OmniWeb: A Better Browser?

Posted by Will Holmes on 04/9/07 in Applications, Articles, Internet, Opinions, Web

I never thought I would pay money for a browser when there are just so many great ones already available for free, but after seeing just how fast OmniWeb is, I decided to give it a closer look. Once I spent some time going through the other innovative features, I’ve actually gone through with it and replaced Safari as my default browser.

OmniWeb has all the features of the major browsers, except the extensions of Firefox. It has tabs, ad-blocking, bookmarks, and RSS feed capabilities. However, it also has some great features that aren’t quite as common. It can automatically save your “browsing sessions” to let you pick up were you left off after closing the browser. You can also save these sessions, or “workspaces” whenever you want, for easy access.

OmniWeb also has pretty advanced ad-blocking preferences that let you choose when to see pop-ups, banner ads, and even all Flash content. You can even restrict and manipulate websites individually with the “Site Preferences” feature, which allows you to change the way websites are displayed with tons of options.

All in all, I’d have to say OmniWeb is the best browser I’ve used, but not by a huge margin. The other browsers aren’t left in the dust, so it may not seem worth it to spend $14.95 on OmniWeb. In my opinion though, that price is not very much to pay for an application I use more than any other on my Mac.

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20 Comment(s)

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Michael said on

April 9th, 2007 at 12:37 pm

I just recently switched from using Firefox to using Safari bc of different headaches I was having with the current verison of FF. I’ve heard about OmniWeb before, but I don’t know if I’d be ready to switch. A follow-up post with a breakdown of the features and how it compares with Safari would be awesome.

Sujan Patel said on

April 9th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

I am a firefox fan. It has made my life easier as I am on the web at least 10 hours a day.

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Jon said on

April 9th, 2007 at 12:49 pm

I’m also a recent switcher from Safari to OmniWeb. While I do love Safari and used Safari Speedsource to make it a bit faster, OmniWeb simply blew past almost all browsers. (The only browser even close in loading times to OmniWeb was Shiira 1.x but it didn’t load all of my pages) The other features like Workspaces and the two versions of tabbed browsing (regular and thumbnail) just make my work and home browsing use much more efficient.

James said on

April 9th, 2007 at 1:00 pm

“It can automatically save your â€œbrowsing sessionsâ€ to let you pick up were you left off after closing the browser.”

- This you can do with Firefox 2.0 too.

David said on

April 9th, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Opera does all of that and is free.

Horst said on

April 9th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

I recently gave OmniWeb another try after reading once again only good things about on some other blog, but I somehow had quite a hard time with its keyboard shortcuts and could nowhere find a way to change them

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shadownight said on

April 9th, 2007 at 2:58 pm

Have been trying it for 10 minutes, and it doesn’t seem faster to me… But there are some very slick features. The preferences for specific websites are especially cool, and the whole interface has a sense of care and robustness to it. Still not enough for me, I’m afraid, but I’ll give it a try.

Rick said on

April 9th, 2007 at 8:22 pm

I decided to buy OmniWeb today as well (ironic). But there are two things I miss from Firefox 2.0, the first is the automatic spell checker, and also is there a way to display the tabs under the navigation bar like Firefox and Safari do?, Thanks - Rick

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Justin Laramee said on

April 9th, 2007 at 8:49 pm

The ugly tab drawer is the only thing that keeps me away from OmniWeb.

-1

Will said on

April 9th, 2007 at 9:44 pm

I disliked the tabs at first too, but if you always have a ton of tabs open like me, it makes more sense. You can fit many more at a time, especially if you choose the list view instead of the thumbnail one.

You are right though, they should have it as an option.

imajoebob said on

April 9th, 2007 at 11:46 pm

You pretty much just described Opera, which is free.
But I still prefer Safari.

Miles Evans said on

April 10th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

The best part about Omni is its speed. I gotta agree though, the tabs need work. My preferences go Fox, Opera, Safari for browsing.

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Julian said on

April 10th, 2007 at 10:22 pm

yea i use OmniWeb when i just want to open up one quick page or wheni feel like changing for one day but mainly im a firefox user.

Dim said on

April 14th, 2007 at 7:27 pm

Strangely that my Opera does all that and oh so much more. And best of all, it’s free.

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Dexx said on

April 22nd, 2007 at 5:14 am

hey guys,

i’ve tried ALL the browsers out there for macs even the really weird lookin ones, from flock to safari, omniweb to opera,

i LOVE safari, but there’s only one that wins hands down -

*drum roll*

*crash*

–” OPERA ” –

fast and furious easy to customise and just so sweet.

it’s the best, and did i mention it’s fast??

Patrick said on

May 17th, 2007 at 5:25 am

I really love OmniWeb, it’s IMO the best browser on the Mac.

Thanks for your little review

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Jim said on

May 27th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

every single feature of OW can be had in Firefox with extensions… the problem being that with every extension you add on to the initial load time, drag down stability and speed and generally just make it a less “Mac-like experience.”

OmniWeb is undoubtedly the best “out of the box” browser for the OSX platform. The problem is that you can’t really add to it. Even Safari allows (for now anyway) plug-ins to customize it and is quite fast.

I’m afraid no matter how good or fast OmniWeb is, having a price tag is just going to keep it just this side of obscurity (where the largest resident is Opera).

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-1

San said on

December 1st, 2007 at 12:22 pm

Paying 15$ for OmniWeb is not a problem , you’ll forget you bought it quickly , very very quickly !

-1

Dan said on

February 6th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

I love the interface of Safari, and frankly, who doesn’t? Safari also is very organized and saves me time. Since, as the saying goes, time is money, I guess it saves me money too! Who knew?

Christian said on

February 6th, 2008 at 10:12 pm

It is better in many respects . . . except when it is slow as ass. Which is always.

Stick with Safari and to a lesser extent, Camino.