Apple announces Safari 4 public beta

Safari 4 will use the Cover Flow interface to let users search their browsing history.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple on Tuesday announced the release of a public beta Safari 4 for Windows and Mac, promising a much faster browser with improved navigation and searching.

The company said the newest edition of Apple's browser for both Mac OS X and Windows will run JavaScript commands 4.2 times faster than Safari 3, and also claims to deliver better JavaScript and HTML page loading than Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla's FireFox 3. Apple also added the Cover Flow interface now found in almost every piece of its software to let users scroll backwards through browsing history as if they were flipping through album covers, and what appears to be Apple's own implementation of FireFox's Smart Location "awesome bar" called Smart Address Field.

The new beta version is available for download at Apple's Safari Web page with both Windows and Mac OS versions ready for testing. Mac users need to be running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 and Apple's latest security update or Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 on an Intel Mac or a G3 or better Mac. Windows users need Windows XP SP 2 or Vista.

Safari is used by about 8 percent of Internet surfers, according to Net Applications, trailing Internet Explorer and FireFox.

Update 6:50 a.m. PST: Apple senior director of system software Brian Croll said the performance improvements are the result of a new JavaScript engine called Nitro. Apple used the SunSpider benchmark to post the JavaScript results, and the iBench benchmark for the HTML numbers, he said.

Croll emphasized Safari 4's support for Web standards like HTML 5, which allows Web applications to work while offline, and CSS 3 for adding graphical effects. Safari 4 has passed the Acid3 test developed by the Web Standards Project, while FireFox 3 and Internet Explorer 7 have yet to do so, he said.

As far as changes that will be more visible to average users, Safari 4 moves the tabs from below the address bar to the very top of the window, and allows you to add a new tab by clicking a "+" sign in the uppermost right-hand corner of the window.

Apple added some new history browsing options, such as the aforementioned Cover Flow interface in the basic history view as well as a new feature called Top Sites, which checks the various Web sites you visit most frequently and arranges them in a grid pattern. If one of your Top Sites has published new content since the last time you visited, a white star on a blue background appears in the upper right-hand corner of the view for that site.

Windows users will notice a new "Windows-native look," according to Croll, that uses the standard Windows font rendering. Safari has been available as a Windows browser since June 2007.

[jhawk95]

I just downloaded this and played with it for a few minutes and all I can say is..... WOW!

Apple is really pushing the envelope and is going to really freak out all the other browser makers when they see this. This is truely awesome.

[homercles82]

Yea did you like the new interface? Apple makes awesome interfaces. I am glad I can glide through previous pages in the browser. It's make this so much easier. It all looks pretty. I can't wait to spedn $3,000 on a new apple with Snow Leopard and Safari 4. This will be awesome

*sips soy latte*

[Mr. Dee]

Installed it myself and notice I cannot browse my Windows Live Space. It has a first launch video, I like the thumbnail History.

[Perry_Clease]

"Yea did you like the new interface? Apple makes awesome interfaces. I am glad I can glide through previous pages in the browser. It's make this so much easier. It all looks pretty. I can't wait to spedn $3,000 on a new apple with Snow Leopard and Safari 4. This will be awesome "

You can get a Mac for a lot less than $3000, or you can use the Windows version of Safari.

[CDubber]

@ Perry_Clease:

Please ignore the troll (homercles82). He obviously thinks his wit conceals his crappy Windows-fueled jealousy.

It doesn't.

[xcopy]

@ homercles82

Are you wearing a black T-shirt to complete the "look"? LOL

@ Perry_Clease

Did you check with apple/Jobs to find out if it's OK for you to post here? I think you better go back to the barn and see what the herd is doing....


Bah, Bah.....

[numbingpain]

So he basically refutes you and homer's ignorance with facts, and that makes him a sheep? Interesting logic, troll.

[direct225]

my feelings exactly. After years of windows, this is like visiting Disney World after going to a local park all of my life.

[mac512k]

It's nice but I'm 99% sure it was crashing my mail app. Had to uninstall and now mail runs fine

[Perry_Clease]

Did you send Apple feedback, a crash report?

[myles taylor]

Yea, every program has bugs. It's a beta. Send a crash report! :)

[El_Mikee]

How do you revert to Safari 3? (Sorry, mac noobie here...)
Does it come with an uninstaller?
Please help, before i download. Thanls :-)

[Perry_Clease]

"How do you revert to Safari 3? (Sorry, mac noobie here...)
Does it come with an uninstaller?
Please help, before i download. Thanls :-)"

It comes with an uninstaller. Or wait a few days and see how other are faring with it.

[zcollvee]

its a bit slow but its cool
the top sites thingy is a bit slow
the tob tabs thingy is a bit small to catch but so far so good :)

[MaggieRed]

No problems so far. It's quite different. Tabs move to corner. The whole UI has a whole new feel to it.

It's a very clean design. Seemed to load fairly quickly.

[armen2772]

Just got it. By far better than any other browser available at the moment. In my case, it works very fast. History search is great.

[karpenterskids]

Downloading it now...the feedback from other users so far looks good!

[jaybarrow]

I do have issues with loading my Gmail bookmark from the bookmark menu but I've sent a bug report. Not sure if anyone else had the same issues in Leopard.

[MaggieRed]

Well remember Gmail had a major outage. So that might be affecting it. (Just a guess)

[jaybarrow]

i think it's the actual link to Gmail. I can manually type in the URI and it works perfectly but my existing bookmark had to be deleted and re-added. Works now.

[web-design-addict]

Man, cover flow for history, I'm sold. This coulb be the best browser ever (and Im a firefox fan - never got into chrome).

