The perfect recipe for the perfect browser has a very fine line between necessary features, and bloating features. If you go too fear into the feature side then nobody wants your browser as it becomes bloated and slow, but not enough features and everybody just ignores the browser.
So, what makes the perfect browser, well in my opinion they are as follows:
- It needs to be fast
- It needs to be bug-free
- It needs a good extension system
- It needs a complete set of developer tools
- And it needs to have an integrated URL and search bar
Those are, for me at least, in order. And a lot of browsers blow it on the first point. Take Firefox for example. I’ll no-doubt be slated for saying this by the thousands that love and support firefox, but someone has to.
I used to be one of those who all who loved Firefox. Now I’m not, why? It became too slow for me to comprehend using everyday. And why did this append? They tried to make it do too much out of the box. People should be able to add they want, rather than being told what they need. Couple this with their determination to support every operating system known to man and this that it has slowly become slower and slower.
My next primary browser was Google Chrome. So now it’s your turn to hate me Chrome users. Because Chrome is also a load of junk. Chrome was great, until it got unbearably buggy with pages only half loading for no apparent reason and images vanishing on and appearing as and when they please.
So I found myself using Safari, a truly fantastic browser, which just got better.
Introducing Feature #5 in Safari
The only issue I have found to date with Safari is the spilt URL and search functions, and stoping to think about what box I need just slows me down.
To address this issue I came across an application that merge these flawlessly, Omnibar. It takes two minutes to install, and the installer can be download from GitHub. After this restart Safari and you will have the joy that is both bars combined.
Look, only one bar!
So, what are your thoughts? Whats your favourite browser on OS X and why?
Written by Daniel Groves
I am a student/freelance website designer that lives near Bath and studies at the University of Plymouth during term time. I spend my time tweeting writing for AppFlow and building on my portfolio. When I'm not working on the web you'll find my out on my Mountain Bike or shooting photos with my Nikon D3000.