The thing is, Chrome does have a status bar. And it is the smartest status bar I’ve seen until now, because it only appears when you need it. So I’d say you should have taken into account the status bars. Chrome essentially has a status bar that takes up 0 pixels.

I find it very handy to see the URL a hyperlink is going to before I click it. The Chrome status bar gives me just that, without taking up any pixels! Just brilliant!

And yes, I also use the chrome-like status bar extension for Safari.

Usually, when browsing the web users are forced to scroll vertically, not horizontally. OmniWeb’s re-sizeable side tab bar maximizes vertical space which should be an asset when compared to traditionally designed browsers. Also, I find OmniWeb and Shiira’s tabs to be more useful than those of the other browsers because I can identify a tab better with an icon than I can with a few letters of text. Unfortunately, Shiira’s implementation reduces vertical viewing area substantially, and the browser itself does not function as well as you might expect it to.

Adding OmniWeb to the comparison might not have been fair, but was the object of the comparison fairness or viewable space?

As for Omniweb, I’d have to create a new section to even include measurements of the tab drawer, as there’s no option for a horizontal bar. Even then, Omniweb wouldn’t fit in the first or second section. I don’t have anything against Omniweb; it just didn’t fit my testing criteria.

2) iCab may be lower ranked but it has one feature no other browser has. It can take a pdf snapshot of a whole page even the offscreen part. Firefox may be able to do it with an extension but it is a kludge.

3) Somewhere in the Firefox additions, there is a small font option that helps decrease the size of the various browser “bars”. Don’t remember what it is so search the web site though given all the cruft it can be daunting.

4) The issue of pixel hogging space is less troublesome if you use a browser on a secondary portrait monitor. I’m using a 24″ HP in 1200×1920 that is especially nice.

Also, why not include OmniWeb? Development has slowed since it became freeware but it probably has more users than Shiira and iCab combined and it is still a feature rich browser that it’s users are very loyal to.

Firefox? With no keyboard shortcuts, or even menu commands to create a keyboard shortcut for, to switch tabs it gets bumped to the end of the line, only to be used when nothing else will work.

Update: You left out OmniWeb “because of it’s funky tab drawer”? Yes, that’s an unbiased comparison for sure.