December 21, 2007

Why I still can’t use Safari

December 21, 2007, 8:11 AM | 1 Comment

It’s been just over a year since I made the full time switch to Mac and my software tastes have definitely evolved some since I first posted my list of frequently used applications a while back. Sometime soon, I’ll probably revise that list, but for now I just wanted to touch on one application that I still can’t use on a regular basis. Safari.

One of the joys of being a Mac user is that the software applications for the OS X platform are generally all of higher quality than a lot of the applications you can get for the PC. Obviously, there are some exceptions to this rule, but I think for the most part it’s a true statement. Usually, it’s Apple’s own apps that lead the pack in many arenas, but while the newest version of Safari has made some giant leaps, it still has a lot of things that really make it unusable for me as my primary browser.

Most of them are really nitpicky reasons, but I thought I’d list them here and hopefully some of you who do use Safari regularly will be able to offer some suggestions. So, here’s my short list:

• There’s no option to “Force links that open new windows to open in a new tab” like Firefox does.
• Double-clicking the tab strip doesn’t open a new tab like Firefox does.
• F5 doesn’t trigger a refresh like every other browser I’ve ever used. You need to use Apple + R
• F6 doesn’t set the focus to the location bar like Firefox. Apple + L will do it for you though.
• Opening/Closing the tab strip (if you have the option set to hide the tab strip when you only have one tab open) causes the window to change size (only in Tiger… Safari on Leopard seems to not struggle with this), not the viewport. This is minor, but it really throws me off sometimes because my work computer (ie, the computer I use most often) is still running Tiger.
• You can’t switch between tabs by using the Control + Tab key combination like most other browsers. Instead, you must use Apple + { or Apple + } (which in effect is actually Apple + Shift + [ & Apple + Shift + ]). This is a really minor one, but it bugs me anyways.
• No middle-click scrolling simply by moving your mouse up/down left/right.
• No Firebug. Yes, the Web Inspector has come a long way in recent years, but the thing that I love about Firebug is the ability to dynamically change the values of certain things. You can edit/add HTML, change CSS values or add new ones, temporarily disable certain CSS rules and the browser will update the page with all of your changes instantly. This is huge for web development, especially when you’re trying to debug someone else’s code, markup or CSS.

So there they are in no particular order. The surprising thing to me is that this is something that Apple would usually get right. They’re leaders when it comes to usability, so why is their browser so drastically different (in the “little things department”) than everyone else’s? Maybe it’s just a matter of breaking old habits, but sometimes that’s a bit of a painful experience. So, what about you? Have you made the switch to Safari? Any tips on how I can overcome the hurdles that I’ve mentioned above? Please let me know.

All of this begs the question of course—If I’m so happy with Firefox, why would I want to switch to Safari anyways? Well, it’s true, I really like Firefox and it has everything I need, but it suffers from 2 distinct problems. First, it’s a memory hog, which in turn slows down my computer. Firefox 3 is supposed to take care of all of this, but it’s still going to be a while before that one’s finished. Secondly, Firefox is pretty slow handling JavaScript. Don’t believe me? Fire open Safari and find a site that uses a lot of JavaScript animation effects (apple.com/downloads/ is a good example). Then open Firefox with that same URL and compare. You’ll see what I mean.

Just for the record, I do know that Safari can be extended, but it really doesn’t have as much exposure as Firefox does, so even the great extensions for Safari are not very popular. Are there Safari extensions that can help me with my pains? I want to use Safari. Please, show me the way.

Posted in: Apple, Design, Switch Journal, Technology