Mac OS compatible web browsers

Note: this page was formerly on the Mac OS X speed FAQ
This page was started as a one stop resource for many Apple compatible web browsers. In an effort to make it easier to find out why certain websites won't work on your Mac.

It is divided into these sections:

References for coding websites

Many websites may not be totally compatible with any of those web browsers, but that's because their webmasters neglect to follow WWW Consortium Standards. You should write the webmaster of any website that doesn't follow those standards and let them know that the web is more than just for Windows users, and that following those standards will help their web pages be more accessible. First off, those who can't afford another operating system, can now see their website as viewed from nearly every browser on the planet at Browsershots.org.

A great page on helping webmasters become more crossbrowser compatible is Anybrowser.org. Others include Webstandards.org, and Webmonkey.

Mac users may be interested in Pure-Mac's Editors - Software for Macintosh for a variety of webpage editors for the Mac

Meanwhile if the webmaster doesn't respond, here are links to all the major web browsers for the Mac and tools to make them work more efficiently. In addition to requesting webmasters to make websites more compatible, let the authors of the web browsers know when a website doesn't work. Below the table below are Java updates.

The contact link to the various web browser authors is in the table below next to each web browser:
Browser name with download linkMac OS 9 version Contact/feedback link
Safari 4.0.4 is the current Safari on Apple's website and what shipped with Mac OS X 10.6.2. Version 4.0.3 came with 10.6 and 10.6.1. Version 4.0.2 was included with 10.5.8. Safari 3.2.3 is also available for 10.5.7, 10.4.11, Windows XP and Vista. Version 3.2.1 was available for 10.5.5. Version 3.0.4 was included with 10.4.11, and 10.5, 10.5.1, and 10.5.2.

Version 1.1.1 and later are only available as part of Apple's Mac OS X 10.3. Version 1.3.2 is available for 10.3.9. Version 2.0 is current as of Mac OS X 10.4, and 2.0.1 is available for 10.4.2)*, and 2.0.4 is available when you upgrade Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.4.7 through 10.4.10. If you want to explore the command line via Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal, you can enable the Debug menu that the previously available software Safari Enhancer does offer you a User Agent menuitem to cloak itself as a different web browser (I'm not sure which versions this works on since I haven't tested it on all):

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

Additional Safari addons which may improve browser compatibility can be found on Pimp My Safari. Nagarabrowser gives Safari a kiosk mode. With the 10.3.9 update it has been reported that several third party addons such as Saft and Acid Search will need updates. The March 2005 security update fixes Java issues on Safari, and if you applied the 10.3.9 delta update, applying the 10.3.9 combined update will often fix issues. See my Upgrade FAQ for more on how to apply updates without running into issues such as these.		 Go to Safari menu and select "Report Bugs to Apple"
Download Netscape 9 for Mac OS X, Netscape 7.0.2 Mac PowerPC and other versions listed as Mac PowerPC are available for Mac OS 9 AOL Developer page
Microsoft Internet Explorer is no longer available for download from Microsoft. A WINE version for Intel Macs offers some I.E. 7 compatibility. The Mac OS X version 5.2.3 is available from Majorgeeks. There are several stores which carry old Apple operating system disks which also included Internet Explorer for Mac OS X. If installing older operating system disks, be sure to observe the System Specific installation notes. The Mac OS X version of Internet Explorer was last preloaded on Mac OS X 10.3's Install Disk 2 as version 5.2.3. The included Internet Explorer for Mac OS 9 on restore disks and Mac OS 9 installer disks is version 5.0. Remember if installing Mac OS X, only an Archive and Install and Upgrade and Install will let you preserve applications from previous versions of Mac OS X on the hard disk. Otherwise, you'll need to either use the Install Additional Applications from the restore disks, or Charlessoft's Pacifist to extract the files from the installer packages to reretrieve Internet Explorer (if it wasn't backed up elsewhere). EVolt has the only known copies of version 5.1.7 for Mac OS 9. Microsoft product feedback page
Omnigroup's Omniweb E-mail Omniweb support
Dillo home and Mac Download link Dillo Bug Tracker
OperaOpera for Mac OS 7 through 9 Opera's Contact page
iCabDownload page lists both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X versions E-mail iCab support
Mozilla can immitate other browsers with User-agent switcherClassila and Wamcom Mozilla for Mac OS 9Mozilla Bugzilla feedback page
Google ChromeGoogle Chrome Discussions
Camino (formerly known as Navigator) Camino Bugzilla feedback page
Firefox (formerly known as Firebird) can immitate other browsers with User-agent switcher Firefox Bugzilla feedback page
Shiira Bug Tracker
Pepper Software no longer supported
Kidsbrowser Kidsbrowser contact addresses
WannaBeContact info
You can run PC web browsers on the Mac if you use one of these Intel operating systems on the Mac solutions. Note however, any website which requires you use Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows is unlikely to be a very secure website, given the number of times such websites have been hacked. I would inform their webmasters there are much more secure alternatives mentioned above.

Java Updates

Apple has a guide to the latest Java updates on their Technote Database. Not all Javas are Mac compatible without Emulation or Virtualization as ActiveX was only developed for Windows, and is not a true Java. Any site that uses ActiveX should be criticized for not using an open standard of Java. Java support may be improved with Java 1.4.1 for Mac OS X 10.2.6 which requires 10.2.3 combo or 10.2.4 through 10.2.6 combo updates, Java update for Mac OS X 10.3 to Java 1.4.1, Java update for 10.3.4 to 1.4.2, Java Update for 10.3.9, Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 release 1 for Tiger, J2SE 5.0 release 4 for 10.4, Software Update search for latest Java updates

The Carbon Java Plugin, and Java Embedding Plugin are both different plugins which can be used to make certain Java sites more accessible in some Mac OS X web browsers. I would be careful not to run both at the same time.

HTML in e-mail

A similar problem to that which exists for web browsers, is that most e-mail programs don't have complete support for web browser standards. As a result, getting HTML e-mail can be problematic at best. There is an excellent site that discusses the issues of HTML e-mail at Birdhouse.org. Among them there are security, accessibility, and design elements which simply don't render the same way on all e-mails. If you receive HTML e-mails and have no option to receive text, I recommend contacting the company that sends such e-mails and ask for a link to the webpage which has those documents. Attachments are also problematic as my Mac OS X page reference discusses. It is better for any document being transmitted via e-mail that can't be represented by ASCII text to be saved to a website and referred to by a link in an e-mail, than attempts to render information in e-mail which can't be universally read.