Safari

Current Version: 1.0.3 (August 16, 2004) / 1.3.2 (January 12, 2006) / 3.1.1 (April 17, 2008)

Safari is a new browser developed exclusively for Mac OS X by Apple, and now the default browser for Mac OS X. It is based upon the KHTML rendering engine used in the Konqueror web browser for UNIX systems. Safari's biggest asset is speed; it's quite a bit faster than Internet Explorer or Netscape in its current state.

Safari is simple but stable, and its speed and simplicity make it fun to use. Like other modern browsers, it is capable of blocking popup advertisements and it supports "tabbed" browsing that allows you to neatly organize multiple open pages in a single browser window. Apple has created a page of useful AppleScripts that demonstrate the care that Apple is putting into this browser's design. Of significant note is the fact that Safari's rendering of complex JavaScript is quite a bit speedier than any other Mac browser has ever been able to achieve.

While Safari is speedy at rendering pages, recent versions of Mozilla and Firefox are still a tiny bit faster - however, as of version 1.3/2.0, Safari can finally hold its own against these browsers in terms of performance. Safari also renders the layout of pages with aplomb.

Safari's interface is not terribly attractive, but it is functional. My biggest gripe about the user interface still involves tabbed browsing: prior to version 1.2, when closing the last browser tab, the window would shrink in height; all other browsers with tabbed browsing typically increase the page viewing area (back to its prior state) in this instance. In 1.2 and later, while this quirk has been fixed, a new annoyance has cropped up: when you open your first tab, Safari increases the height of your browser window. It's (still) an unpleasant thing to have to keep resizing a browser all day, and I wish Apple would control the window sizing behavior once and for all for everyday browsing.

As of version 1.2, Safari became good enough to use on a daily basis as your primary browser - giving Firefox (which, if you haven't tried, you really must try) a run for its money. While power users will still probably prefer Firefox, most others can keep Firefox around for its extensibility and for the few pages that Safari won't handle. It bears noting that Firefox is still a good deal faster and more responsive once it's loaded. However, Safari has finally merited the golden "Essential" badge that it has worked so hard to achieve.

While version 3.1.1 (available for Mac OS 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS 10.5 Leopard) is primarily a security update, version 3.1 added the following new features:

• Improves JavaScript performance
• Adds support for CSS 3 web fonts
• Adds support for CSS transforms and transitions
• Adds support for HTML 5 <video> and <audio> elements
• Adds support for offline storage for Web applications in SQL databases
• Adds support for SVG images in <img> elements and CSS images
• Adds support for SVG advanced text
• Increases site compatibility
• Improves application stability
• Adds option in Safari preferences to turn on the new Develop menu which contains various web development features
• Allows access to Web Inspector
• Allows access to Network Timeline
• Allows editing CSS in the Web Inspector
• Allows custom user agent string
• Improves snippet editor
• Double clicking on the Tab Bar opens new tab
• Includes URL metadata when images are dragged or saved from browser
• Opens Download and Activity window in current Space
• Supports trackpad gestures for back, forward, and magnify on MacBook Air and compatible MacBook Pro computers
• Shows Caps Lock icon in password fields
• Security updates

See the development group's weblog for more information.

Version 1.3.2 (for Panther) "improves website compatibility, application stability and support for 3rd party web applications," according to Apple. This version is available through the Software Update feature.

Version 1.0.3 (for Jaguar) "improves the Safari rendering engine to expand third party application support and includes the latest security enhancements." This version is available through the Software Update feature.