What connects Apple’s Safari and Firefox?

Ever since I first came to know about a browser called Safari ( Apple’s browser that is available for Windows also) , I have been using it. No, I’m not one of those guys obsessed with Apple since I was a little boy. Infact I’ve been using Safari only for the last 6 months. Its (read as Apple’s) font-rendering technology amazes me. Even as I type this blog and as the words come out, I just love the style of these fonts. They are so easy on the eye especially for a guy like me who reads tons of raw text on the computer screen everyday. But lately I have been facing one major problem with Safari. The webpages don’t load( Isn’t that what it’s supposed to help me out with? ) The commonly displayed error message has been “Safari was not able to find the server.” It was utterly frustrating. To my shock, when I downloaded Opera 9.5 and installed it, it was displaying those webpages easily. No error messages. No frustration. 

But then since I liked Safari’s font rendering technology so much, I just couldn’t give up on it. I downloaded Firefox 3 on “Download Day.” And to my surprise I found something strange about Safari and Firefox. When I have both Safari and Firefox open side by side, I don’t get the problems I usually get with Safari and the missing server. Also if I login into Gmail using Firefox, I’m able to use the same through my Safari. I wonder what kind of mysterious bond is shared by the two. I guess there might be some sharing of cache memory or cookies ( or whatever technical jargon I’m currently ignorant of ) But fact is they both are working great. But I’m using Safari ofcourse. Apart from its font rendering, some of its other merits are

• Simple user interface. Once you use it, it’s really the easiest there is.
• The menus and address bars occupy very little space, leaving the major portion of your screen free to display actual webpage content.
• The bookmarks window is really good and simple. Not only does it automatically get the previous bookmarks from your already installed browser, it makes organizing your bookmarks a breeze. 
• The auto complete feature for webpage addresses includes bookmarks as well. This is a feature that I haven’t seen in many browsers. When you type your URL in the address bar, it automatically lists similar entries found in the bookmarks(as opposed to entries in the History which most browsers normally display)

Apart from that it has all the usual features of a webpage. I’ll give you a few screen shots to give you a glimpse of what I’m actually talking about.

Safari Sample Webpage (Click to view full picture)

Firefox Sample Webpage (Click to view full picture)

 

Opera Sample Webpage (Click to view full picture)

So if anyone happens to know why this actually happens, do drop in and post a comment telling us all about it.

Download Link for Safari ( for Windows)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update on 10th July 2008

I found this really cool blog about Safari and its really good features. Do check it out. It’s comprehensive with a lot of screenshots. http://destraynor.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/151-9-things-Firefox-should-steal-from-Safari.html

 

 

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Link to this blog post: http://shadowspeak.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/what-connects-apples-safari-and-firefox/

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