#Omniweb 6 mac os x
#Omniweb 6 software
#Omniweb 6 free

Add to that the fact that Safari always gets the latest rendering engine first and you have a very compelling product, despite its simplicity. Although it doesn't have one tenth of OmniWeb's features (version 4 or 5), the features it does have are extremely well executed. (What do you want? It's a beta after all.)įor comparison purposes, I'd give Safari version 1.2 at least a 9 out of 10. I'd give the current public beta about a 5. If things go badly with the 5.0 releasestability is not what it should be, new features don't always work as expected, the rendering engine has problemsthen it could drop as low as a 6 out of 10. If everything goes perfectly during the rest of the development processall the bugs are fixed, the documentation is fleshed out, finishing touches are put on the interfacethen OmniWeb 5.0 has the potential to be a solid 8.5 out of 10.

#Omniweb 6 software

Even totally ignoring stability, there are non-crashing bugs and other misfeatures that make pre-release software unfit for any sort of final judgement. I don't think it's fair to give beta software a numerical rating. A steady stream of public betas should keep the early adopters happy. Still, I suggest that The Omni Group opt for a later launch with fewer bugs for 5.0. It's been my experience that OmniWeb 4 was not as stable as Safari is today, but I'm willing to give OmniWeb 5 the benefit of the doubt, at least until it hits version 5.1 or so. Like the rendering engine, stability must be taken for granted if OmniWeb 5 is going to be any kind of contender in the web browser market. Although it is still in beta, some users have experienced stability problems with OmniWeb 4 and are slightly anxious about the stability of its successor. I already run several web browsers at once, but Safari will likely remain my primary web browser even when OmniWeb 5 is added to the mix simply because regular tabs are a better fit for the way I work most of the time.įinally, stability is a bit of a wildcard. The lack of a regular tab bar is a big mistake, but one I hope will someday be remedied. The integration between all the new features also needs some work. Striking the right balance between friendliness and power will take some time. OmniWeb 5 has so many features that it is difficult to present them all without overwhelming the user. The sooner OmniWeb can sync with the latest version of WebCore, the better. All the features in the world won't help if your favorite web site looks weird, behaves strangely, or just plain won't load. Even small deviations from 'the gold standard' make OmniWeb 5 a much less attractive product. A world-class rendering engine is merely the price of entry in this league.

OmniWeb 5 still has many hurdles to overcome. Then the tower transforms into a tiny robot and makes you lunch.

#Omniweb 6 mac os x

Finding it in a proper Mac OS X application from a respected developer with a proven track record is like finding a perfect 1/10,000th scale replica of the Eiffel Tower in a box of crackerjacks. Usually this level of functionality can only be found in the geekiest of open source web browsers, if it can be found at all. The Omni Group has incorporated all their interesting and unique ideas from OmniWeb 4 and built on them in a big way: the tab drawer, workspaces, per-site preferences, RSS integration, it's all gravy. OmniWeb 5 goes beyond the call of duty by providing more than just the 'obvious' featuresthe ones that every Mozilla user is shocked to learn are missing from Safari. In other words, there is most certainly a market for a 'feature enhanced' web browser like OmniWeb that combines the polish of Apple's best software with the powerful features that Apple is unwilling or unable to provide. (Although I prefer to think of like-minded Mac users as merely having 'high standards' -) Such a flippant dismissal of some very powerful browsers based on what some might consider 'cosmetic issues', or 'minor annoyances' at the worst, might seem silly or elitist, but I assure you I am in good company.

#Omniweb 6 free

The other free browsers seem to lack Apple's (and The Omni Group's) high standards for interface polish.

There are huge swaths of important, useful functionality that Apple seems to be uninterested in, or perhaps unable to implement in a 'free' web browser. Recall the example from the end of the previous section where I compared OmniWeb 5's flexible, regular expression supporting ad-blocking system with a hypothetical implementation in Safari (which currently doesn't have this feature at all). Many people don't give OmniWeb much of a chance against Safari, but as good as Apple's products are, there is tremendous room for improvement. I could go on about OmniWeb 5's feature set, I think this is a good time to step back and look at what The Omni Group has created and where it fits into the Mac OS software ecosystem.