@homercles82 - Safari is free.....

www.learnfunandeasy.com

[goodspeed8701]

i would love to test it. but i wont use it at the end. IE is good for everything but others is faster. anyway i will give it a try but i dont like loading my machine with somany apps

[seven7dust]

IE is the worlds slowest and most outdaed browser ! plzz switch to something else more modern
there's safari,chrome,firefox,opera and if you like the IE engine so much there's even maxthon !

[kelmon]

Yes, for the good of the World Wide Web, please use something other than IE. Web designers everywhere will thank you.

[kataluo]

At least Netflix streaming works on my mac but Hotmail is kaput. So far not a deal breaker.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Looks impressive, and is a definite improvement over previous versions of Safari. One question though: how do you turn Coverflow *off* ? I generally turn off such things in an OS or UI.

[Seaspray0]

Does it let you do zone settings for security?

[kelmon]

If you double-click the split in the screen between Cover Flow and the list of bookmarks then Cover Flow hides.

[Jon]

Downloaded immediately when I saw the announcement from Apple this AM. It's swift! Speedy. Sharp looking. Doesn't crash . . . well, not yet anyway. I'm using it on both my Intel iMac 23" and my old PowerBook G4 laptop. I haven't tried it on the Windows box yet. Wish they would port it over to Ubuntu (Linux). I really don't like Firefox all that much.

So far . . . a vast improvement. Thanks, Apple. Keep 'em comin'.

[JebusWankel]

If you don't mind using a Qt app, Konqueror uses the same webkit engine. By the time Konqueror uses this version of webkit, Chrome will probably have come out for linux already.

[timstarockz]

It doesn't even launch it just keeps crashing :(

[myles taylor]

Try uninstalling and reinstallng it. Keep in mind that this is a beta product (and not a fake beta like Google, but an actual beta).

[kelmon]

Do you have any plug-ins installed? If so, try removing them since incompatibility between a new version of Safari and plug-ins is the usual cause of startup crashes.

[grrroovy]

Can we expect the coverflow feature in IE9? ;-)

Seriously, I think it's time for Microsoft to put IE on ice and into maintenance-mode. Microsoft's IE browser architecture (based on the ancient COM interfaces) just cannot keep up with the performance improvements being made in WebKit and Mozilla. Microsoft's JavaScript engine and DOM interfaces are so slow compared to the competition now and a lot of it is due to its architecture. And if you need to re-architect to remain competitive, why even bother? Just replace IE's internals with WebKit, but keep the old stuff in there for backwards-compatibility with old sites. You would make a lot of web dev's lives easier too if they only had to support two platforms: WebKit (Safari, Chrome, and IE) and Mozilla (Firefox).

[cousin333]

Wow, it's definitely a surprise. A nice one. Looks good, feels good, feels beta... :) Some thoughts (I'm trying it on Windows 7):

- The UI is basically the same as in Google Chrome. Tabs on the top, + button on the right, the two dropdown buttons next to URL bar...

- the URL dropdown list looks like in IE8

- page loads are fast except some cases

- Cover flow history is a nice idea, althoug a bit laggy, and I can't see any thumbnails...

- Top sites is basically a mixture of the original Opera Speed Dial and its Chrome counterpart. It is filled with history elements (like in Chrome), but they can be pinned as well. Handling them is a bit problematic. I think Opera's version is still the best out there, if only the thumbs would refresh automatically every time I load the given page...

- I don't like the changing width of tabs, it's weird, and hard to use. Besides, they still don't close by clicking with mouse wheel.

- I can't see anything really new, except the fancy 3D effects, but I don't know, whether they are HW accelerated, I guess they don't.

[myles taylor]

I'm on it right now. I like it so far, but not the tab feature. I think they should make that optional

[tuneslover]

It seems to be 'Apple Chrome' however it works fine on Leapord, Windows Vista & Windows 7 beta...but it really sucks on Windows XP.

[seven7dust]

I'm currently using it on Xp
it's great on Xp too !
your probably having some user specific problems
try doing a re-install !

[tkapper]

Come on, this is something very well thought out and good for more than the average user.
The interface is way better than Firefox sans the add ons and way more intense than Googles attempt at their web browser!

[JebusWankel]

Coverflow for history? Shouldn't they be using the time machine view for browsing history and coverflow for flipping between tabs?

[kcotham]

As far as UI changes are concerned, Safari 4 is a major step backwards. ALL Mac OS Applications have a static top frame for the window. The tabs only took up 5 mm of screen space on my Early 2008 Mac Book. And since this is the smallest, lowest resolution screen on a Mac that is "modern" then it should be worst on it. Five millimetres is not much at all. And it definitely isn't worth ruining the entire UI over.

The Reload button has been put in the address bar. WHY!? That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. All in all, this is a very poor excuse for UI "improvements". It seems that Apple has lost their objectivity and their own direction. Ever since they've made software like Safari available for Windows they've been too concerned with courting Windows users. Go back to your roots Apple. Forget what Google or Microsoft are doing. Don't try to appease Microsoft Windows users. Follow your own Human Interface Guidelines for crying out loud!

[kelmon]

I tend to agree with this. There's a lot to like about Safari 4, particularly the speed, but the tabs is definitely strange. I'm giving it time to see if I like it in the long-term but after a day's use I have to say that it's still annoying me. Apparently there is a hidden Preference to set them back to the old style so I may well end up using that.

[mts8]

For those of you who like Safari 4 but don't like the UI changes and want to keep Safari 4 but get back the old tab style plus the blue progress bar. Run these 3 simple commands on your Terminal and restart Safari. :) You may have to customize your toolbar and add back the stop/reload button.

$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO
$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeToolbarRedesign -bool NO
$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4LoadProgressStyle -bool NO