Apple releases Safari 4 as "world's fastest browser"

[AppleInsider]

Apple on Monday released a finalized version of Safari 4, which the company is billing as the "world's fastest and most innovative web browser."

Available for Mac and Windows PCs and introduced as a beta in February of this year, Safari 4 features the Nitro engine which runs JavaScript up to 4.5 times faster than its predecessor.

"The successful beta release helped us fine tune Safari 4 into an even better, faster version that customers are going to love," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Safari is enjoyed by 70 million users worldwide and with its blazing fast speed, innovative features and support for modern web standards, it's the best browser on any platform."

Safari 4 is built on some of the most advanced browser technologies including the new Nitro JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript nearly eight times faster than IE 8 and more than four times faster than Firefox 3, according to Apple's tests. The company also claims that Safari quickly loads HTML web pages more than three times faster than IE 8 and three times faster than Firefox 3.

Starting with the development of the open source WebKit browser engine, Apple has been an industry leader in defining and implementing innovative web standards. Safari 4 includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies and support for advanced CSS Effects, enabling an entirely new class of web applications that feature rich media, graphics and fonts.

Safari 4 is also 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 standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.



Other new features in Safari 4 include:

-- Top Sites, offering a visual preview of frequently visited and favorite pages
-- Full History Search, to search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages
-- Cover Flow, to easily flip through web history or bookmarks.
-- Smart Address Fields for automatically completing web addresses from an easy to read list of suggestions
-- Search Fields, to fine tune searches with recommendations from Google Suggest or a list of recent searches
-- Full Page Zoom, for a closer look at any website without degrading the quality of the site's layout and text.

In Mac OS X Snow Leopard, available later this year, Safari runs as a 64-bit application, boosting the performance of the Nitro JavaScript engine by up to 50 percent. Apple says Snow Leopard makes Safari more resistant to crashes by running plug-ins in a separate process, so even if a plug-in crashes, Safari continues to run and the user simply has to reload the affected page.



Pricing & Availability

Safari 4 is available for both Mac OS X and Windows as a free download.

Safari 4 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard v10.5.7 or Mac OS X Tiger v10.4.11 and Security Update 2009-002, a minimum 256MB of memory and is designed to run on any Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. Safari 4 for Windows requires Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista, a minimum 256MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Quantz]

"and more than four times faster than Firefox 3, according to Apple's tests."

I love Apple but this is pure fantasy.
I use and test Fox and Safari on the same websites,
and Fox is consistently faster.
Besides, Safari 4-th of its name and still no sorting of the favorites ?
I have 890 of them and there's no way I would use Safari without that functionality.

Come on…

[- J B 7 2 -]

What happned to the tabs on top? I was just getting into that.

[unother]

Thankfully they fixed the most egregious UI errors from the Beta... the title/tab bar is now only the title bar again; and the load/stop button becomes a highly visible nub instead of being nearly invisible.

[jcbigears]

On the Safari website it still talks about Safari 4 beta. Is this what was released today, or are we still waiting for the website to be updated?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Quantz

"and more than four times faster than Firefox 3, according to Apple's tests."

I love Apple but this is pure fantasy.
I use and test Fox and Safari on the same websites,
and Fox is consistently faster.
Besides, Safari 4-th of its name and still no sorting of the favorites ?
I have 890 of them and there's no way I would use Safari without that functionality.

Come on…

They aren’t lying, but they are marketing. The tests that are 4x are measuring certain things, like JS. And they are surely not using the latest FF betas for a comparison.

I just hope that this release isn’t buggy. With other browsers catching up to them in Acid3 it is best for them to release their browser as first publically released, no beta browser that scores a perfect on Acid3 (note that a 100/100 is a necessarily a passing score).

[probably]

Here's the new layout.

[shubidua]

Maybe they were also testing on snow leopard, who knows ?

[Nano_tube]

I am sooooo relieved with the fact that they fixed this horrible horrible top tab thing...
It was so annoying and SO ugly.

I actually sounded a sigh of relief after the restart when I ran Safari 4!

LOL



EDIT: And (drums please), they have finally added a "New Tab" button in the customize toolbar. Thats funny as there is already the '+' button on the tab bar, but I guess later is better than never...

IMHO, Safari is now perfect.

[ecking]

I want my tabs back on top! That gave more browsing space, damn apple that was the thing about the beta I liked the most!

[ecking]

Originally Posted by probably

Here's the new layout.

I haven't updated from the beta yet, I might not for a few days. The product page talks about a zoom button, next to the back/forward buttons, where is it?

