Is there some reason people use Safari instead of Firefox?

I personally can't use any browser except Firefox, because I can't stand the web without adblocking.

There are lots of little reasons why I end up using it most of the time:

It, like all Cocoa apps, supports some of the emacs key-bindings out of the box. CTRL-a, CTRL-e, CTRL-k all work as expected when editing any text.

If I double click on a word to highlight it and then right click on the highlighted word I'm able to look the word up in the OED resident on my computer. I can do this amazingly fast. And I do it all the time.

I have a huge bookmark collection. And Spotlight can search it.

I can check my spelling. Have it highlight misspelled words if I want. Bring up a spell-check dialog box, etc.

There are probably ways to get all those features in Firefox but Safari is the path of least resistance.

Camino supports emacs bindings, so near as I can tell. It doesn't do the dictionary thing, but the dictionary isn't really OED anyway, it's OAD, which is different. In any event, you can use the services menu if you need it, or just do what I do and use Google. Camino 1.5 checks spelling with the OS X spell checker. It has built-in flash block and ad block if you want it. You can search you bookmarks in the app, but I don't know they're exposed to Spotlight. Probably not. You could use a Quicksilver plug-in, maybe.

I've used Camino 1.0.4 extensively but I've not looked at 1.5 yet. 1.0.4 is closer to what I want than Firefox is but it was not quite "there". Basic things like .pdf files NOT being viewed inside the browser bothered me. Maybe that's fixed in 1.5?

Point taken on OED vs. OAD. Regardless it's a fine dictionary and lookups are really fast.

Using the services menu to look up words is a good idea but I'd need to have a compelling reason to go though the effort of retraining myself. Plus the process will never be as fast and natural as a right-click.

The ad-blocking advantage of Firefox/Camino is not a compelling reason for me personally (at least now). So it's status-quo for me unless something changes.

The OED is actually kind of terrible as a dictionary. It's great if you want to know the history of a word, but if you just need to know the most common meaning of a word quickly, it's beyond overkill.

Safari does block the annoying and often superfluous pop up ads. You can a third party plugin to block other ads at:

http://pimpmysafari.com/plugins/?c=Adblocking

However, don't you think ads are a necessity to keep the web free? I've always wondered what the users of adblocking software desire.

I don't mind text ads, or low-key static images. What I can't stand are ads that bounce around. By design, they distract you. When advertisers abuse the user, I have no problem blocking them.

Curiously, there is a startup in the summer cycle that's working on the problem of how to make tolerable ads.

Curiously? No, not curiously! YOU picked them. OF COURSE there is a startup doing something you feel there is a need for. YOU are the judge! :)

I agree, but I don't consider it too wrong to use flash block, since a) flash is slow and b) flash makes it impossible to read while something is spinning around next to the text. Like pop-up blocking, it only filters out the stuff advertisers shouldn't be doing anyway.

i was just waiting for someone to say this. thanks!