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Apple Safari - a short review of the new Safari browser on windows

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Last year in June I blogged about Apple's announcement of bringing their web browser to windows(Read the post(hungarian)).
That time they released a beta(it was rather like an alfa however..) version of Safari 3.1 that didn't even start at all..at least on my computer. I was kind of disappointed then.I wanted to try this browser a long time ago.
This Tuesday, almost a year after their announcement they released the first stable Safari 3.1(525.13) for windows and mac.

Now let's take a look at it's astonishing 'new features :wink: and facts :


  • First of all, it has an elegant user interface :up: That's the thing that I always liked about Apple.Design is an important factor to the user.From the application icon to buttons and scroll bar, everything is Mac stylish.

  • It is pretty fast, however it's not as fast as Apple says it is.Opera is faster
  • It doesn't consume a lot of memory.
    The installation file's size is around 18 MB, which is extremely big, compared to Opera's ( 4MB with the classic installer) .
  • Safari is one of the few web browsers that consider webstandards as their prior preoccupation(unlike IE:down: ). See: current version of Safari passes 75/100 of the new acid3 test.Opera 9.26 passes 45 of 100.
  • It has a built in english spell- , and grammar checker! I think that's cool, but it does not have any language files like Opera does. So, Safari is available only in english. Maybe it is on the Mac..I don't know.
  • Buttons: drag'n'drop them on the bookmarks bar
  • By default Safari has got only the essential buttons on it's toolbar, like: back/forward, stop/reload and add bookmark button.
    This can be improved with a few new ones like homepage, increase/decrease font size, and autofill buttons:

    The progress bar is nicely done to.
  • I like the way the address bar is highlighted with a shiny blue color when I'm typing an address
  • SnapBack works just as Opera rewind
  • Pop-up blocking
  • Searching on the page: I think this is the coolest :D See what I mean:

  • Private browsing: the whole browsing history(including cookies, visited pages, downloaded items, forms, searches are cleared after closing the window. It can be activated with only one click(actually two:D )
  • there are some add-ons instead of widgets, but far not as much as Firefox has to offer with it's extensions.
  • and here's a screenshot of Safari's preferences window: not really much to see to be honest



Negative side:
  • I can't see how new search engines can be added, so I guess they can't.
  • No mail/irc client.
  • My rss feeds are not separated from my bookmarks..like in Firefox. I don't like that.
  • Downloads manager: downloads can't be resumed after closing the browser.
  • There is no Trash can for accidentally closed tabs.
  • It's not customizable enough!
  • Security: No fraud protection(phishing filter).This is not good! Apple should really consider implementing one in it's browser.Almost every browser has one(even IE P: ).
    and a lot more that I can't think of now P:
    So, in conclusion I stay with Opera!

And Happy Easter everyone!

Scandinavia!Time for a movie! - the best disaster films ever!

Comments

Lawrence 21. March 2008, 22:49

Thanks for the writeup. I was wondering how Safari was progressing, and now I know. =)

Anonymous 2. May 2009, 21:26

Andy writes:

- I can't believe I have to hold Ctrl - every time I want a new tab... It's just opens new windows... - This is unacceptable - I stay with FireFox!!!

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