[jahvelin]

i liked them and miss them... they should give us a choice...

[jpellino]

It's a hung jury on them - at least *allow* them. I initially despised them, but after this long I understand their worth and love them, but realize not all do.

[arlomedia]

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to switch between Safari 3 and Safari 4 on my computer? When I install a new iLife application, I usually rename the old one to keep it around for a while, and then the new version won't overwrite it. If I rename my current Safari application to "Safari 3" will it still run after installing Safari 4?

I'm a web developer and I want to keep the option of testing in the "old" version if possible.

[archer75]

In real world tests Safari 4 is consistently slower than firefox. Trades blows with IE8. Chrome easily takes the lead.

But I have a question, how do you access the activity windows in Safari 4?

[Zandros]

Sweet mother of Jesus, Apple actually listened!

Awesome.

[BruceLee5000]

Originally Posted by Quantz

Besides, Safari 4-th of its name and still no sorting of the favorites ?
I have 890 of them and there's no way I would use Safari without that functionality.
Come on…

Quantz, what do you mean, you can't sort Bookmarks (favorites)?

Go to the Bookmarks Menu and choose "Show All Bookmarks".

There you can make folders and nest and rename to your hearts content!

(forgive me if you're on a PC and it doesn't work the same way over there, but I'm pretty sure it should.)

Good luck!

[Jimzip]

Originally Posted by Zandros

Sweet mother of Jesus, Apple actually listened!

Awesome.

Haha. Seems that was the theme of today's keynote.

I too was just getting into the tab-on-top jazz. Weird that they'd backtrack and not even offer it as an option now.

Also ecking Safari retains your old prefs, so the zoom buttons are hidden in 'Customize Toolbar' when you right-click near the back/forward buttons (if you didn't already have them out there before the update).

Jimzip

[John.B]

Does anyone know the status of FlashBlock and AdBlock Plus functionality for Safari 4? I'm a FF3 user but the new Safari release is rockin'. Just add those to plug-ins (or however that has to be implemented in Safari) and I'm officially a convert!

[ivan.rnn01]

Originally Posted by archer75

But I have a question, how do you access the activity windows in Safari 4?

Window/Activity [ ⌥-⌘-A, Alt-Cmd-A ], Bro...

And who only could help me to get my tabs back on top?

[teckstud]

With one button? If not- who cares?

[mr O]

Originally Posted by jahvelin

i liked them and miss them... they should give us a choice...

Tabs on top were of big annoyance when you wanted to grab a window.

I ended up selecting tabs i/o dragging windows

It's a good thing Apple put them back below

The new Safari is a beauty! Thumbs up to the Safari team!

[ivan.rnn01]

RSS feed bookmarks in folder still don't work. $#&$*&^*(*)_(+_)+_**(^&^$%$

Ste-e-e-eve! Please come back soon! Please!

[Idle]

Originally Posted by ecking

I want my tabs back on top! That gave more browsing space, damn apple that was the thing about the beta I liked the most!

Yes! I'm glad that there are at least a few of us out there who think this. That was the first thing I checked, and it resulted in a very audible moan from me. Every half inch of browsing space means something, especially on a little 13" screen.

There was a "secret" terminal command to move the tabs downward in the beta releases...maybe someone will come across a similar command for the final?

[Idle]

Originally Posted by mr O

Tabs on top were of big annoyance when you wanted to grab a window.

I ended up selecting tabs i/o dragging windows

I actually never ran into that problem...the inactive tabs always stayed inactive for me when I dragged windows from their spots on the title bar.

[Quantz]

Originally Posted by solipsism

They aren’t lying, but they are marketing. The tests that are 4x are measuring certain things, like JS. And they are surely not using the latest FF betas for a comparison.

I just hope that this release isn’t buggy. With other browsers catching up to them in Acid3 it is best for them to release their browser as first publically released, no beta browser that scores a perfect on Acid3 (note that a 100/100 is a necessarily a passing score).

Granted, Safari 4 (and this is not Beta, even if still named as such on the download page)
is very fast, and slightly faster than Firefox 3 (no Beta either) in some pages (tested it),
it still lacking a huge spec for me : no sorting of the bookmarks (as Firefox does : A>B,
B>A, by date, etc.).
How come they didn't just think of it, it's beyond me.
Am I supposed to MANUALLY sort my 890 + bookmarks ? Steve, really ? Phil ?

[Quantz]

Originally Posted by BruceLee5000

Quantz, what do you mean, you can't sort Bookmarks (favorites)?

Go to the Bookmarks Menu and choose "Show All Bookmarks".

There you can make folders and nest and rename to your hearts content!

