Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools
Camino 1.6.3 released
Camino, the best Gecko-based browser NOT named Firefox 3, has just been updated to version 1.6.3. This update, which seems to have rolled in 1.6.2 along with it (at least I never got the 1.6.2 notification, and I use Camino pretty frequently), sports the latest update to the Gecko 1.8.1 branch, including several critical stability and security fixes with better ad-blocking. Plus, it no longer crashes if a pop-up is displayed while dragging a bookmark.Even though Firefox 3 is now a largely native Cocoa application, I still appreciate Camino's interface and speed. If nothing else, it's great to use as a Firefox 2/Gecko 1.8.1 testing agent when developing websites for compatibility.
You can download Camino here; optimized builds aren't available as of this writing, but check this site over the next few days for updates.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kelmon said 3:10PM on 8-08-2008
Pardon? Firefox is a native Cocoa application? I'm honestly not familiar enough with how Firefox is constructed but I'm almost certain that it isn't using the Cocoa frameworks. Certainly Firefox doesn't yet support things like the Services menu or System Preferences for network settings. As far as I am aware it just looks like a Cocoa application.
Someone correct me if I am wrong.
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Aaron Richard said 3:24PM on 8-08-2008
You are correct. And I prefer Camino as well.
Christina Warren said 3:26PM on 8-08-2008
It's almost completely native (http://boomswaggerboom.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/firefox-3-for-mac-os-x-under-the-hood/) -- I shouldn't have been as declarative, but it is almost entirely Cocoa, save a few aspects of the UI that Cocoa isn't ideal for.
Kelmon said 12:59PM on 8-09-2008
That's certainly an interesting link and was definitely new information for me. However, it does specifically talk about the Gecko rendering engine rather than the Firefox application wrapper and while Gecko 1.9 is apparently using Cocoa to display content, I don't think Firefox itself is actually using Cocoa. For example, you can't select some text and use the "Start speaking text" option from the Speech section of the Services menu. That you need to manually specify the network settings inside the application itself rather than the application picking up your current global settings used by pretty much every other Mac application is also odd.
Ryan Trevisol said 3:53PM on 8-08-2008
Camino had me until FF3RC1, the awesomebar got me.
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navstar said 5:41PM on 8-08-2008
I think these optimized versions are a bunch of hooey.
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Justin said 5:48PM on 8-08-2008
Camino is a great little browser that I use off and on. I love firefox and was smitten with firefox 3 until I upgraded to 3.0.1 and had so many problems from constant crashing to the point it wouldn't even run to kernel panics which is extreme to say the least. The damage was so severe in fact that only running disk warrior fixed the damage. Once I downgraded to firefox 2 I've had no issues what so ever. All these issues were on my powermac quad running the latest tiger. My macbook has been running firefox 3 with no problems at all. Anyone else having issues with FF3?
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Dar the Monk said 8:10PM on 8-08-2008
I downloaded Camino and I like it, even more than Firefox3. Thanks for the post.
Peace
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Shahryar said 1:57AM on 8-09-2008
How's Camino's add-ons? I use Scribefire and Foxmarks and am at a point where I can't live without them. I also like my Firefox companion for ebay (using it currently to watch my Watchmen & The Killing Joke auctions
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Marcel M. said 2:19PM on 8-09-2008
Native cocoa Firefox 3? I had'nt heard that one, where can I get a copy?
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rampancy said 6:17PM on 8-21-2008
The thing is that FF3 is NOT Cocoa-native. Here is a post explaining this from one of the Camino developers on the MozillaZine forums:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=661394
"What did *not* happen, but many people are interpreting "Cocoa Firefox" to mean, is that the browser chrome (everything that isn't the web page) is now using standard Cocoa controls. Firefox still uses XUL for all of its chrome. The toolbar isn't an NSToolbar, the URL bar isn't an NSTextField, the search bar isn't an NSSearchField, the bookmark manager isn't NSOutlineView or NSTableView based, context menus aren't NSMenus, etc. As a result, lots of things--some subtle, some less so--still do not behave the way they would be in any other OS X application, just as was the case in Firefox 2.
Beyond skinning form controls and differently, and some specific targeted fixes like emulating most of the Leopard window look, there's nothing more Mac-like about Firefox 3, which is why it still doesn't feel that way. Carbon vs. Cocoa is an implementation detail, not a look-and-feel issue, and not at all related to what people generally mean when they say "native"."
Really, while FF3 has made great strides in becoming a better Mac OS citizen, it still hasn't matched Camino in looking and acting like it actually belongs on Mac OS X.