With the Mac OS X browser wars heating up, I thought it would be interesting to compile “early round” results from Observers.  I’ll start the early round results off by posting my blow-by-blow of the fight.

In one corner, weighing in at 3.7 MB, is iCab Preview 2.5.2 (http://www.icab.de).

In the next corner, weighing in at 20.3 MB, Internet Explorer 5.1.1 (http://www.microsoft.com).

In the third corner, weighing in at 9.9 MB, OmniWeb 4.0.1 (http://www.omnigroup.com).

In the fourth and final corner, weighing in at 28.3 MB (though only 280K for the application), is the open-source Mozilla 0.9.2 (http://www.mozilla.com).

First off, let’s examine iCab.  This browser seems to be in preview-release stages indefinately, now reaching version 2.5.2 of the preview-release.  Its not bad for a preview release, running in both Mac OS 9 and a new Mac OS X version.  I’ve never been a fan of the interface within iCab, and unfortunately the interface is the same in Mac OS X.  There are too many buttons on the button bar (although many like that, I personally don’t).  The preferences are what makes iCab a big contender.  There are lots of options, including a useful ad filter (which you won’t find in the other corners of this browser ring).  It is also relatively fast, loading text first and images later, thus loading pages quickly.  This can cause some formatting changes as the page finishes rendering, however, which is always annoying for the quick web browser.  The back button is also quite responsive.  iCab does not make use of the Quartz rendering engine and performs no anti-aliasing at all.  The appearance of pages are similar to that of Netscape 4 and IE 4 (font size, etc.).

Next up: Internet Explorer.  This was heralded as THE internet browser for Mac OS 9, and it was very true.  It seems that with OS X there comes both competition and problems.  This application suffers from spinning beach balls, brief freeze-ups, and old Mac OS 9-looking cursors.  It feels as though it is a poorly ported Mac OS 9 application.  The interface, however, is clean and pretty, and rendering is the same as in 9.  There is not any smooth Quartz anti-aliasing, however, which is a minus.  Overall, only slightly worse than its Mac OS 9 counterpart.

The new browser, OmniWeb, is one that only those who use X will know about.  This browser is now in version 4, but most probably never saw the earlier releases.  The big thing about OmniWeb is that it is BEAUTIFUL.  The Quartz anti-aliasing is amazing, rendering is slightly faster than IE, and the interface is clean and truly native Mac OS X (Aqua flows through this app).  Plus, it checks spelling live!  I get stuck with the status of “pipeline building” every once in a while, plus I get at least one freeze daily, but I look forward to an updated version running in Mac OS X 10.1 in September.

Finally, the open-source child, Mozilla.  Mozilla has come a long way since its humble beginnings, and is shaping up to be a big contender in the browser wars.  Mozilla is the fastest web browser I’ve tried yet for Mac OS X, which is the biggest plus for any browser.  It is very stable and rarely hangs on me.  The interface is not aqua (but the Modern skin is not bad) and the interface widgets have a Windows feel to them, but they all work quickly and smoothly.  The preferences need a little work, but that should come in due time.  I would love to see Mozilla with OmniWeb’s Quartz anti-aliasing!

Brad’s Early Round (Month of July) Results:
(on a scale of 1-10)

iCab—5
Internet Explorer—6
OmniWeb—8
Mozilla—7.5

Overall Winner: Mozilla

Yeah, I know, Mozilla wasn’t rated the highest, but the speed is the big winner for me.  It makes web browsing almost instantaneous.

Please submit your results to this early round bout, and return next month for the rematch!

Brad

Here’s my rating: (1 to 10)

iCab: 5. I don’t care for the interface and some sites don’t work right, but when it does work it works well.

IE : 6. I’m no fan of IE in either OS 9 or X, but it does work for most sites. I’ve had minor problems with QT streaming, which I found puzzling.

Omniweb: 6. I really want to like OmniWeb. It’s pretty and I like the interface, but it’s too slow. I think it’s slowest browser on X. Also, I’ve had problems with OT and Java on some sites. Not sure why. Still, I use OmniWeb 50% of the time in X. I hope this improves greatly with OS X.I.

Mozilla: 7. I’m use the the Netscape-like interface that Mozilla brings, and it is by far the fastest X browser. I’ve had it crash on me several times though. Still, speed and familiarity counts a lot in my book. I use Mozilla the other 50% of the time in X.

IE 5.1 for X: I used it when X first shipped and gave up. I used it again with 10.0.4 and gave up again. I use it exclusively in OS 9.1, but I’ve given using it in X.

Omniweb: this is my main browser in X. Though tonight, it didn’t work for the next item…

Mozilla/Fizzilla. I downloaded it after reading bpsmith’s account. This is thing is freakin’ fast at rendering pages. IE and Omniweb have a long way to go in catching up. As I downloaded the app with Omniweb, I tried to download some new “skins.” Omniweb choked, so I had to pinch my nose and fire up IE 5.1 to download the skins.

iCab: I don’t like the interface, so I didn’t even try it in X.

For me, the winner is Mozilla. Now, if they can change the name back to Netscape 6 (I know, I know: Mozilla is the opensource name for he source code of Netscape 6), and add a few more tweaks, it’ll be perfect.

Now, if OmniGroup can optimize Omniweb, I will be hard pressed to choose between OW and Mozilla.

OmniWeb looks the nicest, Fizzilla is fast and handles sites that OmniWeb can’t.  iCab is too unstable in OS X.  IE is out of the question—no MS software allowed on my machine.

On 2001-07-27 09:54, VSeward wrote:
Here’s my rating: (1 to 10)

iCab: 5. I don’t care for the interface and some sites don’t work right, but when it does work it works well.

