Today Apple announced their Safari Web Browser — the “Turbo Browser for OS X”. So of course I had to download the public beta right away.
This is sweet. I work in a web-based publishing system all day long, and I’m flying thru tasks more quickly than ever before. I never realized that the browser itself could make such a difference.
And of course, I had to try it out on O’Reilly’s own Safari — Safari Bookshelf, though maybe we should start calling it “Turbo books for your browser”. And I’m happy to report: Apple Safari is a good match for O’Reilly Safari.
Update: Here are links to some more in-depth postings around the web:
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Initial reactions to Safari — some excellent information (especially in comparing Safari to Chimera) from Six Log, “the weblog of Six Apart, the company behind Movable Type”.
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Safari information for web designers — lots of information about rendering bugs and CSS issues, from diveintomark.org.
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Apple’s “Other Applications” discussions area has some lively discussions about Safari issues and features.
What do you think of the Safari web browser so far?
The word on the Expo floor ...
... seemed very positive about Safari. The two most popular comments were the excellent speed and the compliance to standards. Based on the reaction here at Macworld, this browser is off to a good start.
Mozilla
safari rocks-- fast. Beautiful text aliasing-- 10 years ahead of anything on Windows.
But, I will stick with Mozilla (the previouss fastest browser) for now. I caan't live without tabbed browsing. Also, Safari will not connect to certain secure sites. I was unable to load Budget rent-a-car.
Secure sites seem to be an issue
Most secure sites, such as online banking or intranets w/ custom certificates, are busting Safari. Also have problems w/ some MS-coded JavaScript for dynamic menus. But my take is that this is a great start for a speedy Mac browser... except ya gotta have the tabbed browsing, Apple!
What about Tabs!
I'm excited about Safari, but I'd be in heaven if Safari did tabbed browsing. Opening sites in new windows is so 20th century.
Secure websites
I agree about secure websites. I can't use Safari to pay bills with Frost Bank. I have the same problem with OmniWeb, having to keep a copy off Netscape around just for online banking.