9 Things Firefox Should Steal From Safari
Translation of a popular note in the West: 9 things Firefox should steal from Safari
Apple recently released Safari for Windows. This was done in order to make it easier for developers to write applications for the iPhone . When Steve Jobs announced it, he hinted that he was going to win the title of the second most popular browser on the market from Firefox . I don’t think that Steve wants to push Firefox, maybe he didn’t want to declare war on Internet Explorer, but most likely, if successful, Safari will conquer users of IE, not Firefox. And if you recall how iTunes crashed Windows Media Player, I dare to suggest that this option is quite possible. I recently installed Safari for review, and I want to say that if it hasn’t gotten to Firefox yet, it’s definitely ahead of Internet Explorer, so it can work fine with the Windows platform and snatch some IE market share.
Apple grouped Safari, Quicktime, and iTunes together as “what you need for an iPod / iPhone,” they could immediately state the fact that they overtook Firefox by the number of downloads, but this is not a real victory. People who use Firefox will probably ignore or delete a small compass from their jobs. Perhaps Apple won't annoy us the way it did with Quicktime and leave for this a shortcut on the desktop and an icon in the quick launch menu.
')
A comment from the side: Did anyone run Quicktime separately? In the end, no one launches Quicktime with the thought: “Hmm, what Apple trailer should I see now?”, They just click on the trailer, and Quicktime does the rest. So these icons are meaningless.
So, here are the features that I liked about Safari, which Firefox doesn't have by default (that is, without using plugins ) :
1. Highlight the current text field.
I know that this is more a Windows fault, not Firefox, but it’s stupid that such a function has not been copied. If you fill out text forms often using tab and alt-tab, then the cursor may be lost. This will not happen in Safari, because it highlights the current text field with a beautiful blue glow. Here are screenshots of Yahoo! Safari forms and then Firefox.
2. Display fonts.
This, of course, is a matter of taste, but I definitely prefer displaying fonts in Apple, rather than in Windows.
3. Download window.
It seems to me that Safari looks better, more useful options.
4. The speed of displaying HTML.
The speed of displaying web pages is noticeably higher. There is nothing more to say.
Update: The guys at digg.com think that it’s not enough to just say “noticeably higher”, for an item that is very important for all users. If you want to say that Apple's tests are incorrect, please tell me where you see the conflict. For many users, it does not matter at all whether the speed is twice as high or seven times. The most important thing for them is whether they can see the difference.
5. Error message window.
Safari has better error reporting. In Firefox, it is also not bad, but Apple showed the best way to report problems using software. A quick, unobtrusive window literally asks to be filled. Click on the error, fill out the form and send. And then back to work.
6. Search window.
Looks great, works great. From my point of view, there is only one small improvement over the same window in Firefox, but nevertheless, it is huge. It shows the exact amount of the search term and highlights each word searched. When you close it, it leaves the search text highlighted. Smart move. Especially when compared to IE, which still uses the search from its fifth version from 1999. Companies just do not care about the network. Click on the picture to download a screenshot with the Safari search window and you will understand everything.
7. Bookmarks
You can remove the bookmark from the bookmarks bar, and a new Safari window will open that contains only this page. At first glance, nothing special, but it is a very useful feature.
8. Dragged pictures.
You can drag the picture directly from the network to the desktop. Every browser can do that. Well, not at all. IE browser again proved that using the desktop in Windows is not a damn [link]. When you drag a picture from the browser to the desktop, what effect do you want to achieve?
- To change the view of the cursor, showing a drag operation, and after you release the key, transferred the image to the desktop (Firefox)
- Or, in addition to all this, you saw, in addition, also an excellent transparent copy of the image in order to fully control the process? (Safari)
9. Resizable text areas.
This is a very useful feature, because many companies in the “contact us” section offer a very small text form, much smaller than the SMS message you want to send them. In Safari, you can simply stretch this area and work.
That's all I could find. If anyone finds anything else, you can tell about it in the comments. You never know where there is any innovation.
Translation provided by iSafari.ru
PPS It’s impossible to add a topic to the translation section, can you tell me?
