Browserism review: quickly switch between browsers on Mac

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Some people have different needs from different web browsers. One may have a specific function that another does not. But, you may like them both for different purposes.

Browserism is a shortcut app for OS X that makes it possible for you to quickly switch between web browsers with just a click or the stroke of a key. We’ve got a full app review of Browserism for you below. Find out if it is right for you.

Concept

This app makes it easy to switch from one browser to another with just one click. You can set rules to have different browsers open specific websites. You can also connect multiple web browsers to the app and select any one of them at any time as the default. So, if you prefer Opera, but your spouse prefers Firefox, no one has to fight over it.

Design

Browserism is a widget that sits in your menu bar in the upper right corner of your Mac’s screen. After a few set up steps, the icon becomes your browser controller.

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App Use

To begin with, you will need to set Browserism as the default browser. When you do, it will have control over your multiple browsers and you won’t get pop up messages asking you to confirm browser switching.

Once set, click on the Browserism icon and scroll down to “Preferences” to set up your options. Select the Browser section to add all browsers that you will be using. Browserism includes Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera as standard browsers. However, you can add any browser that you have downloaded and installed in your Applications folder.

To set Rules that open specific web pages in designated browsers, type the URL into the Domain field and select the browser you wish to open it in. When you enable the rule, links from emails and documents will automatically open in the new browser.

Drag and drop hyperlinks from emails into the menu bar to open it using a specific browser.

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You can schedule a browser to automatically switch to a different default during certain times of the day. So, if you use the family MacBook Air for work during the day and prefer Safari, but your child needs to log into Chrome at night when doing homework, you can schedule one browser for a certain time of day and another browser to be the default the rest of the time.

For faster browser switching, set a hotkey for each of them. That way, all you have to do is press a couple of keys to automatically open different web browsers at different times.

With Browserism, you can open links in the background, which means, when you click on a link from an email, document or other application, it will open, but remain in the background while you continue working in the current window.

When you highlight a URL on a web page, then right-click and select Choose Service, you can open a link using the browsers set in Browserism. You can also drag a URL from an application to Browserism in the menu bar to open it in the default browser.

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The Good

This is a great little productivity feature that makes it really easy to switch between different default browsers. I especially like the default browser scheduler and the Rules feature. Both are very convenient for making it easy to use a specific browser during certain times and for certain websites.

The Bad

Nothing. This app works great and has a lot of useful options.

Value

Browserism costs $1.99. Its value depends on how important it is for you to be able to set different browsers as default. If you switch browsers a lot, this is an invaluable app.

Conclusion

If you work in a field where you constantly need to switch browsers, this app does exactly what you need it to do. Not everyone needs this type of functionality on their Mac, but if you suffer the irritations of using multiple browsers throughout the day, than you know that this app is a great idea. Download it in the Mac App Store today.

Related Apps

Browser Ninja is a similar app with a widget for the Menu bar.