This review has been superseded by a more recent review of the same eight browsers.
Most of the world still uses Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to access the Web. That’s too bad, because there are many other options, some of which put IE to shame. Almost all of these alternative browsers cost nothing to use, and a few of them are Mac-only.
I examined eight of the many Mac web browsers in an attempt to see what differentiates each, and how well they work with LexisNexis and Westlaw. Spend any time in discussion boards or email lists relating to web browsers, and you’ll see all sorts of claims and counterclaims about which browser is faster, or more secure. I’m not going to tackle those issues, as I don’t have the time or inclination to rig a testing setup so I can split hairs about 1/2 second intervals in page load times and track down the security history of each of these browsers.
I visited LexisNexis and Westlaw and followed the same process for each browser:
- Login
- Conduct a simple party name search
- Examine top navigation tabs
- Test top of page action links (print, download, email, etc.)
- Look for any irregularities in rendering and other navigational elements
Problems are listed below the initial browser description. Note that problems with LexisNexis and Westlaw may be the fault of the website, the browser, or both. As you’ll see, certain trends do emerge for both LexisNexis and Westlaw.
WebKit Browsers
Apple took source code from the KDE open source project, added to it, and created the WebKit browser engine. That engine powers all three of these browsers.
Safari 2.0.4
The default Mac OS X browser, Safari is a solid baseline browser. Like all the other browsers in this comparison, it features tabbed browsing and a popup blocker. It renders most pages beautifully and rapidly. Safari includes RSS support, so it is both a feed reader and a browser. http://www.apple.com/safari/
LexisNexis
- Leftmost top navigation tabs do not render properly.
- Email form cannot be modified, but the send button works.
- Copy w/cite link appears, but does not seem to work properly.
Westlaw
- No problems found.
OmniWeb 5.5.3
OmniWeb is another Mac-only product from Omni Group. It costs $14.95, but after testing it under a generous evaluation period, I’m contemplating a purchase. This browser looks good, feels intuitive, and is loaded with features. Workspaces give you the ability to open several websites in different tabs, and save the whole arrangement for rapid retrieval later. Preferences in OmniWeb can be set for specific websites, so for example, pop-up blocking can be turned off, the file download location can be changed, and so on. In general, this browser does an excellent job of balancing flexibility with a clean, uncluttered aesthetic. http://www.omnigroup.com/omniweb/
LexisNexis
- Leftmost top navigation tabs do not render properly.
- Email form cannot be modified, but the send button works.
- Copy w/cite link appears, but does not seem to work properly.
Westlaw
- No problems found.
Shiira 2.0b1
Putting the 2.0 beta version of Shiira in this comparison is a bit unfair. The volunteer developers are still squashing bugs, and this is a major release, so much has changed from the 1.2.2 version. But I wanted to include the 2.0 version of Shiira because although I think 1.2.2 is a good browser, 2.0 shows signs of greatness. The reworked interface is impressive for its inventiveness and clarity. For example. Shiira 2.0 uses a translucent History pop-up menu. Users can choose a standard tab interface, or PageDock, which like OmniWeb, shows page thumbnails rather than page title text. Unfortunately, in its current form Shiira 2.0 is unusable for LexisNexis and Westlaw work. Still, this Mac-only browser shows signs of future greatness. http://shiira.jp/en.php
LexisNexis
- Leftmost top navigation tabs do not render properly.
- Email form cannot be modified, but the send button works.
- Copy w/cite link appears, but does not seem to work properly.
- Print menu dysfunctional.
- Pop-up windows appear as full-sized windows.
Westlaw
- Error message: Web Browser and Operating System Required. You are currently running Netscape 5 on MacOSX.
Mozilla Browsers
The Mozilla open source project manages the core code that powers these browsers.
Firefox 2.0.0.1
Firefox has gained popularity in the Windows world, and if I were using a Windows machine on a daily basis, you can bet I’d be running Firefox rather than IE. But Firefox is no slouch on the Mac, either. Version 2.0 has a more Mac-like feel than earlier incarnations, and the massive community of Add-On developers makes Firefox by far the most extensible browser on the market. http://www.getfirefox.com/
LexisNexis
- FAST Print does not appear.
