FPP: Beta Browsers

I'm very happy to say that there's some great beta web browsers out now. Initially, I was hesitant to early adopt. However, as time went on, my trigger finger itched and now, running beta is so addicting, it's like crack. I keep jonesing for my next fix-- what are they gonna do now? Where's this gonna go? How's this gonna get better? It's the same rush you get from politics, and almost on the same timescale.

Webkit r43000

Safari 4 is undoubtedly the fastest browser here. I've used it quite a bit, and I love it for its snappiness and minimal amounts of chrome-- that's right, I'm a fan of tabs-on-top! Why waste all that space on a useless title bar? It has some neat 3D effects, but I'd prefer not to use them. It has a lot of potential, and I hope Apple delivers. I don't have much to say on this, other than that I used Safari 4 for a few months after having abandoned it for Firefox years ago. It was alright, but after returning to Firefox, I realized where my loyalties lie.

Acid3: 100%
Sunspider: 1039.0ms +/- 1.9%

Firefox 3.5b4

For those who didn't get the memo, 3.5 is the new 3.1 for the 'Fox. A few of my add-ons couldn't find updates, but the ones I need were not affected.

Here's what I'm running:
- Adblock Plus 1.02
- NoScript 1.9.2
- Flashblock 1.5.10
- Tree Style Tab 0.7.2009042301
- Firebug 1.4X.0a14
- Google Reader Watcher 0.0.14.3

I'm somewhat conservative in the things I add, mostly due to beta testing, and partly due to speed. I'm the sort of person who needs my tabs in a hierarchical list, I open that many. I open hundreds! There's another sticking point in Webkit-- after a three day haze of hectic night-long programming sessions, you're looking up dozens of pages from the API reference, documentation from all different sources, even blogs from people doing what you're doing. Well, after those, your browser takes a beating. Where the most memory I've seen Firefox take is about 600mb, I've gotten Safari up to the big 1GB. That's when you need your Power Browser. As much as I love Webkit for its speed, I believe we all love our Firefox for its features. Besides, its Awesomebar is, indeed, rather awesome. I've heard of improved rendering times and JS optimizations, and they're noticeable, which is really great, but who cares? Nobody uses Firefox just for its speed!

Acid3: 93%
Sunspider: 1279.2ms +/- 2.7%

Chromium r14927

This isn't even beta, folks. This isn't for work, it's not even for play, this is for kicks! This is my fix for whenever I want to sate my thirst for the bleeding edge in browser development. I love to see the new stuff they add in, especially for the Mac. Judging from the state of development, the Mac build seems to be the last on the list to be released under the reputable heading, Chrome, one day to be released to the masses... They've also made quite a bit of progress since I'd last tested it a few months ago. Back then you couldn't use command-keys. Now you can do a lot, it's very usable for the most part, fast, and has some nifty animations for opening and closing tabs. You can also drag tabs out, where the rest of the Leopard chrome goes transparent, until it's placed. As for testing, Google's V8 engine is extremely fast!

Acid3: 100%, but fails linktest
Sunspider: 791.8ms +/- 3.1%

Wishlist

- I love less top-chrome. By that, I mean, less pixels between your system's menu bar and the actual page, while still having access to tabs, navigation, and status. Some people browse the internet with so many toolbars they can't see half their page on a 1280x800 screen. You know, those sort of people! You'd think Safari 4 would win this for me, but actually, no. Firefox wins the top-chrome test if you have only the navigation elements, no tabs. Is this cheating? No! My tabs are on the side! Which brings me to the next point.

- Tree Style Tab has been a world-changer for me and my 'Fox. Tabs on the side looks odd at first, and takes a little while to get used to, but if implemented well enough, it's sure to be more accessible. I mean, think about it-- modern LCD screens are wider than they are tall. However, this implementation could be even better... Next point, please.

- We need more web-application interface optimizations. I mean, think about it! For almost every application you use on your desktop that isn't already OS-related, you could use an internet equivalent. Of course, they might not do everything you're used to, or in the case of Mozilla Bespin, are in early, early beta. But if you asked me today if I could live with having no application on my hard drive other than my web browser? You bet.

- So, in recognition of this, we need what The Dock is to OS X, for web browsers. This is where they have to go next, considering that most web applications are gaining ground, both in terms of popularity and features. Check out some discussion at Aza's blog:
http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/firefoxnext-tabs-on-the-side/

- Finally, in the pursuit of less chrome, Instead of Tabs-on-top, let's have Nav-on-top! Lose the page title (that's in the tabs anyway), and put your back/forward, awesomebar, and search, just right of the red-yellow-green gumdrops! Yes, I know, it's small, but it counts.

Test your own browser!

Sunspider tests the speed of your JavaScript engine, which determines the speed of many of the more demanding sites, such as gmail, yahoo mail, and facebook. JavaScript is increasingly important in these days when applications are being moved from the desktop and onto the web.
http://www2.webkit.org/perf/sunspider-0.9/sunspider.html

Acid3 determines how standards-compliant your browser is at rendering websites-- will websites written exactly to the standard run the same on your browser as the theoretical 'perfect' browser? Moving towards this helps us website coders make sure websites look and work right for everyone.
http://acid3.acidtests.org/

Let me know what you think of your beta browser!