(forgive me if you're on a PC and it doesn't work the same way over there, but I'm pretty sure it should.)

Good luck!

I'm on a Mac since 1993.
Alright. I click "Show All Bookmarks".
And then ?
I have 890 FOLDERS of them, with anywhere from 5 to 100 bookmarks in each folder, and adding maybe 5 or 6 bookmarks each week. It means I have maybe 8000 or 9000 bookmarks in these folders.
Am I supposed to MANUALLY sort them from A to B ?
You must be kidding…

Back to Firefox :
"Organize Bookmarks", and then bingo : from A>Z or Z>A or by date or anything else, in one click,
done in 1 SECOND.
Wake up, Apple.

Moreover : in Firefox, I have the Xmarks add-on that synchronizes and sort all my folders and bookmarks
AUTOMATICALLY each time I add bookmarks in my collection.

Instead, in Safari, only solution is this :
http://www.macworld.com/article/5175...afarisort.html
Tedious…

[Erunno]

Originally Posted by John.B

Does anyone know the status of FlashBlock and AdBlock Plus functionality for Safari 4? I'm a FF3 user but the new Safari release is rockin'. Just add those to plug-ins (or however that has to be implemented in Safari) and I'm officially a convert!

ClickToFlash is the equivalent of FlashBlock for WebKit based applications. Safari Adblock is the closest thing that to Adblock Plus you'll find for Safari. It supports ABP's filter subscriptions but doesn't offer advanced functionality like element hiding. Plus, making rules/exceptions isn't as easy as with ABP.

[Erunno]

Meh, I was hoping that Safari 4 would allow to search in site titles when typing in the address bar (akin to Firefox' AwesomeBar). Turns out it matches only the beginnings of an URL like with Safari 3. This is a let-down as this functionality is one of the major things tying me to Firefox as it eases my daily usage of the browser more than any speed bump can do.

[Yoshokun]

Bring the tabs on top back! Or at least make it an option.

I've been running a strings against the binary and I haven't seen any hidden prefs so far to change it back..

That's really disappointing. I guess now it's up to Chrome to bring it back.

[ivan.rnn01]

Neither
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool YES

nor
defaults write com.apple.Safari Safari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool YES

nor
defaults write com.apple.Safari TabBarIsOnTop -bool YES

work anymore...

[Yoshokun]

All of the DebugSafari4 or Safari4 pref lines are gone in the new version. No point in trying to use them. I'm not seeing anything so far looking through manually to see if it's set another way. But it'll take a while to look through everything. =\

[BenRoethig]

Originally Posted by - J B 7 2 -

What happned to the tabs on top? I was just getting into that.

I know the feeling. Major step backwards to please a couple of people.

[ad4m.phillips]

Why move the tabs back down and not give an option

Alos, why can't they implement the three finger scroll to the top/bottom of the page like Firefox, that's my favourite feature. I'll stick with FF for now then

[LookingUp]

Does anybody have a rational explanation why URL SnapBack was removed from Safari 4?

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by Mr.blue

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250439846296&_trkparms =tab%3DSelling[/url]

Great way to get banned

[alexfischer]

Another vote here for a tabs on top option.
It was actually the main thing I'd point out to people when trying to sell them on Safari.

The interface looks clunky now.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by alexfischer

Another vote here for a tabs on top option.
It was actually the main thing I'd point out to people when trying to sell them on Safari.

The interface looks clunky now.

Agree, whole heartedly.

[Kolchak]

Originally Posted by Quantz

I have 890 FOLDERS of them, with anywhere from 5 to 100 bookmarks in each folder, and adding maybe 5 or 6 bookmarks each week. It means I have maybe 8000 or 9000 bookmarks in these folders.
Am I supposed to MANUALLY sort them from A to B ?
You must be kidding…

Make up your mind. First you claim you have 890+ bookmarks, even in the post immediately preceding this. Now you claim it's 890+ folders? Anybody with 9000 bookmarks isn't using the Web properly. You have way too much junk there and almost certainly more than a few 404s among them.

[Quantz]

Originally Posted by Kolchak

Make up your mind. First you claim you have 890+ bookmarks, even in the post immediately preceding this. Now you claim it's 890+ folders? Anybody with 9000 bookmarks isn't using the Web properly. You have way too much junk there and almost certainly more than a few 404s among them.

Your reply is , excuse me, irrelevant to the subject.

FYI : I don't bookmark junk, all my bookmarks are checked weekly, and all are up to date.

Still, the question was : since years, Apple never implemented sorting of bookmarks in Safari, and it's severely lacking.

Reply : ?