ERUNNO  It's not like the interface would greatly benefit from a native OS X interface as it is usually only used for launching games.  
(Version 1.0.0)

ERUNNO  Here's what Adobe has to say:

"In Flash Player 10.1, H.264 hardware acceleration is not supported

under Linux and Mac OS. Linux currently lacks a developed standard

API that supports H.264 hardware video decoding, and Mac OS X does

not expose access to the required APIs. We will continue to evaluate

adding the feature to Linux and Mac OS in future releases."

So for once it doesn't seem to be Adobe's fault but Apple's by not providing the necessary infrastructure for third-party developers.  
(Version 10.1.51.45)

ERUNNO  Why would anybody type "http://"? I know that Safari lacks many basic features but this is taking it too far. ;-)  
(Version 4.0.245.0)

ERUNNO  Scrolling performance noticeably worse on my MacBook Pro 5,1 when using the touchpad compared to Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4. It feels very jerky even when there is only static content on the page. Hopefully Google will optimize before before the final sometimes later this year.  
(Version 4.0.245.0)

ERUNNO  Dave Brock wrote:

"If you really absolutely want the Gecko rendering engine for some reason, then Camino stomps all over this dinosaur."

I'm sorry for being blunt but you have no idea what you are talking about. The current stable Camino version 1.6 uses a completely outdated Gecko 1.8 and even the new Camino 2.0 will use the outdated 1.9.0 version. FYI Firefox 3.6 will use Gecko 1.9.2 which received massive improvements since the initial major revision was released. Camino currently is technically no alternative to people who want or need Gecko powering their browser.  
(Version 3.5.5)

ERUNNO  I've already stated the reasons why I think that Firefox suits me better than the competition even without the myriad of extremely useful extensions. The list was written with Safari in mind so obviously some points do not apply to Chrome (although many do):

1) Bookmark tags, which tremendously help in case you quickly want to recover a bookmark among hundreds. Also allows to safe searches like with Spotlight.

2) Automatic session recovery, which also restores tab history and even remembers the position on a site (very useful when reading long single sites across several sessions).

3) Fine-grained privacy control for those who care.

4) Better keyboard control (tab switching, switching to private browsing, etc.).

5) Non-modal save password dialogs.

6) Basic download manager which supports resuming for servers which allow it.

7) Firefox can differentiate whether to open new windows for pop-ups or redirect new windows into tabs automatically. With Safari it's even with the hidden preferences all or nothing.

8) You can add different search engines even without an extension if the site supports it.

9) The AwesomeBar :-) although it seems to be a love or hate thing. As a heavy keyboard user I can't live without it anymore.

10) A maximize window functionality. :-)

11) You can restore closed tabs and windows.

And probably some other features as well which I can't remember right now. ;-)

It's not really difficult to be better than Safari if one has little use for the OS X features as it probably the most under-featured major browser on the market. The Chrome beta leaves it in the dust as a native browser replacement although it's only slightly over one year old and the Mac port even younger.  
(Version 3.5.5)

ERUNNO  @STAR-AFFINITY

The Mozilla developers improved smooth scrolling performance for 3.5. It has been this way since 3.5.0.  
(Version 3.6b1)

ERUNNO  I'm glad that you still like it though. ;-)  
(Version 3.5.4)

ERUNNO  The performance gain is probably just your imagination as Mozilla usually doesn't do dangerous performance optimizations for maintenance releases unless it is absolutely necessary. I can't see any performance related bug fixes at a glance:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=ALL%20status1.9.1%3A.4-fixed  
(Version 3.5.4)

ERUNNO  And not only extensions, but also some very useful built-in functionality:

1) Bookmark tags, which tremendously help in case you quickly want to recover a bookmark among hundreds. Also allows to safe searches like with Spotlight.

2) Automatic session recovery, which also restores tab history and even remembers the position on a site (very useful when reading long single sites across several sessions).

3) Fine-grained privacy control for those who care.

4) Better keyboard control (tab switching, switching to private browsing, etc.).

5) Non-modal save password dialogs.

6) Basic download manager which supports resuming for servers which allow it.

7) Firefox can differentiate whether to open new windows for pop-ups or redirect new windows into tabs automatically. With Safari it's even with the hidden preferences all or nothing.

8) You can add different search engines even without an extension if the site supports it.

9) The AwesomeBar :-) although it seems to be a love or hate thing. As a heavy keyboard user I can't live without it anymore.

10) A maximize window functionality. :-)

11) You can restore closed tabs and windows.

