Every now and then I decide to try using a different browser for a while. It always ends in the same conclusion: I prefer Safari overall. The interesting thing is that it’s always for a different reason.

The past few weeks I have been using Google Chrome. It’s a really great browser. I love how fast it is, how self-contained, and the omnibus is brilliant. I also enjoyed the extensions. I used:

• 1Password
• goo.gl URL Shortener
• Google Mail Checker
• Google Reader Notifier (by Google)
• Google Translate

The problem is that all these extensions feel slow and fugally. Consistently delivering false positives and false negatives is not what you’d look for in a notifier. That said, Google Mail Checker became such a part of my workflow that I actually stopped using Apple Mail for a while. Overall though, they just don’t work.

• 1Password
• Instapaperit
• Gmail Counter
• Sessions
• Google Reader Tools
• WHD Notifier
• Shortly

There are a bunch of little things I love about Chrome, mostly the Omnibar - that just begs to be ripped off, it works so well. I love how it’s a search bar as well as an address bar - that just makes sense. I also love how well it deciphers what I mean, or want as a result. I also love how it colour-codes the information in the bar for easy reading. Wonderful engineering done properly.

I much prefer the tab behaviour in Chrome. If you Command-click a link in Chrome in tab 1 of 2, the new tab will open between the two existing tabs. New tabs will always open just right of the current set. It’s much easier to navigate this way.

I can also sync all my info and prefs through my Gmail account - a great touch.

A few weeks later, I have moved back to Safari now, with some small differences, and I am enjoying it a lot. I have installed a bunch of Safari Extensions to replace the ones Chrome offered. These extensions work so much better that I can’t say I miss the Chrome ones at all.

I now have my bookmark shortcuts back, which means easy access to top used websites with even less typing. I miss the omibar and the tab behaviour from Chrome but have made up for it in flash elimination.

John Gruber recently wrote about how to go Flash-free on OS X. I highly recommend it. Most sites serve up HTML5 content seamlessly. YouTube5 extension does a better job of serving non-flash content than their official HTML5 beta, and you don’t get the in-video ads either. If you get totally desperate (iPlayer) you can always turn to Chrome (which has it’s own built-in Flash support). It’s a brilliant experience I can’t recommend highly enough.