- Copy w/cite does not appear.
- Bottom of page citation navigation tools do not appear.
Westlaw
- No problems found.
Camino 1.0.3
While it has far fewer extensions than Firefox, Camino was built using Cocoa, which is the native user interface toolset for Macintosh. The result is a very polished, pure Mac application. It renders pages fast and beautifully. Camino has fewer options than many of the other browsers in this comparison, but its interface doesn’t get in the way either. If you believe that “less is more” in a browser, you may enjoy Camino. http://www.caminobrowser.com/
LexisNexis
- FAST Print does not appear.
- Copy w/cite does not appear.
- Bottom of page citation navigation tools do not appear.
Westlaw
- Delivers an “Attention: Pop-Up Blocker Detected” notice.
- Popups render in existing window, rather than in new window, whether blocking is turned on or off.
Flock 0.7.10.1
Flock is an ambitious browser, targeted at those of us who use social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, photo sharing sites like flickr, and news aggregators and RSS feeds. It still has some rough edges, but there are many good ideas in Flock. For example, the Snippets feature is brilliant. Copy and image or chunk of text from a page and drag it into the Snippets well at the bottom of the browser window for use later. http://www.flock.com/
LexisNexis
- FAST Print does not appear.
- Copy w/cite does not appear.
- Bottom of page citation navigation tools do not appear.
- Adds an extra step when downloading a file to computer.
Westlaw
- Delivers an “Attention: Pop-Up Blocker Detected” notice.
Other Browsers
Opera 9.10
In some ways Opera reminds me of OmniWeb. It is a fast, clean browser with more options for customization than Safari. Personally I find the interface more distracting than that of some other browsers. However, this is a matter of personal preference, and I’m sure some people prefer the Opera approach. http://www.opera.com/
LexisNexis
- Slight rendering bug in top navigation tabs.
- FAST Print does not appear.
- Copy w/cite does not appear.
- Bottom of page citation navigation tools do not appear.
- Adds an extra step when downloading a file to computer.
Westlaw
- Delivers an “Attention: Pop-Up Blocker Detected” notice. Turning off pop-up blocking gets rid of the message.
iCab 3.0.3
Alexander Clauss has developed iCab as a labor of love over the course of several years. With this Mac-only browser, the user has a great deal of control over how pages look and act, and can fine tune a wide variety of preferences having to do with security, JavaScript functioning, and so on. You can, for example, make iCab look like IE to websites, which may help with sites that are designed explictly for IE. Page rendering is not as polished in iCab as with the other browsers. http://www.icab.de/
LexisNexis
- Slight rendering bug in top navigation tabs.
- Email form unusable.
- FAST Print does not appear.
- Copy w/cite does not appear.
- Bottom of page citation navigation tools do not appear.
- Adds an extra step when downloading a file to computer.
Westlaw
- Westlaw delivers an error message stating that the site requires JavaScript and Cookies in order to function, even though JavaScript and Cookies are both enabled.
- No entry past intial error message.
Overall Impressions
Westlaw’s site is generally quite Mac-friendly. Safari, OmniWeb, and Firefox all worked in Westlaw without a glitch. Only very minor issues popped up for Camino, Flock, and Opera. In contrast, LexisNexis presents Mac users with a Catch-22: Suffer through a weird rendering glitch and the annoying email form problem in WebKit browsers, or do without FAST Print, Copy w/Cite, and the bottom of page citation navigation tools in Mozilla browsers. The browser you prefer essentially boils down to which Lexis-Nexis functions you can do without. Of course, you could just ditch Lexis-Nexis altogether.
For many months I’ve been using Camino as my primary browser, and Firefox as my LexisNexis browser. For LexisNexis use, I won’t be replacing Firefox any time soon. However, the more I use OmniWeb, the more I like it. I’m also keeping one eye on Shiira, and another on Flock. Plus, when OS X 10.5 is unveiled later this year, rumor has it Safari 3.0 will incorporate several unique new features. You’ve gotta love competition!
15 Comments
Have you ever tried using GreaseMonkey to improve on the LexisNexis/Westlaw sites?
Sometimes I really wish Westlaw used a serif font.
