Mac browsers ?

[Robert_J_Ellis]

Hi there, while I was developing the SD universal menu, I realised how hard it is to judge what things will do on a mac. I have a mac I can borrow, but I'm gonna get a cheap one for testing.

Can people reccomend popular Mac browsers which you use ?

[Vanceone]

Sure! Safari, of course, is the main one. One tip with Safari--there are two versions, 1.2 and 1.3 and up, that should be tested on. People who use OS X 10.3.8 or lower are stuck on 1.3, and only 10.3.9 have the updated functionality. It's a major change. Safari uses webcore, or KHTML (Konquerer). Omniweb is another mac browser, but 4.5 or higher uses the safari engine, so it should render the same. Anything before 4.5 is pretty much useless to target for, but hey, if you have nothing better to do... :D

Firefox and Opera are both widely used as well, staying roughly feature parity with their Window's versions. Mac IE is dead. Microsoft threw the towel in and said to use Safari, which is a blessing, because it has absolutely no relationship to Windows IE. Different code bases, different bugs, just, ugh. Microsoft never could build a good browser. :D I've heard legends of something called "icab," but have never seen it, plus I'm told it's fairly standards compliant in the latest version.

There are still people running OS 9, not OS X, and they have a small limited selection of old, outdated browsers, even including netscape 4. If your mac is an intel mac, you will not be able to test it, since the intel macs no longer run the classic mode, which is OS 9. And I DON'T recommend getting any new mac that is not intel anymore, unless you are heavy into graphic design.... though a nice old imac is great for web browser testing.

[Robert_J_Ellis]

Thanks for the descriptive reply Vanceone, that answers most of my questions. guess I'll get an old imac for testing :), and a leet mac later :D.

[Vanceone]

Specifically, what questions did you have? I've been a mac guy since 86, so I know most of what's up. :) An old imac or emac is great, no question. But once you go mac, it's hard to go back. :D

[Robert_J_Ellis]

Yeah, I've used both and linux for a while, only thing is the mac is a shortterm loaner on a near perm basis, I need to get one ;).

[indiqo]

I use an iBook G4 since about one year now and Vanceone is absolutely right saying that it's hard to go back - I'd even say that it is almost impossible to switch back then! :D

[Vanceone]

Yes, it is almost impossible to go back. I expect Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to absolutely destroy Vista, too.


Oh, one more Mac browser: camino. It's the mozilla flavor for Mac. I downloaded it and am giving it a trial run. I may replace firefox with it. Really good program.

[Robert_J_Ellis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(indiqo &#064; May 31 2006, 04&#58;47 AM) 6369</div>
I use an iBook G4 since about one year now and Vanceone is absolutely right saying that it&#39;s hard to go back - I&#39;d even say that it is almost impossible to switch back then&#33; :D
[/b]

Hmm, allright thanks man.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vanceone &#064; Jun 1 2006, 08&#58;24 PM) 6436</div>
Yes, it is almost impossible to go back. I expect Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to absolutely destroy Vista, too.
Oh, one more Mac browser: camino. It&#39;s the mozilla flavor for Mac. I downloaded it and am giving it a trial run. I may replace firefox with it. Really good program.
[/b]

Camino, thanks Vance :).