Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools
Shiira 2.0 Preview
Shiira has always been the browser we all have installed, play with when we're bored or need to test site compatibility, but never really use in day-to-day work. Despite the fact that the current version has essentially all the features of Safari, the interface and features always felt a bit unpolished, at least to me.
Delusions of Grandeur has a preview of the next version of the open source browser, Shiira 2.0, and it looks to be a refreshing change. Sporting a newly designed interface, multiple ways of viewing tabs, full screen mode, plugin API, and so much more, Shiira 2 will be pretty, if nothing else.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack said 10:03AM on 7-23-2006
I use Shiira every day - it's a good alternative to Safari and less memory intensive.
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bt said 10:39AM on 7-23-2006
I used it daily because of the interface. I actually liked having bookmarks, history, and such in a drawer off to the side. I also grew dependent on the growl notifications for completed downloads.
I switched to Camino when development seemed to stop on Shiira. Glad to hear they're working on a whole new version.
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Jarrod Turner said 11:02AM on 7-23-2006
Shiira is my main browser, I really love it. The sidebar is really nice, but the best thing about it is how fast it is.
Within the last two days though, Gmail decided to randomly stop supporting it, which is really hard for me. Hopefully this new version will fix that. Good stuff!
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ulysseshead said 12:39PM on 7-23-2006
i just started using Shiira a couple days ago, after catching this story on digg and deciding to see what the v. 1 was like. i'm into it. some sites are a bit glitchy, but overall i love the speed and sidebar thing. can't wait for the new one, tho i hope there's that Flock/del.ico.us marker in it.
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Paul said 12:49PM on 7-23-2006
My Mac mojo is slipping. I have never heard of this program until now. Thanks for informing me and embarrassing me at the same time ;-)
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Jeff said 1:42PM on 7-23-2006
I've set Shiira as my default browser after cycling through Firefox, Camino, and Safari. I love Shiira's interface as well as its speed. It operates like an enhanced version of safari. Did gmail cease support for shiira users only or both shiira and safari users?
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Benjamin Ellis said 4:24PM on 7-23-2006
http://ksc.dl.sourceforge.jp/shiira/21009/
Here is the link to get shirra 2
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Nate said 5:41PM on 7-23-2006
They didnt cease support for safari, im checking my gmail right now... and since Shiira is built on webkit, id assume compatibility with gmail.
I tried shiira, but never really found it replacing safari (same can be said with camino, firefox, opera, omniweb). But v2 looks like it will be really nice. If it is as nice as it looks right now, Im sure it will be replacing Safari on my dock...
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kioshi said 5:52AM on 7-24-2006
Shiira is already awesome, the only feature lacking from the current version is Keychain support.
For a look at other 'alternative' Mac browsers, check out:
http://freewaremac.net/2006/alternative-macintosh-web-browsers/
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Jim MacCormaic said 6:24AM on 7-24-2006
Add my name to the list of those who hadn't heard of Shiira until I spotted this. Thanks to TUAW for directing me to this. I've played with it for a day or two and have to say that I like it a lot. Like others, I find it faster than Safari while still maintaining Safari's overall look and feel. These developers look as if they're well worth watching.
Thanks also for the link to the preview of version 2.0. This looks really promising. All in all, Shiira could turn out to be the only alternative which seriously threatens Safari. A great find. Thanks again.
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andy said 6:36AM on 7-24-2006
i just downloaded Benjamin Elliss linked one and its funny, it actually doesnt open this site properly in tabs (uses up loads to open different bits) plus its in japanese i think so a bit hard to set preferences. the tab expose is good though!, still cant figure out how to use it to access safari / firefox bookmarks like the screenshot on the website shows
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Biffo said 9:05AM on 7-24-2006
They could do with cleaning up their forum though, I've never seen so much spam!!
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Silver said 10:25AM on 7-24-2006
Love the full screen view. But they could make the floating controls much, much smaller. A button to access bookmarks would be nice, as well as the option to display an address bar within the floating controls. I can see myself using that view mode often, but I'd love to be able to manually access addresses in that view.
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myheaditches said 11:36AM on 7-24-2006
Few things Shiira must get in order to become one of the best mac browsers.
- Site specific user style sheets.
- An ad blocker, or a 3rd party who makes one.
- Keychain access that is compatible with passwords made in Safari and Camino.
- Something like Greasemonkey for FireFox.
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Dave said 1:22PM on 7-24-2006
Why would you say that you use Shiira to test site compatability? Doesn't it render pages in exactly the same way that Safari will?
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Jona said 3:35PM on 7-25-2006
Is there something out there for us that will render pages in the EFFED up way Windows/IE does? That would be an amazing tool for designers that refuse to buy a crapbox only for testing purposes. Isn't there a version of IE6 that runs on Intel Macs? What about PowerPCs?
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dave said 7:50PM on 9-11-2006
How do you make Shiira the default browser, I have it selected in Safari, however when I try to select it in the Shiira prefances it is greyed out. When I click on a link in another app it will not open in Shiira, other than that it seems to be working fine-and it is by far the fastest browser I have tried.
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