So ten days ago right here I pondered a change of web browser, frustrated at Safari's lack of functionality when it comes to a lot of these newfangled 'Web 2.0' sites, in particular Google's services. Though Gmail works in Safari for the most part (that is if you're not too fussy about how much control you have over your messages appearance-wise), the likes of Google Calendar brings the software to its knees. Vox, too, is pretty much unusable in Safari -- because the tools for styling and adding links aren't rendered, all you can do is type, which is pretty limiting even for a limited tool as this.
As I explained previously, I began to get reacquained with Camino again, just using it for Vox in parallel to my usual browsing in Safari. (I decided againt Firefox, partly because I don't like its method for storing bookmarks, but also because it doesn't really feel like Mac software, so I wouldn't ever be comfortable.) At the same time, Safari became more and more of an annoyance for me, taking far too long to open pages, or react to my mouse clicks -- compared to Camino which was zipping along, just as I remembered it from my pre-Safari days.
I decided on a trial run earlier this week, copying over my Safari bookmarks file into Camino, opening a window full of tabs and seeing if I was comfortable with it. It only took an evening for me to make my mind up -- the Safari icon was dumped from my dock on Wednesday, and since then I've been using Camino exclusively across both my computers.
The benefits were just too much to ignore. Camino is fast -- even with multiple tabs open, the way I like to browse, it's much faster than Safari ever was. It's also much more customisable and usable than Safari, without having to pay for extra plug-ins. Bookmark portability is just everything I could ask for -- I can copy and paste direct from the app support folder to keep my computers in sync, and use the built-in bookmarks exporter if I ever decide to switch again. (There's also an FTP sync option built in, which I haven't tested yet but could prove very useful.)
Vox, of course, is fully-featured -- even if things tends to jump around a bit when I type. As for Google's services? Gmail comes with all the extras that Safari cuts out, and Google Calendar actually loads -- and works! So well, in fact, that I've now migrated from iCal permanently, and subscribed to my online calendars with iCal on both computers. No .Mac for me, thank you very much.
The ad blocking in Camino is another bonus; for one, it makes Pitchfork far less seizure-inducing. You know what I mean.
There are a few niggles here and there to elicit a few grunts on my part (it doesn't really like Flash so much) but those are things I can live with, when everything else about Camino puts it so far ahead of Apple's sluggish, bloated muscle car of a browser.
I'll have to look into the FTP bookmark sync thing.
I've resigned to using del.icio.us all the time and use an extention called Foxylicious to download all my del.icio.us bookmarks into my Firefox bookmarks. This has worked fine for me so far, but I'm always looking for new, improved ways to keep my bookmarks in sync. Especially since I have both PC and Mac at work, and always seem to need the same bookmarks on both machines.
Posted by: pixelZion | 06/24/2006 at 01:55 PM
I should have mentioned that the FTP bookmark sync is one of the options provided by the CamiTools plug-in -- but it's free, and you can get it from pimpmycamino.com.
Posted by: MacDara | 06/25/2006 at 02:10 AM
You ever tried Firefox? I use it, but might try Camino. Wonder if you can sync between Camino and Firefox (since I use Firefox on a PC at work).
Posted by: pixelZion | 06/25/2006 at 08:28 AM
I don't like Firefox on the Mac. With Windows it's great -- I even convinced my mam to switch from IE -- but I've tried using it on my Mac a few times and never got into it. I do know why people love it, for the extensibility and so on, but my geeky tendencies are limited when it comes to the likes of Greasemonkey and similar doo-dads, so they don't apply to me.
Posted by: MacDara | 06/25/2006 at 09:09 AM
Interesting. I made the switch to Camino in the past few weeks as well (from FireFox). Firefox doesn't seem/feel nearly as fast with the Intel Macs as Safari, but as you note, Safari is rife with compatabilty problems. I've had Camino sitting around on my machine since before I made the Intel transition, but have rarely used it as I was happy with Firefox. But Camino is blazing fast and talks prettier with Web 2 than Safari. I miss greasemonkey, but I'll get over it.
Posted by: mat! | 06/25/2006 at 12:21 PM
I might try a bit of Camino in a bit. Definitely look into syncing bookmarks. If it's faster than FF, then so much the better.
Posted by: pixelZion | 06/25/2006 at 05:04 PM
I'm glad you're enjoying Camino!
For syncing with del.icio.us, there's Caminicious, which works fairly well, from what I'm told.
For those who still want Greasemonkey, try out Geekmonkey, which can do most of the things Greasemonkey does.
Posted by: Samuel Sidler | 08/21/2006 at 03:15 PM