Time For a Change

Time to go native!

I’ve been a big Firefox user since, well, before it was called Firefox. When I got my first Mac I instantly downloaded the Mac client to usurp Safari. I’ve enjoyed the extensibility of Firefox many of the add-ons became so useful that I judged other browsers by them. However that was then, now it’s just the one plug-in, Ad-Block Plus and most browsers have something similar or the plugin itself. So I wondered, could I change and use Safari?

I’ve been growing tired of Firefox’s bloated nature, the length of time it needs to load up and its gluttonous use of memory. While not completely the core browsers fault it’s gotten to the point where I close Firefox so my Mac doesn’t start whirring away like a champion because Firefox is nicking CPU cycles like they’re going out of fashion. I admit Safari, along with other OS native apps, will usually beat other apps hands down at access time but from my first forays I’ve found most sites loading up far quicker than they ever did for me in Firefox. I also like the clean and simple nature of Safari and while, in a blog post last year, I shunned Safari 4 because of things like cover flow I mind them even less now. Yes it’s a bit of an odd inclusion but then again it’s no longer a deal break for me and neither is Ubiquity.

Is this then a global switch across all platforms for me to Safari? In a word, no. This switch is purely at home where the native nature of Safari gives it the edge over other browsers. At work I will still use Firefox and I will still recommend it to friends and family. I’ve simply become aware of my change in habit and that now Safari can easily step up to plate and meet (and in terms of speed exceed) my demands. It must be noted though that Xmarks made the switch much less painful than it would’ve been and now my bookmarks are synched across two browsers on 4 machines, I love technology!