 AM

    Safari. Come on, if I want FTP I use a good FTP app, if I want music I open iTunes. I don’t want a rare crash of a browser to hang up my FTP client, music player and mail client as well. Safari is swift and beautiful plus widgets are still not quite native in Firefox and this bugs me. I use FF as a debug tool due to the wonder that is Firebug, it is invaluable when developing web sites but that’s it.

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  • p.
    June 21, 2008 at 9:05 AM

    I only use Firefox if I’m using a PC, or if I need Greasemonkey. GreaseKit for Safari just doesn’t cut it for me. Plus, photos on Flickr look like ass on Firefox, compared to Safari. Is there a setting in FF to make the photos not look so washed out? I would have thought FF3 would have something I could adjust.

  • Mathew Ballard
    June 21, 2008 at 9:20 AM

    @ p.

    Are sure that its FireFox. Cause I’ve never had any problems viewing photos on Flickr with any browser. Especially with photos being washed out and etc.

  • Rodrigo H.
    June 21, 2008 at 11:12 AM

    I just prefer the elegant simplicity of safari. Whenever I want to do something else internet related, there’s always another kickass Mac App to handle it:
    -RSS Feeds: NetNewsWire
    -Blogs: MarsEdit
    -Podcasts: iTunes
    -Chat: Adium
    -Torrents: Transmission
    And the list goes on and on, so I’m just not a fan of using dozens of extensions.

    But hey, tha’s just me… Extension lovers: I salute you ;)

  • Mike Styles
    June 21, 2008 at 11:44 AM

    Simply put… because I said so! lol… just playing. Besides I think your interview looks better on it ;)

  • Eric M.
    June 21, 2008 at 1:26 PM

    What about Flock? http://www.flock.com/

  • andresmtz
    June 21, 2008 at 2:38 PM

    Hi Lisa,

    I like Safari, but I prefer FF because it can be enhanced with too many useful tools for web developers and daily tasks and runs faster in my laptop (with WinXP SP2). One of the most useful plug-ins for wd is “Firebug”, because it enables you to deeply inspect all your webpage code including css, javascripts, etc and highlighting elements while you roll over the code and it shows you a table with the time it takes to load all images, css files, etc…. And one cool plug-in for common navigation is “piclens” which emerges you in a 3D navigation experience to view pictures and videos with great usability and cool efects… by the way… that’s why I reach your blog, I saw your pic in black biki in piclens and you look so sexy, so it drives me here jeje

  • Chris
    June 21, 2008 at 3:37 PM

    I’ll admit that I did not read all 3,532,666,162,771,614.3 replies to this post, but afaict Safari doesn’t do themes.

    Visual customisation aside, I <3 FF for its robustness and tweakability, and I <3 Safari for its simplicity.

  • Wes Fierce
    June 21, 2008 at 6:39 PM

    Security:

    I dont know what kind of security issues Safari / Mac’s have, but I recommend Firefox to pc using family and friends as the first line of defense against spyware and malware.

    Extensions:

    – Web Developer Toolbar: Has alot of great uses, like validation quicklinks, display switching, css info hovering (awesome), and compliance / quirks indicators.

    – Foxmarks: Sync’s my bookmarks between my main system and my laptop. I really couldnt live without it now.

    – Google Toolbar: pagerank indicator.

    Browser:

    Also, I can fit the file menu, controls, url bar, and the icons I use from web developer and google toolbar, all on one row, since the browser is customizable.

  • Wes Fierce
    June 21, 2008 at 6:43 PM

    Oh, I almost forgot! I just got the DownThemAll extension to replace Internet Download Manager. It is BETTER than IDM, its Free, and, it integrates so nicely with firefox.

  • Joe
    June 21, 2008 at 7:10 PM

    When I saw your tweet about convincing you to use FF, I thought you meant full-frame. Silly photographer me.

    I’m a Linux user, so I can’t really comment on the “versus” part, but I love Firefox to death. Someone mentioned how awesome Safari search is. In Firefox, typing a slash brings up a quick, as-you-type search bar. So /lisa highlights the first instance of “lisa” on the page. And with FF3’s awesomebar, typing in the address bar searches your history and bookmarks. How much better can it get?

    Every time I think, “Man, I wish my browser could do THIS,” I find an extension that makes it easy. What’s not to love?

  • p.
    June 21, 2008 at 8:39 PM

    @ Mathew Ballard I found a fix: http://lifehacker.com/396742/tweak-firefox-to-display-richer-colors

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