Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Camino 1.5
Mac users have a dizzying array of web broswers to choose from, which makes finding a favorite a tricky thing. My browser of choice has been Camino for a long, long time. It just looks like a Mac app, and it uses the Gecko rendering engine so I get all the goodness of FireFox (sans extentions which I don't use) and none of the ugly controls.Camino 1.5 has just been released, and it is a very nice update indeed. New in this release is:
- Spell checking using OS X's dictionary
- Session restore - in case the broswer crashes, it stores all your open pages in a session which it offers to restore on launch (this is very handy)
- Keychain compatibilty - use the same Keychain entries for both Safari and Camino
Full screen mode - because it is the new hotness in apps- Gecko rendering engine 1.8.1
Thanks, jimmy.
Update: I misread the 'Window Zoom' feature. The new feature resizes the Camino window to fit the content of the page it is displaying instead of taking up the whole screen (this is when you hit the green button on the menubar). My mistake.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ryan said 11:45AM on 6-05-2007
I find Firefox extensions incredibly useful, I wish Camino either was compatible with them, or that Mozilla made the Mac version of Firefox competent. I'd really rather use Firefox as my main browser in Mac as I do in Windows, but it's so slow and unstable, I use a combination of Safari and Camino, but find myself missing the Firefox extensions.
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Dan said 11:56AM on 6-05-2007
I also can't live without FF extensions - while at work (web development) it's my main browser. But Camino's what I use at home, and it's got ad-blocking built in (so no need for an extension for that).
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Paul said 12:10PM on 6-05-2007
I just downloaded it and updated my old version of Camino, and version 1.5 isn't working at all. I've tried everything and it still isn't working, so as of right now I'd reccommend just staying with 1.0.4 for everyone.
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Bruno said 12:12PM on 6-05-2007
Camino's spell-check isn't quite as complete as the system spell check. Can't disable the as-you-type check in favor of manual mode. No manual spell checking and no dictionary lookup.
Also, context-clicking on a word will not automatically highlight it if another word is already highlighted.
An improvement for sure, but not the level of polish one would expect after such a length development process.
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m said 12:20PM on 6-05-2007
spell check doesn't work at all for me, such a bummer...
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Brad said 12:32PM on 6-05-2007
Never good when the browser crashes every time I open it.
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forrestRain said 12:36PM on 6-05-2007
Sorry how do i activate this:
- Full screen mode - because it is the new hotness in apps
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aptenergy said 12:44PM on 6-05-2007
Guys with issues, please remember to disable and turn off all third party tools that aren't sanctioned - CamiTools is a big offender here. Brad, if 1.5 is crashing, it's most likely because of a third party tool - try a new profile.
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smorgan said 12:45PM on 6-05-2007
> Never good when the browser crashes every time I open it.
It's never good to use input managers without understanding that they can cause arbitrary problems in the programs they try to modify. I can almost guarantee that your problem is an older version of 1Passwd.
> Full screen mode - because it is the new hotness in apps
No such feature exists in Camino 1.5
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mentalsticks said 12:46PM on 6-05-2007
In other words, it's got everything that Opera has got.
What a shame the Opera UI is so un-Mac-like that even I don't use it anymore. IMHO it could be the best browser on any platform.
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Gassia said 12:48PM on 6-05-2007
I have been using camino for quite a while now, and I must say that it is just the best browser for mac. It's super fast and lightweight and with the 1.5 it's just gotten so much better. I agree that the third party programs slow down and sometimes crash camino that's why one should not use them in my opinion.
All in all I just LOVE this browser!
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ffmepegX said 1:02PM on 6-05-2007
indeed the "Full screen mode - because it is the new hotness in apps" is incorrect!
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Lee said 1:07PM on 6-05-2007
To get this version of Camino to even open without crashing, I had to:
> remove CamiTools
> remove CamiScript
> remove UnifyCamino
> trash my org.mozilla.camino.plist
> disable CaminIcon
> remove my beloved 1Passwd plugin
So... needless to say, I'm a little unimpressed with this update... I've definitely taken a step backward in features and usability here... and can anybody tell me when Camino will get draggable-tabs?
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Mary said 1:07PM on 6-05-2007
Love Camino. Hate the fact that I'm forced to use FF because of the different tab shortcuts. If they built more flexibility into the tabs in Camino, it'd be my default. Maybe this summer will bring something new here.
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Andre said 1:44PM on 6-05-2007
"Session restore - in case the broswer crashes, it stores all your open pages in a session which it offers to restore on launch (this is very handy)"
WHOO! Now I won't loose everything when Camino crashes every few days. :D
"Full screen mode - because it is the new hotness in apps"
w00t!
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artifex said 1:55PM on 6-05-2007
Scott, how can you live with such a vanilla experience? No extensions? I have so many greasemonkey scripts loaded for websites that I hate surfing with anything else but FF.
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Bassguy said 1:57PM on 6-05-2007
My issues with Camino:
1) No Extension support. No, CamiTools is not "Just as good."
2) The search function is weak sauce when compared to Firefox.
3) No Progress bar on each tab. I can get this in Firefox through an extension.
4) No "undo close tab" function. See #3.
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! said 2:01PM on 6-05-2007
#14 (Mary): What sort of tab shortcuts do you mean? Would it help to reassign the keyboard shortcuts in the Keyboard preference pane?
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Mary said 2:16PM on 6-05-2007
Ctrl + Tab to switch tabs à la Cmd + Tab for apps. Drag and drop to reorder. I use Tab Mix Plus in FF, and would miss it too much to switch. Shame, cos in general FF for Mac sux.
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Scott McNulty said 2:23PM on 6-05-2007
Oh, !, the variety of ways you manage not to contribute anything meaningful to the conversation is amazing.
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