And probably some other features as well which I can't remember right now. ;-)  
(Version 3.5.4)

ERUNNO  This is a great plug-in. Once feature I really miss though is the ability to whitelist Flash applets *from* a domain and not *on* a domain. This would allow all first party flash elements like menus and YouTube (if whitelisted) but still block all Flash ads which are usually served by third-party advertisement services.  
(Version 1.6b2)

ERUNNO  Same problem here. The preference pane is missing.  
(Version 1.0b21)

ERUNNO  Newest beta version doesn't sync unread status reliably anymore.  
(Version 3.2b19)

ERUNNO  @IINDIGO

What kind of menu items are you talking about? I do not doubt statement but I haven't come across any bug report on bugzilla which deals with this inconsistency. Might be worth opening a bug for it. If it's easy to fix there's a good chance it will find its way into the next version.

I don't have any problem with UI drawing speed but I'm on a MacBook Pro 5.1 so it might be that it's simply fast enough so that any lag becomes unnoticeable. And Firefox will never drop XUL as many extensions depend on it for cross-platform UI (incidentally, this is the reason why Camino does not support Firefox extensions as it lacks a proper XUL implementation).  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ERUNNO  I hope that you are aware that there is also a review type "Troubleshooting". Why does everybody feel it's necessary to add a rating which consists nothing more than trouble/description with a single feature?  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ERUNNO  This review has been rated R for Retarded.  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ERUNNO  64-bit support is being actively developed for the next version of Firefox which should be released 6-9 months after 3.5 (not that Mozilla has a great track record of keeping appointed dates).

What is actually wrong with the interface? It looks and (mostly) behaves like a native Cocoa application. Firefox 3.5 received a lot of tweaks compared to 3.0 to get rid of many inconsistencies (e.g. inactive state, moving by grabbing toolbar, etc.). And the general look is in line with applications like QuickTime and especially iTunes.

It sure looks more like a native OS X application than QuickTime X ;-)  
(Version 3.5rc3)

ERUNNO  @Gabble

What makes you think that the numbering of the tests is the same as the order they are executed? For instance, subset 79 (SVG fonts) is not implemented yet. This feature will be release with Gecko 1.9.2:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=119490

Your assertion about the numbering is wrong.  
(Version 3.5rc2)

ERUNNO  http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pNgBCwWdyRTT2JeiZn4B2Yw&gid=0

Looking at the spreadsheet you'll notice that Firefox 3.5 mostly fails in SVG related tests, none which should be relevant in the near future. Plus, full standard compliance implies Acid 3 conformance, not the other way around. That's a common mistake people seem to make (i.e. 100/100 doesn't mean that a browser is fully standard compliant).  
(Version 3.5rc2)

ERUNNO  Reader notifier sometimes fails do check Google Reader periodically. The drop down menu only shows "Checked 1 minute ago..." but this number never changes. Manual checking still works but does not fix the aforementioned problem, only restarting the application does.  
(Version 1.10)

ERUNNO  Some disadvantages I mentioned to add in my review. It doesn't change my review just reinforces my point that Safari 4 displays a severe lack of ambition:

Disadvantages:

- Still no automatic restoration of the last session.

- There's still no obvious way for adding new MIME type handlers. I want Safari to open torrent files directly with my bittorrent client of choice.

- Removed the ability to always display the tab bar. I find it the appearing and disappearing of the bar distracting.

- Reopening a closed tab with its history is still not available.  
(Version 4.0)

ERUNNO  I have now used Safari 4 for a couple of days full-time and would like to share my impressions with others now.

Advantages:

+ Let's get the obvious out of the way first: It's fast, page-loading times are quite low and web applications like Google Mail/Reader and others load and feel faster than with Safari 3.

+ Memory usage is quite improved. Safari 3 was always for me quite a memory hog which could grab easily 500+ MB after *one* day and it still kept climbing. Safari 4 uses 300-400 MB of RAM (give or take 40). This seems still much at first glance but at least it *stays* in that range even after extended use (several days without restart). After a couple of hours non-usage with few tabs open it even reached 200 MB again. My best guess is that the fixed amount of memory is used for caching preview images (top sites, cover flow history) and indices for full-text history search. Anyway, good work, Apple.

+ Safari now stalls less when some tabs are active (beach ball). It's still present but not quite as distinctive as with the predecessor.

+ Full-text search is quite useful and the cover flow makes it easy to locate the page one is looking for.

+ Scrolling is always smooth even with complex layouts or lots of active content (e.g. Flash).

+ In case of a tab overflow (too many tabs) the tab drop down list features a divider which separates the visible from the non-visible tabs. It's attention to detail like in this case which I like Apple for.

