The release of Firefox 3 finally brings the browser Aqua widgets and a Mac-skinned window as default, kinda sorta. While it still doesn’t behave or entirely look like a native Mac application, it isn’t a jarring difference anymore. This release brings a handful of other features as well, making it much more mature than Firefox 2 was. Nonetheless, my browser of choice was and remains Safari.

I could list features that Safari has that Firefox doesn’t, or detail the nuances of Firefox’s incorrect UI. But I won’t, because features don’t matter so much and Firefox has enough UI problems to fill a paperback. And also because the deciding factor for me boils down to a single aspect:

Safari scrolls smoothly with my Macbook trackpad. Trying to scroll on Firefox is stuttering and jarring, whereas Safari is like sliding a piece of paper.

That’s all there is to it. It’s a pretty shallow reason at first glance, a minor UI preference and not a big ticket feature. But Firefox scrolls so differently than most mac applications that it’s just disruptive. iTunes and Office also scroll poorly, which leads me to think it’s an issue on the Carbon side of things, but Finder uses Carbon and it scrolls pretty well. Apparently, it can be done.

And while I only occasionally use iTunes or Office, a web browser receives constant use. Web browsers are subject to a level of scrutiny and use that no other application can compare to (file browsing might be close). So while crappy scrolling is slightly forgivable in Microsoft Word, it is nothing short of aggravating on Firefox.

A quick aside: While Firefox scrolls wildly different from other apps when using a trackpad, I’ve used a mouse and scroll wheel at times and there is no discernible difference. Perhaps if I ever move to a desktop Mac, with emphasis on if, I might switch to Firefox. Maybe.

I will end this with a quote from Marco Arment, lead developer of Tumblr. He summarizes the current state of web browsers thusly:

For the most important and most used application this decade, you’d think that we’d have many excellent web browsers to choose from. Or at least one. Instead, we have 4 mediocre choices.

Copyright © 2008-2009 Daniel Shusta