[Jon Hicks]

Thanks for all that Ken, its reassuring to know that it's not been abandoned!

[Ayjay]

Ken, that's a fabulous response -- I really appreciate it. Because of the well-documented issues, I've not been able to use OmniWeb as much as I'd like lately, but nothing else comes close to matching its power and features, so you bring very welcome news indeed.

[poppymac]

ken thanks for your candor to all of us who are anxiously awaiting the next release! keep up the great work and look forward to a stable beta release

[JKT]

While the detailed feedback is appreciated, would it have hurt to keep us updated earlier? This information is long, long overdue. E.g. the WebKit feature development freeze was announced way back in February, prior to the release of the OmniWeb 5.5.4 update. Would it have hurt to make an announcement then that this would enable you to concentrate on getting OmniWeb 5.6 out the door once the WebKit code had stabliised enough?

Originally Posted by Ayjay

Ken, that's a fabulous response -- I really appreciate it. Because of the well-documented issues, I've not been able to use OmniWeb as much as I'd like lately, but nothing else comes close to matching its power and features, so you bring very welcome news indeed.

Unfortunately, this just isn't true any more. You can get very close to OmniWeb's feature set with Firefox and just a few extensions (e.g. Tab Mix Plus together with Showcase or Tab Catalog) or even Safari with Safaristand. Some of the features that TMP provides in Firefox even supersede what OmniWeb has to offer.

About the only feature that Firefox doesn't have a truly adequate replacement for (other than good integration with the OS, of course) is Workspaces. TMP in Firefox and Safaristand in Safari enables you to save sessions, but using those saved sessions is poorly implemented. While OmniWeb 5.0 blew other browsers out of the water in terms of features, those other browsers have since caught up (and passed OmniWeb in other areas) and there are few compelling features that remain unique to OmniWeb.

[Handycam]

While OmniWeb 5.0 blew other browsers out of the water in terms of features, those other browsers have since caught up (and passed OmniWeb in other areas) and there are few compelling features that remain unique to OmniWeb.

I have to agree here. With OW 5.x falling so far behind the others in terms of rendering and js bugs, I found myself first using Safari with SafariStand and AdBlock and having most of the functionality of OW. Then I reluctantly moved to Firefox and found it to be an excellent browser, and -- best of all -- instead of pleading on this forum for new features I could, for the most part, add the feature I wanted with extensions.

The main reason I liked OW was for the UI. I also used workspaces a bit, but found them too much work for what I got out of it. The pop-up text fields were nice, but I frankly prefer the latest WebKit ones (I'm using it right now). The drawer now feels clumsy and dated -- very "early OSX". Right now, IMO, the most attractive UI is on Shiira, but there are a lot of problems and missing features (e.g. ad blocking) that keep me from using Shiira.

I would think that OW is not very profitable for Omni any longer, and the work required to keep it up to date has proved more daunting than expected. IMO, for there to be a compelling reason to use it (much less buy it) it needs to once again be as advanced as it once was. I think they should work toward the latest webkit, use the Apple form fields, and please include the Inspector from the latest nightlies.

[Ken Case]

Originally Posted by JKT

While the detailed feedback is appreciated, would it have hurt to keep us updated earlier? This information is long, long overdue.

No—and again, I apologize. Until I read this thread (I saw it for the first time yesterday), I didn't realize that we hadn't done a good job of keeping you all in the loop as to exactly why we hadn't yet released OmniWeb 5.6.

When you've been living with a set of assumptions for a long time, it's easy to forget that you might not have communicated those assumptions to everyone else. We originally planned to ship 5.5 with this version of WebKit, so we've been living with this "As soon as WebKit's stable again we'll ship" assumption for over a year now. It wasn't until I read this thread that I realized that people thought the delay was due to lack of interest on our part, rather than lack of readiness of the underlying framework.

As soon as I realized that there was a misunderstanding, I immediately sat down (on Sunday morning, with my daughters clamoring for my attention) and wrote that explanation.

[Handycam]

Thanks Ken.

How about a "sneaky peek" beta cycle again, with the usual caveats? At least then perhaps we could USE omniweb again.

[Chiller]

Thank you very much Ken for your reply. The update is much appreciated. I am also glad you read the forums as well. Hey, no one is perfect. As OmniWeb users we naturally have discriminating taste and just want the same thing you do; a great browsing experience. Thanks again and maybe you can post some updates on the blog site.

[Handycam]

This thread had made it to the MacUser blog, the author saying what many of us have here.

[Ayjay]

It's true that, as Jonathan and Handycam say, there are other browsers that replicate most (though not all) the features of OmniWeb. But they do so via third-party plug-ins and mods that suffer from various degrees of hackishness. Not all of the Firefox add-ons work equally reliably, in my experience anyway, and when Firefox or Safari is updated you often find yourself faced with the choice of (a) delaying the update for quite a while or (b) having your add-ons broken. OmniWeb remains the only browser that has the advanced features baked in. I too have been frustrated by the extremely long wait for 5.6, and the javascript bugs have made it temporarily unusable for me, but assuming that those problems are addressed in 5.6, I wouldn't even consider using a browser other than OmniWeb.