+ Tabs on top has been removed. The implementation was stillborn with too many apparent usability problems. Since there are more ways to tackle the problem tabs on top tried to solve (more vertical space for content) Apple should maybe take tabs in a sidebar into consideration.

+ Snap back has been simplified. I know that some people will rightfully (!) complain about this reduction in functionality but senile people like me are overburdened with the old implementation. Now it's more apparent what it is meant for (go back to Google results) and I started to use it more often.

+ Better result arrangement for matches in the address bar (see also negatives).

+ Very stable. I only had one crash and that was when trying to open 34 tabs at once. Now, the browser should still be able to handle this but otherwise I had no problems with stability.

+ MailGrowl works with the updated WebKit component again without crashing Mail each time a new mail arrives. Maybe there are some Growl users in Apple after all.

Disadvantages:

- I was hoping that Safari's address bar would work like Firefox' "Awesome Bar". To my disappointment you still can't do arbitrary substring search in the URL and site title. In fact, the address bar works exactly as in Safari 3 (matching only the start of an URL) but the results are presented in a much improved way.

- Top sites are slow. I use top sites with the maximum amount of previews and sometimes I have to wait up to 5 seconds until it's displayed after opening a new tab. There's also a small delay after selecting a site before it's displayed. A new tab should be instantly usable, something both Chrome and Firefox (in an version after 3.5) have identified as a critical UI requirement. Hopefully Apple will tackle this problem in one of the subsequent releases.

- Top sites in general don't add much to my browsing experience compared to visual history.

- One thing that really baffled me is that Safari 4 still uses the modal dialogue when asking if a password should be saved. The non-modal dialogue in Firefox and Chrome is such an *obvious* usability improvement. Maybe Apple shouldn't have messed around with tabs on tab and instead concentrated on less debatable improvements.

- Another annoyance: When the address bar or a text field is selected in a tab you can't use the keyboard to cycle through the tabs (you have to deselect it first). Firefox does this better.

- You still can't sort bookmarks alphabetically. In 2009. :-/

- Still no maximize window functionality. Fit to content simply does not work in a tabbed interface where each site has a different width.

- It's visually not clear enough when surfing a site with encrypted connection (https). Firefox and Chrome are better in this regard.

Final thoughts:

This is a solid release, but it still has an apparent lack of ambition on the front end side. The major work was done on the WebKit site while the browser itself received mostly cosmetic work with some obvious improvements on other browsers being left out.  
(Version 4.0)

ERUNNO  What I totally forgot to mention in my mini-review is the atrocious memory usage of Safari if you surf a lot of sites with JavaScript and Flash and don't restart Safari occasionally. Simply said, Safari seems to have no concept of ever releasing memory which it allocated once. And no, caching is not good explanation. Every other browser does this as well but they (i.e. Firefox, Opera) have policies to release the reserved memory according to whatever algorithm is used. Safari can top 500 MB of real memory usage easily after a day and even closing all tabs and waiting for some time does not amend this situation.

Since this has been the case for some time my guess is that this problem can not be easily fixed and is possibly even found deeply embedded in WebKit itself and would require major rewrites of some components. I have no experience with he developer previews of Safari 4 but I hope that the memory usage will improve significantly when the final release will be released to the public later this year.  
(Version 3.2.1)

ERUNNO  Safari's main strength is its integration with other application from Apple as well as the infrastructure provided by Mac OS X. But at the same time this is the only thing it has going for it. It does not provide any way to block ads or fine-grained (per site) settings for JavaScript or plug-ins. Additionally, it does not have any kind of official extension infrastructure so any update to Safari might either break one of the many unofficial extensions or make Safari crash randomly. Speed-wise it is comparable to most other browser currently on the market so speed is not a unique selling point anymore.

Liking Safari is pretty much dependent on how much you use the OS integration features. To me personally, a good advertisement blocker makes and a better bookmark management system makes my time interacting with the Internet far more enjoyable than being able to look up words in the Dictionary occasionally.  
(Version 3.2.1)

ERUNNO  Great app, also also for people who want to backup their bookmarks and calendars online and don't use Time Machine or just need to sync data between several Macs. After reinstalling my OS X it restored my bookmarks and calendar entries without a hitch.

There are still some interface issues which I hope will be resolved in the upcoming versions. An auto updater is still missing so you have to manually check out Macupdate occasionally. I also haven't been able to find a way to change the password after the account has been created.

Anyway, thanks to the developers for offering this service for free!  
(Version 0.8.3)