IE : 6. I’m no fan of IE in either OS 9 or X, but it does work for most sites. I’ve had minor problems with QT streaming, which I found puzzling.

Omniweb: 6. I really want to like OmniWeb. It’s pretty and I like the interface, but it’s too slow. I think it’s slowest browser on X. Also, I’ve had problems with OT and Java on some sites. Not sure why. Still, I use OmniWeb 50% of the time in X. I hope this improves greatly with OS X.I.

Mozilla: 7. I’m use the the Netscape-like interface that Mozilla brings, and it is by far the fastest X browser. I’ve had it crash on me several times though. Still, speed and familiarity counts a lot in my book. I use Mozilla the other 50% of the time in X.

I use OmniWeb 95% of the time in OS X. I love its interface and its native use of Quartz font rendering. However, I agree it feels pretty sluggish. In fact, my 500MHz TiBook slows down to a crawl when more than a couple OW windows are open. I can literally click on a menu and wait several seconds before anything appears. However, I’m willing to put up with this for a generally positive browsing experience. I’m hoping the greatly optimized APIs in OS X 10.1 will help OmniWeb speed up a lot.

I really don’t use IE 5 in OS X that much. It’s a fine browser in my opinion—I just prefer OmniWeb’s interface and font rendering. Mozilla is very nice as well, but I won’t be using it until it supports the scroll wheel on my mouse.

iCab: too ugly.

I think the browser with the most promise on OS X is OmniWeb. IMHO, a slightly more advanced rendering engine and a general speed boost is all that is needed to make this one of the very best Web browsers on the planet—for ANY platform!

Regards,

Jared White

The current nightly builds of Mozzilla support the scroll wheel in OS X.  It doesn’t look as nice as OmniWeb, but it is fast.  I haven’t found any sites it can’t handle yet.

I use OmniWeb 50% of the time and IE in Classic within X 50% of the time.

Looking forward to dumping IE. 

iCab:  7.5
Explorer:  8
Mozilla: 8.5
OmniWeb:  8.5

iCab is pretty good but still has problems rending a page every once in a while.  Also annoying is the fact that it is the only OS X browser that still lacks scroll wheel support.

Explorer is good all around but occasionally crashes (not much) and from time to time does not display the page, requiring a reload.

Mozilla used to be bad but has been improving a lot recently.  It is fast, renders most pages well, and now supports my scroll wheel.

OmniWeb is overall a great browser and has a great interface.  Pages render beautifully with its Quartz antialiasing.  Can be frustratingly slow at times.

The winner?  OmniWeb and Mozilla tied for first place.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David Nelson on 2001-07-31 03:44 ]</font>

Update: As of today, 8/8/2001, iCab now has scroll wheel support.

But to bring couple a new elements into the discussion:
- Netscape 6.1 for OS X was released today. I don’t have it yet because Netscape’s servers seem to be busy.
- Opera hasn’t really been discussed, though it is available for Mac OS X. What does everyone think of this browser?

_________________
David Nelson
Mac Observer Forum Mod

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David Nelson on 2001-08-08 21:59 ]</font>

I finally got through and downloaded Netscape 6.1 for Mac OS X.  It’s about the same Mozilla (as you’d expect), but it’s nice to finally see the official Netscape available for Mac OS X.  It also includes the integrated instant messenger for those who use that feature (I personally use Fire and the official AIM client.)

Well, I think its time to close this thread.  This battle didn’t get as many results as I would have hoped, but we’ll try again next month.  Here’s the tally of browser points:

Total Points out of 30 (3 Observers reporting)

iCab—17.5
Internet Explorer—20
OmniWeb—22.5
Mozilla—23
(Opera will be part of the next battle)

Mozilla squeaked away with the win this time.  Next time we’ll get some more votes cast and then let the browser war continue to heat up!

Tune in at the end of August for the second round!

Brad

Well, I use Netscape 6.1 for OS 9.2.1 exclusively.  It’s fast, stable, and has a great email program.  And I think I am the only one so far that likes the Toy Shop skin…

And for OS X, I use Mozilla 0.9.2 about 99% of the time.  It’s simply the fastest browser for OS X that I have ever used.  I wish I could use it for online banking, but maybe in future releases…

I have the latest version of IE which I use for banking, but that’s about it for IE.  It’s so slow and unresponsive, that sometimes I just give up.

I used to use Omniweb, but some sites, like http://www.tvguide.com and http://www.macnn.com just WON’T load, or finish loading…  OW is sloooow, that I eventually just gave up and erased it.  I will try it again when OS X 10.1 comes out, since I hear that the Quartz engine is really fast in that version.

I tried iCab once.  ONCE.  It crashed on every site I went to.  For some reason, it didn’t crash when I moved it to the garbage can thingy…

I need to download Mozilla 0.9.3, but I can’t seem to find a link to it anywhere… The mozilla web page only lists versions up to OS 9.1…

Can someone point me in the right direction, por favor?

FYI, the page for Mozilla on OS X is at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/fizzilla/
You can get daily builds at ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/nightly/latest-trunk/mozilla-macosX-trunk.sit.bin

I believe that the link to get Mozilla 0.9.3 was at the Mac OS X page above, but I guess they removed it in favor of daily builds.

Cool.  I always thought the daily builds were different than the releases…  oh, well. 

They are different in that each release and each daily build has new/different bug fixes and maybe an occasional new feature, etc., but they just put out a release once they have reached some goal or a stable point in the daily builds.  The releases are sort of like milestones (as they used to appropriately call the releases of Mozilla.)

Well, I downloaded the daily build for 0.9.3 and it’s pretty good so far…

Thanks for the answer.  That kinda clears things up for me.