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Despite all the hyperbole over Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) "world's fastest and most innovative browser" claim, there's a lot to genuinely like in the beta of Safari 4 -- along with a few minor quibbles.
Apple boasts that the Nitro JavaScript engine in Safari 4 runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3, up to 30 times faster than Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Internet Explorer 7, and more than 3 times faster than Mozilla's Firefox 3. It loads HTML pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.
Starting with speed, Safari 4 does seem a little faster, but I'm sitting on a 3 Mbps DSL connection that usually delivers around 2 Mbps -- and I'm hard pressed to find any Web pages that use JavaScript that were lazy dogs with Safari 3. I'm all for performance improvements, but I doubt the average user is going to notice much here unless they're really paying attention or have a few favorite sites that are painful to load.
A variety of sites online have confirmed the JavaScript gains -- and Cnet UK's Crave gadget blog benchmark test found that Safari 4 was actually 42 times faster than IE 7 and six times faster than IE 8 (and a little faster than Minefield, Chrome, Firefox 3, and Opera).
While we're all hopped up on the speed-claim bandwagon, Apple says Safari 4 is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project's Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG Web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic Web applications. Cool. (But some other browser makers aren't particularly interested or concerned with the test.)
What Sucks
At first glance, Safari 4 for Mac OS X appears remarkably similar to Safari 3. Now, though, there's a little bug icon in the right side of the toolbar for reporting bugs, the reload button has disappeared (but is now at the end of the URL's address field), and the tabs are at the top -- above the address bar in the spot that used to be taken by a page's title. It's a little like Chrome, for those who've tried out Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) new browser.
At first, the new tabs are painful, so much so that I went looking for Safari 3 ... and realized my machine ditched it in favor of Safari 4. Sure, I could have snagged it via Time Machine or simply downloaded it, but I pressed on.
Here's the deal: I use tabs a lot. At any given moment, I'll have a couple dozen Web pages open using tabs in a handful of pages, and on some days, I'll have dozens of pages loaded, all with multiple tabs.
The new position alone was enough to give me fits for a few hours, but after a couple of days, I got used to it. I'd almost rather stick bookmarks up there and keep the tabs below the address bar to keep them more visually connected with the content of the page.
The net result of the new tabs, however, is that the typical toolbar area takes up about 25 percent less space. Now, instead of four rows of tabs, bookmarks, address, and title fields, there are just three rows. It gives you a bit of extra vertical space for Web page content. Handy.
Is it all in preparation for a screen-constrained Mac netbook, perhaps?
Speaking of the Mac netbook idea, Apple has added a Full Page Zoom feature that gives you a closer look at any Web site without degrading the quality of the site's layout and text. This is similar to the feature found on the iPhone and iPod touch. It's only moderately handy on a regular screen, but on a netbook or tablet screen, it might become necessary. A simple command key and + combination will zoom you in nicely.
The Killer Features: Cover Flow and Top Sites
It didn't take long for Apple to get hammered with criticism over a couple of its eye-candy features, Cover Flow and Top Sites, but those critics just don't understand -- humans are a visually oriented species, and these two features have the power to make browsing better than ever before. Let me explain.
First, let's talk history.
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I cover a lot of ground on the Web, and sometimes I accidentally close windows I don't mean to -- or close a window that takes out a series of tabs -- and finding the page I want to return to in a long history list can be hit or miss (mostly miss). Then I'm googling again until I eventually find my way back. Safari 4's Cover Flow history feature changes everything.
Unlike the not-so-useful Cover Flow in iTunes and on the iPhone, Cover Flow for history is amazing. It gives you a set of pictures of the Web pages you've visited in chronological order, making it surprisingly easy to recognize the page you want to return to.
Nice work, Apple. I was sold in about three seconds.
Apple also has two additional features available from the History drop down menu: Reopen Last Closed Window and Reopen All Windows From Last Session. These options can help you return to the sites you want if you accidentally close a window (or make it easier to snoop on others).
Top Sites - Wow!
Some people just don't care much about elegance, favoring function above all else. I like form and function to blend in an elegant package, and Apple's new Top Sites features hits the mark. In the upper right corner of Safari 4, there's a + button. Click it and it launches Top Sites, which shows you a curved wall built from the Web pages you visit most. The default is twelve pages, but you can reduce the size and fit 24 pages ... or amp it up and get 6 pages. Safari 4 automatically generates the pages.
[Click Image to Enlarge]
It seems to be pretty smart, too. Of 12 pages, only one happened to be a page I didn't believe I followed particularly often. What if you want to get rid of a page? No problem. Click Edit (bottom left) then "X" the page. Similarly, if there's a page you want to keep, you can pin it into position on the wall.
To make this wall even more useful, Safari 4 notifies you when a site has changed by peeling back a portion of the site and giving it a star icon. If you click on any of the pages, it opens up into a new tab in your browser window.
In addition, Apple has improved the address field by making it smarter -- start typing an address and it automatically completes Web addresses by displaying an easy-to-read list of suggestions from Top Sites, bookmarks and browsing history.
On the downside, Safari 4 doesn't boast the plug-in capabilities that come with Firefox 3, and Apple hasn't indicated much interest in fostering a plug-in community. PC users, though, might appreciate the new Windows-native look of their version of Safari, which uses standard Windows font rendering and native title bar, borders and toolbars.
For previous Safari 3 users, Safari 4 is definitely a worthy upgrade. And so far, over a few days and gobs of pages, it hasn't crashed once.
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