Browsering

That's my new word of the day. I find myself using Firebird a lot more for everyday browsering, especially the most recent daily builds as they approach 0.8 goodness. Though slick, Safari has just enough odd rendering bugs and inexplicable crashes (especially the current Panther build, 1.1.1) that I've started to shy away from it somewhat. If you haven't tried a Firebird build in awhile, give it a shot. It's getting real close, real fast - right now the biggest shortcomings I can see on MacOS X are that the "close window" key shortcut appears to be broken, the bookmark management still isn't quite there, and I've gotten spoiled by favicon support in Safari. Scrollwheel support still is a little jerky, too. But the rendering engine is speedy as heck, with better compliance (perceived) than Safari offers.

In other browser-related discussion, the Mozilla 1.6 release is rather useful for those who prefer the monolithic Communicator-style app. And short of a PageMill-class commercial application coming out at a budget price, Mozilla Composer is the best low-end visual HTML editor out there. I use it a lot when I don't feel like cranking out code by hand in BBEdit. Camino seems to be getting back on track after a lengthy period of ennui in the project - their 0.8 is also coming up fast. I haven't tried any Camino builds since last month, though. I'll hold off a little while longer.

On my wish list for all xGecko browsers would be better cookie management. It'd be nice to easily import/export cookies from either Safari or MacIE - not a critical feature, but a nice one. It would certainly make it more attractive to the layperson.

No major other news to report. David's napping right now - we kept him up pretty late this afternoon while we were out doing some errands. We went down to the mall in Saugus - Jane had a Gap gift card that she used to pick up mittens that matched a sweater she'd snagged locally a few weeks back. She wouldn't have bothered, but she lost one of her wool mittens she'd already had last week. But with the sweater, mittens, and a pair of Merrell knock-offs for David, she still has money left on the gift card. End-of-season sales rock.

In preparation for the Super Bowl, we're going to look for a suitable toddler jersey for David. Preferably Ty Law's number (24), since it's David's birthday, too. He'll be cute.

Currently reading: Under The Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer's latest book. It's basically about the Fundamentalist schism in the Mormon church, and how the fundamentalists have much deeper roots than a few wacky polygamists holed up in the Wasatch mountains. As Krakauer's books always are, it's utterly engrossing. I have two more library books waiting in the wings that I'll tackle as soon as this one's done.