Browsers for your Mac

Opera, Safari, Chrome (beta), Firefox & Camino

One of the more common questions I get asked about being on a Mac is “But how will I browse the Internet?”

It seems there is a perception, however small, that browsing on a Mac is limited to Safari or to unheard of browsers.

Good news! As many of us know, the reality is completely the opposite! On the Mac platform, there are many browsers to choose from. While there are no confirmed statistics on market share per browser, popular anecdotes demonstrate these browsers to be in high demand (in no particular order):

1. Apple’s Safari
2. Firefox
3. Chrome (beta developer edition)
4. Camino
5. Opera

Safari comes default with all Macs. While a great browser, its lack of extension-ability has allowed Firefox to take a powerful place in the Mac World. Firefox’s main strength lies in its extensions. Hundreds of add-ons have been written for it, allowing it to be powerfully customised and letting the web be what it should be: a creative playground for all. Chrome, from Google, is a new player and still in developer beta. I have been using it for many weeks now and it has slowly become my default browser based on speed alone – this thing is faaaast. Camino 2.0 was released last week and I’m still playing with it. It is fully standards compliant and a good alternative to keep on your system. And lastly, we have Opera – fast, standards compliant and an old player in the market. Opera has a history of launching smart features (it was the first browser to have Tabs), but with version 10.0, it seems to be slowing down a bit.

There you have go: 5 good, stable browser to choose from. So the next time anybody asks you how you surf the Internet on a Mac, the answer is simple – with style.