Only a couple of things have been screwed up for me, so far at least, so I'll continue to use Safari. It's my preferred browser, too. Bummer that I have to use another browser to load gmail because there are circumstances in which it's helpful to view my mail in the original Gmail environment. Not a big problem, however, since all my gmail is forwarded to Mail, and that's where I usually read and reply. Maybe that's an option for you? (The other issue is small, too, and viewing that site in another browser for the foreseeable future is acceptable.)
Thanks for posting that upgrading didn't fix your gmail problem. That consolidates my natural inclination to wait until most of the bugs are worked out of High Sierra. And like Hoki-Boy, I'll also be looking closely at what's been bundled with the upgrade to see whether the setup works for me.
btw, the reason I found out that my Safari preferences file had been corrupted is that Safari wouldn't open at all after the first time I restarted my computer in 2018. Just kept crashing. I was about to give Safari the boot forever. It's back in my good graces for now. Agree with Eric that Chrome is way too much of a resource hog. I've kept it on my system only for emergencies. Will check out his other suggested options in time.
