The Shiira Project has announced the release of latest version of their Mac OS X Web browser, Shiira 2.0.
Shiira is a web browser based on Web Kit and written in Cocoa. The goal of the Shiira Project is to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari. All source code used in this software is publicly available.
One of the most impressive features of Shiira is Tab Exposé. Tab Exposé shows all open tabs the same way that Exposé shows all open windows.
Watch the Tab Exposé QuickTime demo:
• Large (10.9 MB)
• Small (1.3 MB)
Shiira 2.0 requires Mac OS X 10.4, because one of the purposes of the Shiira Project is to leverage latest Mac OS X features, ex. Core Data.
Screenshots can be viewed here.
More info and download link (upper right of page) here.
Nice browser. Safari could learn a few tricks.
let’s hope the bugs from the beta version are gone!
MDN Magic Word: nuclear… but, but I thought it was nucular?
This is my favorite browser!
Oh great another browser. I’m so excited <sarcasm>. What can it do that Safari and firefox cannot do?
Would be nice to see a combonation of Safari and Firefox. That would be perfect.
Apparently Buster didn’t watch the video…
I think I am going to try it. I have always hated Safari for being dog slow. Firefox 2.0 isn’t nearly as fast as 1.5 was. So, on down the browser line until I find something with the features of Firefox but the speed of IE on the Winblows platform. Slow web browsing – my one great beef about the Macintosh platform since the introduction of broadband.
Cubert, Safari and FF run insanely fast on my machine. Maybe it’s the computer and not the browser?
Still buggy…
Version 1.2.2 is a little more stable on my system (the link for that release is below the 2.0 download link on Shiira’s page).
I can’t get version 2.0 to use a minimum font size, so I’m going back to 1.2.2 for now.
But, it’s a great browser that everyone should try.
Something must be wonky in your computer. Safari is lightning fast, but I prefer Firefox for its extensions. Firefox is no dog, either.
When was the last time you ran any maintenance routines?
http://www.caminobrowser.org/
Best MacOSX browser, hands down.
@ Cubert
Have you tried Camino? It’s fast & based on the same engine as Firefox (though not as full featured).
Also, if you download OnyX it has an option to speed up Safari under its parameter options. I did see a difference.
Mind you I might try Shiira 2 myself.
What makes the Camino browser so much better than firefox or safari?
andiyar –
Agreed. Camino (even the new Beta version) is excellent. Fast, stable…all that.
My beef with Safari is that it will not display some Java-based windows such as the small windows that open to reveal more product info on commercial web sites. In that case, I have to open the site with Camino which does the job perfectly. Camino is a very good browser and I’m glad to have it. andiyar, do you know any way to get Camino to supress those green underlines on MDN?
David –
It’s based on the Gecko engine, it’s snappier than Safari and Firefox, it has better (and more) security features, is standards-compliant, was written just for Mac, and is free.
You should give it a try for a while.
Oh…and if you save your bookmarks in the bookmarks bar…it lists ALL of them (by going to a second bar), instead of giving you a little arrow on the right (like Safari) showing you the rest of your bookmarks.
@GOW
Yeah a new application icon, new siidebar design and sound effects. Yawn. TAB expose is an intersting trick but so what? Once you have the tab do you really need to see all the windows? I guess this shows that I do not need to be doing ten things at once in a browser. Am I in a minority here?
This is a slick little browser, always has been. These new features have been in development for quite a while now – nice to see it finished. It’s also mac-like, which Firefox is most definitely not. This one is worth a try as an alternative to Safari…
@ M@c
Does Camino use the “add-on” features like Firefox?
I love them add-ons. You really can control, perceived, browsing experience.
It’s not my maintenance routine nor the computer. On a 450 MHz G4 Cube, a 1.5 GHz G4 PowerBook, and on a 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, Firefox is always faster than Safari. Firefox 2.0 is noticeably slower than 1.5 was, but it is still faster than Safari. This seems to be true whether using WiFi or through ethernet. The speed isn’t horrible for Firefox, but I consider Safari’s speed unacceptable for this day and age.
By the way, I still think that Netscape 4.7.6 was the best browser ever in terms of speed on the hardware of the time, especially over dial-up.
There is no perfect solution. There are; however, a selection of free browswer one can use to satisfy unique wants and needs. Safari and Firefox seem to be a great team.
I am open to other superior browsers and as stated earlier, just imagine combining the breat features of both Firefox and Safi. Now that would be a killer team.
Can’t we get a Shakira browser? That would be hot. And those hips don’t lie.
Safari with WebKit. It’s as fast as Opera, as compatible as Firefox, and of course has all the usability of Safari.
David –
No add-ons in the Beta version of Camino. I am not sure about the 1.0.4 stable release, but it does not look like it. I agree with you that Firefox’s add-ons are a cool little feature…I’m not sure why Camino didn’t follow suit.