Apple recently released Safari for Windows. This was done in order to make it easier for developers to write applications for the iPhone . When Steve Jobs announced it, he hinted that he was going to win the title of the second most popular browser on the market from Firefox . I don’t think that Steve wants to push Firefox, maybe he didn’t want to declare war on Internet Explorer, but most likely, if successful, Safari will conquer users of IE, not Firefox. And if you recall how iTunes crashed Windows Media Player, I dare to suggest that this option is quite possible. I recently installed Safari for review, and I want to say that if it hasn’t gotten to Firefox yet, it’s definitely ahead of Internet Explorer, so it can work fine with the Windows platform and snatch some IE market share.
Apple grouped Safari, Quicktime, and iTunes together as “what you need for an iPod / iPhone,” they could immediately state the fact that they overtook Firefox by the number of downloads, but this is not a real victory. People who use Firefox will probably ignore or delete a small compass from their jobs. Perhaps Apple won't annoy us the way it did with Quicktime and leave for this a shortcut on the desktop and an icon in the quick launch menu.
')
A comment from the side: Did anyone run Quicktime separately? In the end, no one launches Quicktime with the thought: “Hmm, what Apple trailer should I see now?”, They just click on the trailer, and Quicktime does the rest. So these icons are meaningless.
So, here are the features that I liked about Safari, which Firefox doesn't have by default (that is, without using plugins ) :
1. Highlight the current text field.
I know that this is more a Windows fault, not Firefox, but it’s stupid that such a function has not been copied. If you fill out text forms often using tab and alt-tab, then the cursor may be lost. This will not happen in Safari, because it highlights the current text field with a beautiful blue glow. Here are screenshots of Yahoo! Safari forms and then Firefox.
2. Display fonts.
This, of course, is a matter of taste, but I definitely prefer displaying fonts in Apple, rather than in Windows.
3. Download window.
It seems to me that Safari looks better, more useful options.
4. The speed of displaying HTML.
The speed of displaying web pages is noticeably higher. There is nothing more to say.
Update: The guys at digg.com think that it’s not enough to just say “noticeably higher”, for an item that is very important for all users. If you want to say that Apple's tests are incorrect, please tell me where you see the conflict. For many users, it does not matter at all whether the speed is twice as high or seven times. The most important thing for them is whether they can see the difference.
5. Error message window.
Safari has better error reporting. In Firefox, it is also not bad, but Apple showed the best way to report problems using software. A quick, unobtrusive window literally asks to be filled. Click on the error, fill out the form and send. And then back to work.
6. Search window.
Looks great, works great. From my point of view, there is only one small improvement over the same window in Firefox, but nevertheless, it is huge. It shows the exact amount of the search term and highlights each word searched. When you close it, it leaves the search text highlighted. Smart move. Especially when compared to IE, which still uses the search from its fifth version from 1999. Companies just do not care about the network. Click on the picture to download a screenshot with the Safari search window and you will understand everything.
7. Bookmarks
You can remove the bookmark from the bookmarks bar, and a new Safari window will open that contains only this page. At first glance, nothing special, but it is a very useful feature.
8. Dragged pictures.
You can drag the picture directly from the network to the desktop. Every browser can do that. Well, not at all. IE browser again proved that using the desktop in Windows is not a damn [link]. When you drag a picture from the browser to the desktop, what effect do you want to achieve?
- To change the view of the cursor, showing a drag operation, and after you release the key, transferred the image to the desktop (Firefox)
- Or, in addition to all this, you saw, in addition, also an excellent transparent copy of the image in order to fully control the process? (Safari)
9. Resizable text areas.
This is a very useful feature, because many companies in the “contact us” section offer a very small text form, much smaller than the SMS message you want to send them. In Safari, you can simply stretch this area and work.
That's all I could find. If anyone finds anything else, you can tell about it in the comments. You never know where there is any innovation.
Translation provided by iSafari.ru
PPS It’s impossible to add a topic to the translation section, can you tell me?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/14530/
All Articles