As many of you already know, Apple has released a new version of Safari web browser 4.0 beta. The new version includes some new features, improved stability and it’s notably faster. The first new feature you’ll notice when you run Safari is “Top Sites” window that pops up each time you start it or open a new tab (unless you turn it off in the preferences). Top Sites collects information about websites that you regularly visiting and makes a list of your favourite sites that can later be instantly accessed via Top Sites. If you are an iTunes user, you are already familiar with Cover Flow feature. Now, Cover Flow is implemented in Safari and allows you to visually browse through site previews and it takes a single click to open a site you want to visit. Safari includes bunch of new features like full history search, developer tools and Nitro Engine that enables Safari to (according to Apple) be the fastest browser on the market, 30 times faster then IE 7 and more then 3 times faster then Firefox. Full list of the new features you can find at the end of the post.
Things I like about Safari 4
What I like the most about Safari 4 is certainly it’s blazing speed. Browsing is much faster and thus more comfortable then in the previous version. Cover Flow although it’s already seen in iTunes, is great addition to Safari and it makes surfing easier. Phishing and malware protection is working well as far as I was able to see and it makes Safari much safer against malicious attacks. Page zooming is another neat feature that comes in handy. Just to mention that a Windows version of safari now has full Windows look and feel.
Things I don’t like about Safari 4
When you run safari for the first time, the first thing you’ll notice is that the tabs are now on top of the window. I really did not like this and it looked really awkward to me. Luckily, one can have the old tabbed style back easily. Actually some people say that it’s not that easy for the users who are not really familiar with unix and the terminal. What you have to do is to open Terminal app and type:
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO
This will enable old style tabs, so if you are like me and prefer the tabs the old way, before you start browsing, do this first. Just remember that Safari has to be closed while you are executing this command from the Terminal. It would be much easier if Apple had made it easier by adding the option to enable / disable the new tabbing system say under the develop menu. Another thing that I did not like is that the refresh button is now placed next to the address bar and it is very hard to get used to it. Also, I still haven’t figured out how to delete recent searches.
To conclude, Safari is an excellent browser which works as advertised, has many advanced feature and it’s very intuitive. If you never used Safari before, I strongly recommend you to download and give it a try.
Safari new features:
- Top sites
- Cover Flow
- Full history search
- Nitro engine
- Windows full look and feel
- Developer tools
- Full page zoom
- Smart address field
- Smart search field
- Phishing and malware protection
Download link: http://www.apple.com/safari/download/
