Apple Releases Safari 4 Beta: Faster, Prettier, and Easier to Use
Apple today released the first public beta of Safari 4, which sports a redesigned interface that resembles Google's Chrome, as well as support for all of the major Internet standards, and a large range of new and enhanced features. Among these new features are a reimagined start page with a speed-dial interface similar to what Opera and Chrome are currently offering, a Cover Flow-like interface for browsing your bookmarks and history, and the ability to perform a full-text history search of your bookmarks.
Overall, Safari 4 feels a lot like the love child of iTunes and Google Chrome. It takes some of the best UI elements of both and mashes them up in a browser that can now easily compete with Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer - though, of course, it does lack the third-party developer ecosystem that has sprung up around Firefox.
Granted, most of the new features in Safari 4 are not exactly new, but, as Apple does so often, it exceeds at putting all of these features together in a very attractive package.
New Features
Just like Chrome, Safari 4 has moved its tabs all the way to the top of the browser window. Apple, however, did not copy Google's unified search and address bar but stuck with the more traditional separation of the two.
Cover Flow
The new Cover Flow interface for bookmarks and your browser history is partly just eye-candy, but it also does work surprisingly well and can come in handy when you just remember the layout of a page, but not the exact name. The interface displays a screenshot of the bookmarked pages. Secure pages are blacked out.
Top Sites
The speed-dial startup page, named 'Top Sites' by Apple, is quite similar to what we have seen from Google and Opera. The page is generated automatically, based on the sites you visit most often, but Safari 4 also allows you to rearrange items on the page and pin certain sites to the page, so that they won't disappear even if you don't visit them as frequently. You can set Top Sites to display 6, 12, or 24 pages. Top Sites will also notify you when a page has been updated.
Full History Search
Safari now also features a 'full history search,' which not only remembers the page titles and URLs you went to, but also indexes the text from every page you visit. It should be noted that Opera also offers full history search.
Performance
In our informal tests, running the Sunspider JavaScript benchmarks, Safari beat out Firefox 3.0.6 by a wide margin (800ms vs. 2280ms), though the latest developer version of Chrome came out on top (617ms). While using the browser, however, it didn't feel like there was a significant difference between Chrome and Safari 4. Emails in Gmail opened almost instantly, and even complex pages rendered very quickly.
Safari on Windows
On Windows machines, Safari finally feels like a native application that mostly blends into the environment - though the plain gray background still makes it stand out a bit.
Developer Tools
Safari 4 now includes a wide range of developer tools. Among those are a new resources pane, a tools for managing databases, and a JavaScript debugger and profiler.
Verdict
Safari 4 is a significant update to Apple's browser. In terms of features and usability, it might actually now be ahead of most of its competition, and Safari's performance is on par or better than its competition as well. Where it lacks, however, is in its support for third-party plugins (though the existing plugins do tend to be of a rather high quality). For mainstream users, this is often not an issue, and these users will be more than happy with Safari. As you would expect from Apple, Safari's user interface is extremely well thought out, and features like Top Sites or the full history search make it a browser that is both functional and fun to use.
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Sure wish there was plugins and greasemonkey :( But then it would likely slow down!
Looks to me that Apple put their UI on top of Google Chrome.
gmail doesn't work.
1password doesn't work
there's no reload button nor is there an option to add one.
need to roll back. this is very very not useful and has cost me valuable time.
Although claimed by Apple as fastest browser, I dont think its qiute that fast! I have used many other browsers and feel that google crome is the fastest of them all. By the way they have added new features such as "cover flow" which I like very much.
@baratunde - Gmail DOES work, and there is a reload icon, now located inside the URL box (a la Safari on the iPhone).
I'm loving it, after an hour of usage. Safari 3 was my default on my Mac, and now it's the new 4beta. Excellent stuff.
I think it's best to use Safari 4 Beta with Mac OS. If you're having Windows OS, it would not perform to its optimum level.
safari 4 really really sucks
No reload button!!!
No sort bookmarks option
And the tabs on top are ridicoulous.
Apple wake up!
Gmail isn't working for me. I've reset safari, cleared the cache, cookies--everything--and it's still not working. Anybody have a fix for this?
Wow, I've never heard people bitch like the people in these comments. Half of them don't even know what they are talking about. . .
I'll sit out a couple weeks and have them fix most of the bugs before i toy with this...
I have not checked it out yet, but looking through my Google alerts today for the word usability, RWW was the first to say easy to use. I have seen many complaints on it's usability so far.
I used the labs feature of gmail offline. it appears that this does not work with safari. Open gmail in firefox and turn it off. This worked for me hopefully for you too
The tabs are very annoying and confusing.
The reload button is there (oh, wait, where? Oh... Location bar... I see.) But only in Mac version of Safari.
It's so freaking tiny. Apple is thinking we are all having super low resolution monitors, like 600x400, that the reload button is so f@@king big a$$ that everyone would be able to see it.
Thumbs down, Apple!
@ Stijn - I switched Gmail Offline off but it still not working.
Does not work with hotmail, an obscure email program.
Works poorly with ebay, an obscure internet shopping/auction service.
Despite some issues with some lees popular sites, Safari 4 is just jimdandy.
I know no one uses these sites... I now have Gmail & rocketmail too & ebay is an addiction... but still!
The few problems I have with it and it has suddenly quit on me twice and it has an issue with gmail.
Gmail problem is that : after logging in and the automatic refresh get stuck in an endless redirecting cycle. If I leave gmail without logging out and return to gmail - I receive the same endless redirecting until gmail says the url request is too long. I have to go to google and log out then return to gmail and log back in to get my email. I've sent my bug issue to apple.
I've gotta go back to my old Safari until these problems are fixed.
But I do like the tabs at the top and the top sites option. very sleek!
So they stole tabs from Google chrome, same for the most visited pages... on the performance side and the "web standards compatiblity" etc it's behind Opera 10 anyway, same for the developers tools.
The button to close the tab is tiny, ah, and there's no skins.
Why would I go with Safari when Opera or even Firefox gives me similar/greater performance, more customization and functionality (saving multiple passwords as one example, skins/themes as second)?
I'm really dissapointed in Apple.
press apple key then 'r' your page magically reloads without your mouse getting tired travelling up the screen, also BETA is the key word here, start complaining about bugs and websites not working when the proper version comes out, nobody asked you to upgrade what did you expect - your 'testing' it for apple, im sure they'll find your feedback usefull and you'll have done your job - well done everybody!!
to Paper.
check if your privacy browsing mode is active. it can't write cookies like this and so cannot logout.
to those who can't find the roload button:
look at the end of the address bar.
As a new mac user, everything was going along smoothly until this safari 4 update. Now im spending soooo much time learning how to uninstall it so i can use my gmail and such normally again. Figured out the problem by reseting it, closing it in apple mail, clearing cache ect.
There's a lot of crap i would rather be doing then trying to work around safari 4. The loading bar is super annoying too.
THUMBS DOWN! GOOGLE CHROME WHERE ARE YOU WITH MAC?
I really wish I had stopped Safari 4 from loading. It gives a "URL Too Long" error with my gmail which is a pain since I use it as work. Please fix this toot sweet. Other than that...it looks good...but still need to put it through its paces.
Brian
Any fixes for the URL too long/Gmail thing??!?!? I'm loosing my mind! Its a random issue and catches me when I need it the least..
I'll sit out a couple weeks and have them fix most of the bugs before i toy with this...
to those who can't find the roload button:
look at the end of the address bar...