Firefox versus Safari versus Blogger

So I was enjoying my trial with Safari (for reasons that I can't quite describe, it feels a little more nailed-down than Firefox 3) when I hit a roadblock: Blogger.

I noticed a post I'd written with Safari had some weird spacing in it. When I looked at the underlying HTML, I saw that Safari inserts bracketed "div" and "/div" thingies every time you hit the RETURN key.

Why, after all these years, are Safari and Blogger still not entirely compatible? Anyway, that's pretty much a show-stopper for me, so I'm back to Firefox, somewhat reluctantly.

Flaking out with Firefox 3

For the past month or so I've been using Firefox 3 almost exclusively. I'm running version 3.0.4. And though it basically works fine, it does a few things that are flaky.

Example: In just the past day or two, the typeface for stories at NYTimes.com changed, and I was not pleased. I even considered writing a post about it. But when I looked at it in Safari, it hadn't changed. And then, when I went back to Firefox, the change for the worse had magically disappeared.

Example: I happen to like those little icons that appear next to Web-site names in my bookmarks. But the one for the Boston Globe keeps changing. It's currently a ladybug, of all things.

Firefox works fine; these are just minor aesthetic annoyances. But aesthetics matter. Safari keeps getting better and better, and I'd like to give it an extended workout — but I can't transfer my Firefox bookmarks to it.

Has anyone else experienced what I'm talking about?

Firefox downgrade

Well, I've moved back to Firefox 2.0.0.15. Nothing really wrong with Firefox 3.0, and it's definitely faster. But there were some minor compatibility issues, and it wouldn't let me access my Northeastern mail. Definitely an improvement, but not quite ready for prime time.

Firefox upgrade

I normally don't like to use any software whose version number ends in "0." But I was never particularly happy with Firefox 2.x, so I've upgraded to Firefox 3.0. So far, so good. It does seem faster, as advertised, and there have been some cosmetic improvements as well.

Browser blues

The last few days, it seems that certain sites take forever to load in Firefox 2 for the Mac — especially the Boston Globe. Firefox freezes up once a day or so, too. So I played around with Safari 3 and found the Globe and the New York Times to be much zippier. But Safari quits whenever I try to load the Boston Herald. Safari is also incompatible with Blogger.

I see that Safari 3 is still in beta, which used to mean that it wasn't quite ready for public release. Increasingly, though, beta is Greek for "we take no responsibility for our product." I mean, Gmail and Google Calendar are still in beta, and I use them dozens of times a day.

I'll be glad when this Internet fad blows over.

Update: I'm trying Camino 1.5.5 for the first time in a couple of years. It's a Mac-only, open-source browser from Mozilla, and I'm pretty sure it uses the same underlying technology as Safari. I'm living dangerously by posting this from Blogger, but so far, so good.