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This has been bugging me for a while, and apologies for poorly constructed title, but it seems like Google Chrome and Safari are the same thing on OS X.

I use Chrome exclusively on OS X Mountain Lion running on a MacBook Pro.

Occasionally, sites will be broken in that some functionality is not working correctly (e.g. video not playing on a ultra popular sites that I'm pretty sure are not just globally broken). In those cases I'll fire Safari to see if this is an issue with Chrome. I've tried this in 20 or so cases, but the behavior in Safari is always 100% identical.

Every single little issue I'm experiencing on Chrome will be exactly the same on Safari. As if it's the same browser with a different shell around it. In the past I've done web development for nearly a decade and knowing how sensitive some things are between browsers – it's just hard to believe that there's never been a different behavior and all the same things are broken on Safari.

update

i forgot to mention i've also been checking using Firefox.

other examples are links not working. for example on nieman marcus i can load initial search, but none of the links work on chrome/safari (such as "next" or "120")

however in this particular example firefox works.. so it indeed could be webkit related. has anyone had similar experience?

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    WebKit.
    – Arjan
    Jul 6, 2013 at 16:14
  • Is it really just video not playing? I find it hard to believe you're seeing so many bugs… can you add more examples?
    – slhck
    Jul 6, 2013 at 16:37
  • Have you disabled Javascript, Flash, or cookies? Those links work for me if Javascript is on, but do nothing if it is off.
    – mark4o
    Jul 6, 2013 at 19:55
  • @mark4o if i disabled any of those that would be a clear reason why it didn't work :)
    – Sonic Soul
    Jul 7, 2013 at 1:43

1 Answer 1

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The rendering engine for both Chrome and Safari is based on WebKit, so there will be many similarities. (Chrome is switching to their own Blink rendering engine, but it is still a fork of WebKit.) Try Firefox if you want to check another rending engine (Gecko).

The content may rely on plugins such as Flash, Java, or QuickTime, and so may be using the same code in different browsers. Ensure that your plugins are up to date.

You may have a machine-specific issue such as a graphics card with broken drivers. Try a different machine with different hardware to rule that out.

You may also have an issue with a proxy or caching server, a firewall, or filtering software, which may affect your entire network. Try a different network, e.g. using a VPN, work network, or wifi at an Internet cafe.

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