Safari 5 Vs. Firefox
Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox are two of the most popular Web browsers available for free download. They run at the head of the pack with Google Chrome, Opera and Microsoft Internet Explorer -- but there are some differences between Safari 5 and Firefox, including speed and performance. Learn about these differences before deciding which browser is right for you.
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User Interface
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The user interface, or UI as it's called for short, varies greatly between Firefox and Safari 5. Firefox has taken a page out of Chrome's book by making its UI more minimalist (the status bar is gone, while the navigation buttons have been shrunk and squished up into the corners). Firefox is also very colorful, as opposed to Safari, which is mostly gray. However, both browsers have convenient URL page tabs, which can easily be shifted around for more-organized browsing. Safari 5 is also minimalist, but this is nothing new. It has always been simple-looking, although highly functional. However, unlike Safari 5, Firefox gives you the ability to customize its appearance, making Firefox even more appealing.
Extensions
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Extensions are add-ons to a browser that allow users to enhance their Web-viewing experience. Some extensions block advertisements, customize the UI or link your social networking page (such as Facebook or Twitter) directly to your browser's toolbar. While Firefox has a boatload of extensions -- available through its website, as well as developers -- Safari 5 seriously lacks in this category. Although it's possible that Safari 5 will add more extensions in the future, its extensions are mainly developer-based, and even those are few and far between. Safari 5 downplays this lack of a feature by automatically disabling existing extensions when you download the browser.
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Speed
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One of the most important features of any Web browser is its speed. Several types of speed benchmarks are measured when analyzing browser speeds, including XHTML, JavaScript and CSS. While Firefox edges out Safari in JavaScript speed (meaning that it can view and run Java applications slightly faster than Safari), Safari runs XHTML and CSS much faster than Firefox. This means that for day-to-day viewing, Safari is much faster, as it can load most Web pages much quicker than Firefox can.
Performance and Stability
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One of Firefox's main drawbacks is its high CPU usage. This gives it a low overall rank in performance because it can cause your entire computer to slow down. Another problem to consider is that every time you add an extension to Firefox, it will slow down even more, making one of its more outstanding features much less desirable. Safari also has a performance feature that makes it stand out from the other browsers: Reader. Safari Reader is a feature that allows you to view Web pages without any ads or widgets. It quickly and easily converts a Web page into simple, readable text. But on the whole, Firefox is actually more stable than Safari, meaning it generally crashes less.
HTML5
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While Adobe Flash has reigned as the most popular website animation software for years, Apple insists on pushing HTML5. The iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch all support HTML5 animation, but will not support Flash. Strangely enough however, Firefox outperforms Apple's Safari in HTML5 compliance, which means that more HTML5 pages can be viewed in Firefox. However, HTML5, while it's set to become the new standard, is still fairly new. Most Web pages with HTML5 can still be viewed by either browser.
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References
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