Using GreaseMonkey is a great idea. Fodder for another article, perhaps. I admit that I only use a handfull of Firefox add-ons with any frequency.
I’m torn, because I find LexusNexus more intuitive than Westlaw overall, but Westlaw doesn’t create problems for my browser. Generally I use LN more often. Maybe along with testing GreaseMonkey on LN, I should delve into Westlaw a bit further.
Erik,
Thanks for the link, I read you review, and I like the images and to the point description, I will try iCab.
Mazen,
I’d love to see your impressions of iCab. Since you already use so many browsers, I’m sure you’ll have some insights into how iCab compares with the rest of the bunch.
I think you’ll find Lexis Nexis (what a knobby name) is caught by the morons-developed-our-site bug whereby people designed the site using FrontPage or ActiveX hence the reason it sucks using browsers other than IE, because that’s the only browser they tested the site on.
I hate website developers that do this because they are nothing but fat lazy hacks.
Technically speaking though you’ve only really reviewed 4 browsers because the first three use WebKit and the second three use Gecko although admittedly the Gecko browsers are at varying versions. Webkit is only at one version.
That leaves Opera and iCab being the only two real distinct browsers using their own rendering engines.
That’s right folks, he’s a law student AND he cranks out ten page browser reviews at the same time. I’m exhausted just watching this…
Loweded,
I agree that LexisNexis has work to do on getting their application up to snuff for non-IE browsers. Having done a fair share of web development work myself, I wouldn’t be so quick to blame the developers. My guess is the site was targeted for IE as part of an overall cost/benefit decision made by someone higher up in the organization.
If you believe that the rendering engine makes up the browser, you’re right about me only reviewing four browsers. But if you look at OmniWeb and Safari side-by-side, for example, it’s pretty obvious that the rendering engine may be the foundation, but there are many differences in the walls, ceiling, and interior design.
Thanks for the comment!
Be sure to check here if you want to push your Safari.
http://webkit.org/
I enjoyed reading your reviews. I have OmniWeb but I kept coming back to Safari. Even though I did use the Workspaces. I agree with you on Opera. It seem oriented to flash and pop, but then I don’t care for HTML in e-mail either. I dig Camino for its clean interface. Some sites I use have a problem with it. Although the same problem is in Safari- WebKit fixed it. So technically I’m not back to Safari but moved on to WebKit.
Steve,
Thanks for the note. I actually keep coming back to Camino. I really enjoy the Workspaces in OmniWeb, but Camino just feels zippier to me. It’s hard to quantify why you like one browser over another. I’m just happy there is so much competition in the Mac web browser market.
Safari is a great browser, and I’m looking forward to the next rev. From what I hear, the team at Apple has been working hard to give it a host of new capabilities.
I know it’s really distasteful, but I wonder if the old IE for Mac would work any better on LexisNexis than these other browsers?
IE 5 Mac is pretty ancient. MS stopped work on it around 2000. Anyone brave enough to give it a try?
This spring, I had issues w/ the Firefox browser and WestLaw’s Copy W/ Cite feature (I’d highlight something, click the feature and get a completely blank box in the pop-up). However, after trying it again very recently … it works without fail. Huzzah!
Also, I was having difficulties this spring with uploading my legal resume and other docs to the law career services database (I forget whatall I tried, but I was left with the impression that the database didn’t like Word for Mac … I had more success with uploading PDFs rather than Word). But in trying again very recent – no problems in submitting Word for Mac documents AND having the system automatically convert them to PDFs. More huzzah!
Eli,
Thanks for the update! You do realize that despite your on-campus duties this year, I WILL be making you write for Mac Law Students. Sorry, that’s just the way it’s got to be.
Hey, at least you’ve been warned.
“Westlaw
Delivers an “Attention: Pop-Up Blocker Detected†notice. Turning off pop-up blocking gets rid of the message.”
Gee, ya think?
WarDaddy, you’re right, it does seem obvious, doesn’t it? But as the article should make clear, there isn’t always rhyme or reason to browser/site compatibility. The exact nature of the pop-up problems varied, but several browsers had difficulties with pop-ups while at Westlaw.
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