Okay, I have to admit… I’ve been known to be one of those pain in the ass people who occasionally feels it necessary to inform VOX of my thoughtful suggestions to make the site better (even though the more I use it, the more I realise how much it just kicks ass). Well, I think I may have posted ± three separate ”feedbacks” complaining about how Apple’s Safari’s incompatibility with VOX has been a source of frustration for me.
As per VOX’s suggestion (every time I try to compose a post in Safari) I finally decided to try Firefox. While it does allow most/all of the composing features one would need to successfully compose a post in VOX, it is thoroughly less pleasant to deal with on a regular basis… it's clunky… it doesn't do really some really simple things that you get spoiled by over in Safari.
For example…
When you go to type in the address in the URL bar it will auto-complete the entry with your most visited site with the same spelling AND provide a pull-down list of all other options — in order of most visited by ME. With Firefox you are presented with a pull-down list of the most recent places you’ve been which rarely includes my most visited places.
In Safari, I can choose to block or un-block pop-up windows from the FILE Menu or by simply pressing a keyboard shortcut… same for emptying the cache… and deleting history can be done from the HISTORY menu. There is no need to open the preference panel every time you've visited your online bank and you need to empty the cache of your personal information or delete history… novel ideas, I know.
The tabbed-browsing feature has the “close tab” button on the tab itself as oppose to the other side of the screen so you can close a tab in the background by means of this little button. Plus you can toggle from tab to tab using key-commands. With Firefox, you either have to highlight the tab then go click the button to close, or you have to right-click the tab and choose close from the pop-up menu… both ways take three to four times longer — I know, I know, we're only talking seconds here but they add up to frustration and interface friction.
Of course, you can install various extension to Firefox to increase its functionality including ones for closing the tabs and adding key-commands to allow for tab-toggling but the interface is still clunky.
In Safari, one of my favourite interface features is the Address Bar which is also the Progress Bar. So, as soon as you’ve entered your destination URL and pressed enter, the blue progress bar travels along the back of the Address Bar giving immediate feedback that things are working to get you where you need to go. In Firefox the progress bar is a bout an inch wide and tucked down in the bottom corner where you have to go searching for it every time…
ANYWAY…
Following another “suggestion” from the VOX team (more like a “swim at your own risk” statement than a suggestion really) I installed the latest nightly build of Webkit which promptly crashed Safari… brilliant. After restarting, however, I was pleased to find that I can now at least use some of the basic formatting tools. Specifically, the following: bold, italics, underline, left-align, centre-align and right-align. Colour me excited…
Oh well, it is getting there, slowly but surely… just too slowly for my liking.
BTW, for any one who cares, this entry was composed entirely using Safari with the latest nightly build of Webkit, except for the hyper-links and spell-checking, which were done in TextEdit.
Goodnight all.
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steelie
[UPDATE]
I did a bit of searching and it turns out that you can also download an extention that will allow Firefox to combine the Address and Progress bars and it can be found here. It is way more intuitive than Firefox’s default Progress Bar so I (personally) highly recommend it.
I guess the personal goal for this will now be to try and make Firefox as Safari-like as possible.
I’ll start a running list of all the extensions I find to make life more Safarifox and bearable.
—
steelie
*cough* nerd.
Okay, so most of what you said flew right over my head, but I now know who I can hit up when I get my MacBook next summer. I've spent my whole technological life on a PC and am already intimidated at the thought of switching to a Mac, but I want that particular laptop so badly I'm willing to jump off the cliff. 🙂
Hey Jared… As I said, I’m already in the process of trying to track down how to make Firefox as Safari like as possible and then I’ll post all of the modifications made so you can duplicate. Yup, me be a bit nerdy but you know me, in most cases it’s just me being so freakin’ particular about certain things I just get obsessed about trying to fix/modify things to make them work.Hey Jen… Other than the Safari thing, Macs are excellent. And it’s not really that’s there is anything wrong with Safari it just has Rich-Text issues that becomes pretty apparent in VOX. Other blog sites let you code with HTML when necessary but VOX has purposely left that option out to make it easier for the non-seasoned blogger. Ah well…You will not be disappointed with your purchase. My wife just bought one of the white MacBooks and loves it. LOVES it. The built-in webcam is especially cool. I’d be more than happy to help you with anything you need… just ask Jared. ;O) I’ll never claim to be someone who knows how the inside of a computer works but I love figuring out fun/helpful tips and trick for the OS.–steelie
I'm going to read that when I'm not so tired. My eyes hurt and my brain can't take it. I think you know that feeling!
I have also been using Firefox with Vox (hey, that rhymes!) because it's just so damn annoying with Safari. But Firefox is a whole different kettle of annoying. Thanks for the tip on Address and Progress bar. I just downloaded it and will restart Firefox now…s.
Doesn't Camino address a lot of this? Seems like it'd be the best of both worlds in terms of making a Firefox-type browser work like Safari.
Steelie buddy, you're great. I love that you actually *care* about this stuff because I do too! I've long since abandoned Firefox for the same annoying reasons you have listed above (not being able to close tabs with the click of *one* button is beyond stupid). I'm stubborn, too, and I won't go back because these little things pissed me off too much. I'm holding a Firefox grudge. Right now, I'm using Camino for Vox alone — my blog has its own browser! — and Safari for everything else. This seems sufficient although I haven't bothered to learn the tricks of the trade with Camino. Whatever. I'm sure you'll tell me when Vox is fully compatible with Safari and then I'll switch back ;)Thanks for doing all of this leg work. You rock my little world!s.
I still have hopes for Firefox on mac. I do the same thing with Camino and keep tabs open for my neighborhood, recent activity, and explore.
Wishing for webkit goodness with the compose page…. come on voxsters!
Anil: Yup. Camino does take care of most my beefs and I’ve switched over almost exclusively for now. There is still the Progress/Address bar thing I’d like to see. Oh, and the fact that I can tab down from the Address bar in Camino but cannot tab back up, has got to be my big complaint for this browser. VERY annoying. That is, however, only one thing. Other than that I’m good.Sem: Alas, sometimes it feels like I care too much. ;O) I’ll be sure to keep poking around and keep you updated. For the record, it’s not that I’m that much of a geek that I need to know all of this stuff, it’s that I hate being annoyed by things that I have to work with everyday. So, I’m always on the hunt for something better and more efficient.Jamison: That’s an excellent idea. I’ve just copied you.Shawn: At least they let you compose using HTML now. I’ve got my fingers crossed for the next version of Safari.–steelie