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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The Broadband Blame Game

Its January. Half a month past. And the rest of the month is gonna be an absolute drudgery. Im worried. Im really worried to be honest. Im using this BSNL broadband plan500 which lets me use 2.5GB per month. It is quite a lot i agree but suddenly i wake up on the 15th and find just 400MB remaining in my account. Granted, I do use a lot of Bandwidth for voice chat and use the rest of it for browsing. But still this much of usage just midway through the month is simply unacceptable. Still you can’t just blame the company. Its got a decent record and its website shows exactly the times i have used it. Well im really shocked to be faced with this. But then shock is no reason to be irrational. Oh no…

I know a lot of people using broadband out there in India face the same problems. It essentially arises because its a new concept that has come in and taken us all by storm by its sheer power and addictive nature. When people here go out and get a broadband connection here they don’t know what a 1GB per month usage equates to in actual use. Its one of the old tricks by the companies. Tell the people about something they don’t know. They end up thinking its something sophisticated not realizing its nothing but a marketing gimmick to fool them. Well i am one of them who knows what it means but still my usage keeps shooting up every month. Yet I don’t think i use more and more. The best option for me is to live with the present and plan for the future.

From next month i guess i gotta keep some stringent measures to check if there is any flaw in BSNL’s billing system. Another option may be because there is a problem with my own PC. So im make my long intended switch to the Opera browser. It actually shows you the amount of data being downloaded in the taskbar which is exactly what I need. But so far as this month goes i’m just hoping i got college every single day. Because simply sitting at home not able to use the Net is something that’s sure to test my nerves.