Technology Perspective
August 26th, 2004
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August 26th, 2004
The Mac Skeptic: The State of Mac Browsing
Senior Ed. Rebecca Freed
Up to now, I've chosen my browser based mostly on which one shows up
on my desktop by default. Since Apple's Safari is preloaded in the Mac
OS X Dock, that's what I've been using. But once I started digging
into the capabilities of the big three browsers for the Mac--Safari
1.2, Internet Explorer 5.2, and Mozilla Navigator 1.7.2--I found that
there really are differences.
While evaluating the speed, security, and navigation features of each
browser, I found that all three browsers render complex Web pages
well, and none had any problems displaying secure or encrypted Web
pages. Earlier versions of Safari had various display problems,
including a sporadic inability to display secure sites. In my informal
examination, Java and JavaScript ran fine on each browser, though they
differed in loading time. For example, when I timed how long it took
each browser to load the graphics and JavaScript-loaded Nike Running
USA page, I got the following results: Safari won my informal race,
loading the page in 14.0 seconds; Mozilla Navigator came in last, at
21.7 seconds; and IE 5 took 19.4 seconds. For details about these
browsers, go to the vendors' Web sites.
Apple Safari 1.2:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737132/0/
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.2:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737133/0/
Mozilla Navigator 1.7.2:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737134/0/
Browser History
If you used Netscape Navigator for browsing back in the nineties,
you'll recognize the icons in Mozilla Navigator--in fact, Mozilla is
the name of the suite, and Navigator is its Web browser, the
descendant of Netscape's once-ubiquitous browser. Mozilla is an
open-source project, developed by volunteers and managed by a
nonprofit foundation. And though its interface looks a little
last-century, Navigator's features are up to the minute. I love its
extensive Preferences options, which even let you modify how your
mouse wheel behaves in the browser.
The logic of which Navigator commands live under which menus is a
little baffling, however. Navigator is the only one of the three
browsers I evaluated that has a Tools menu (which all Windows browsers
have, and which I reach for often). It's handy to have the Autofill
Manager, Password Manager, and such in the Tools menu, just one level
down--but I don't understand why some of these commands are accessible
from Tools, and others can be accessed only from the Preferences menu.
Internet Explorer for OS X, however, really is frozen in time. Last
June Microsoft announced that version 5.2.3 of IE for the Mac would be
the last released, though the company still supports its browser. This
should not be confused with Office for the Mac, which just underwent a
major upgrade:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737135/0/
Privacy and Security Features
Safari makes it the easiest to cover your tracks, with the Reset
Safari command. With one click, it clears your cache and history, plus
cleans up your cookie file. A warning dialog box requires that you
confirm that you want to reset--that's a good thing because you also
lose anything you've opted to autofill, like saved log-ins and
passwords.
On all three browsers, you can drill down into the Preferences menu to
clear your history and cache, and determine how you want to manage
your privacy. Unfortunately, with Mozilla and IE, that's the only way
to clear the cache and history. Having those functions readily
available in Safari is extremely convenient.
Here's a screen shot of Safari's security settings:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737136/0/
Spyware that infects Macs is rare, but beacon cookies (or Web bugs)
are one form of spyware that does. Vigilant monitoring of cookies is a
good way to protect your privacy while surfing. Navigator's cookie
handling is the most full-featured and customizable of the three
browsers': You can accept cookies only for your current browser
session, which limits how long the cookie can track your browsing
actions. You can also always deny or always allow individual cookies,
as well as inspect their properties.
Here's a screen shot of Navigator's cookie settings:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737137/0/
Though Safari's options for individual cookie management aren't as
extensive, it has many of the same tools, including the option to
accept cookies "only from sites you navigate to" which blocks
third-party cookies. Annoyingly, Safari doesn't let you allow session
cookies.
IE has the sparsest set of tools, lacking the option to deny
third-party cookies, and lacking a button that removes all cookies in
one pass. Compared with the fine-tuning available in newer browsers,
IE's management tools are rather blunt instruments.
Both Safari and Navigator let you block pop-ups, and Navigator also
lets you allow pop-ups from sites that you choose (known as
"whitelisting"). IE 5 doesn't include pop-up blocking.
Filling Out Forms
Safari lets you pick an address card from your Address Book to
autofill forms, while IE asks you to complete an Autofill Profile
that's saved in your Preferences. If you want IE to autocomplete words
and phrases, you can type those in as well. Navigator also provides a
profile to fill out, and lets you choose which sites will use that
profile.
When you save log-ins and passwords in Navigator, it warns you that
this information is not saved securely.
Navigation Tools
I've never felt it was a terrible burden to browse through pages
sequentially and use the Back button or History to revisit pages, but
if you switch frequently between multiple pages, tabs could be the way
to go.
Both Navigator and Safari provide tabbed browsing. However, tabs are
turned off by default in both browsers: You have to use a key
combination to open a page in a tab, rather than switching pages
within the same window. Safari provides four different keyboard
shortcuts that let you open links in different ways. Both Navigator
and Safari also show you, with an obvious button, how to close the
tabs. I found Safari's implementation to be the most space-efficient,
unobtrusive, and easy to use.
IE has tabs of a different sort, and they're provided in its Explorer
pane, on the left side of the browser window. This window shows you
your Favorites and History, plus Search, Scrapbook, and Page Holder,
which works like a second browser window to give you a small view of a
second Web page. The Explorer pane is definitely less space-efficient
than tabs in a horizontal bar. Hiding the Explorer pane requires going
to the View menu; the pane has no Close button.
Here's a screen shot of IE 5's window:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737138/0/
The Search tab in the Explorer pane performs the same task as the
Google search field built into Safari's menu bar--but takes up much
more screen space, and Google isn't among the search engines you can
choose. Navigator has a Search button on the menu bar, which works
when you enter a search term into the address field. It returns
results from Google, but you can't choose a different search engine or
add a new one. It also lacks Safari's Snapback feature, which lets you
return to your original search results, no matter how many pages away
you browse. I do wish Safari's search field had the "Search this Site"
option from the Google toolbar.
IE 5 still has features that have been dropped in subsequent browser
versions on other platforms, contributing to the sense that it's
showing its age. For example, it has a Subscribe feature, which checks
for updates to favorite Web sites on a schedule. The current trend in
keeping track of fresh content is subscribing to RSS feeds:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737139/0/
Apple has promised to incorporate an RSS reader into an upcoming
version of Safari.
The Verdict
For me, Safari comes out on top. I'll stick with it, because the
navigation and security tools are convenient and easy to use. But I'll
definitely keep my eye on future versions of Navigator, because its
extreme customizability suits my control-freak nature.
Next month, I'll look at some cult browsers: Mozilla's Firefox and
Camino, and The Omni Group's OmniWeb. Until then, you can go to these
Web pages for more information:
"First Look at Mozilla.org's Firefox":
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/601311/0/
Mozilla's technology preview for Camino:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737140/0/
The Omni Group's OmniWeb 5 page
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/737141/0/
Have a question or comment? Write to Rebecca Freed:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Read Rebecca Freed's regularly published "Mac Skeptic" columns:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/204251/21421687/364479/0/
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