Filed under: WWDC, Internet Tools, Software Update, Apple
Apple releases Safari 4
One of the early announcements in this morning's keynote was that Safari 4 is now out of beta! You can download Safari 4 for yourself (Mac or Windows) from Apple's site. Apple is touting Safari 4 as the fastest web browser around, besting IE 8, Firefox and Chrome in speed tests.
As with the Safari 4 betas, Safari 4 passes Acid 3 tests with a 100/100 -- the first (and only cross-platform) browser to achieve this level of standards compliance.
The big news for users of the Safari 4 betas is that the tab orientation has been changed. In the beta, tabs were on the top of the application window, now they are below the URL field, just like in previous versions of Safari. I'm a fan! I also like the snazzy updates to the "loading" notification and the RSS indicator.
Safari 4 has way too many features for me to list, so I'll just point you to Apple's page that details everything. The HTML 5 media and offline support, CSS 3 web fonts and CSS animations are some of my favorites.
Safari 4 is fast, thanks to the new JavaScript engine. It also integrates with both your Mac or with Windows, and the new Cover Flow History View for viewing your web history, or Top Sites for seeing what sites you visit most are totally, totally slick.
Download Safari 4 here and then come back and tell us what you think! Remember, any third-party InputManagers like Saft will need to be updated if you want to use them with Safari 4.
As with the Safari 4 betas, Safari 4 passes Acid 3 tests with a 100/100 -- the first (and only cross-platform) browser to achieve this level of standards compliance.
The big news for users of the Safari 4 betas is that the tab orientation has been changed. In the beta, tabs were on the top of the application window, now they are below the URL field, just like in previous versions of Safari. I'm a fan! I also like the snazzy updates to the "loading" notification and the RSS indicator.
Safari 4 has way too many features for me to list, so I'll just point you to Apple's page that details everything. The HTML 5 media and offline support, CSS 3 web fonts and CSS animations are some of my favorites.
Safari 4 is fast, thanks to the new JavaScript engine. It also integrates with both your Mac or with Windows, and the new Cover Flow History View for viewing your web history, or Top Sites for seeing what sites you visit most are totally, totally slick.
Download Safari 4 here and then come back and tell us what you think! Remember, any third-party InputManagers like Saft will need to be updated if you want to use them with Safari 4.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Michael Flux said 5:04PM on 6-08-2009
I'm disappointed here... I actually quite loved the tabs on top. Feels so... old now... :(
Reply
travis said 5:52PM on 6-08-2009
no kidding, i'll stick with beta while i can just for the tabs at the top. stupid apple. and i guess i will switch to chrome when it's released.
Jackinloadup said 6:51PM on 6-08-2009
No kidding, i thought the tabs on top were great. When i noticed i thought it would just be a preference but nope. I hope someone finds a work around like a hidden preference or something.
puhsitch said 7:04PM on 6-08-2009
For those who aren't aware, Stainless seems like an interesting browser project, and it happens to keep tabs on top as well.
http://www.stainlessapp.com
gerdozain said 8:08PM on 6-08-2009
I WANT TABS ON TOP AGAIN!!!!!!
Hate hate hate the tabs where they finally are. Why go back when the other layout was so great!!!!
Come on, I'll count until 3.
1, 2, 3 ...
ianlive said 12:17AM on 6-09-2009
When tabs on top came in on the Beta I found it really difficult to use, but kept telling myself that change is good and I would get use to it. I wanted to avoid sounding like all of the old bearded guys running OS 9 who spout off, "Those were the good old days, damn fancy OS X is all hype."
Yet as hard as I tried I never fully adapted to the tabs on top and was soooo happy to see them back where (I feel) they should be.
Wooohoooo!
The progress bar (albeit modified) is great to see back too.
Ian S. said 4:45AM on 6-09-2009
No kidding! I loved tabs on top, it saves so much screen space...
If apple as any sense left in them, they'd at least give the option to place the tab bar on top, with the old setup its quite annoying especially if you like to have your bookmark bar visible
C'mon apple!
Mark said 6:48AM on 6-09-2009
Having the Tabs on top worked great for me. I could have a window just below the other and all tabs were visible. I want the option to place them back on top.
Ryan Karolak said 12:49PM on 6-09-2009
I haven't tried this yet, since I haven't updated from Beta and I'm not near my Mac, but in MacOS X you could change the whether the tabs were on the top or the bottom with the terminal. To switch to the bottom you would type:
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO
and for the top:
defaults delete com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop
Again, I haven't tried this yet myself so I don't know if it'll work with the final version of Safari 4, but its worth a try.
oliver hart said 5:06PM on 6-08-2009
"As with the Safari 4 betas, Safari 4 passes Acid 3 tests with a 100/100 -- the first (and only cross-platform) browser to achieve this level of standards compliance.
not true-Opera did too
Reply
Christina Warren said 5:16PM on 6-08-2009
This is true, although technically it is Opera 10 alpha (now beta) that passes, the final release isn’t out yet. I'll make that more clear.
Dano said 10:49PM on 6-08-2009
Is Opera "cross-platform"? I think that is what the "only" caveat referred to...
darkfire said 11:42AM on 6-09-2009
Well Safari only works windows and MAC. But opera works on Windows, Mac, Linux, symbian, nitendo ds. Making it shame FireFox and safari in the cross-platform race.
none said 5:07PM on 6-08-2009
The tabs change makes me sad.
How can we get them back on top??!
Reply
none said 5:09PM on 6-08-2009
How can we get the tabs back on top?!
Reply
Sam said 5:09PM on 6-08-2009
Safari tabs on top were the greatest thing to ever happen to Safari. Putting them there was GENIUS! Seriously. Greatest move. Ever.
Here's why: http://tr.im/nPuv
There is no reason why they shouldn't still be doing this. At least make it an option! I'm dying inside today because of this.
The top bar is for the most part useless (but necessary). Combining the tabs with that space was a great move.
P.S. They also still have not fixed the bug which keeps you from using javascript to resize the browser when multiple tabs are open. Seriously? All they did was muck it up since the beta.
Reply
Johnny said 5:17PM on 6-08-2009
I feel your pain. Why couldn't they have made a simple option in preferences? Just a little checkbox labeled 'Place tabs on top'? They might have just lost me to Chrome (when a solid release is finally available).
Christina Warren said 5:17PM on 6-08-2009
I had the JavaScript FS bug in Safari 3.1.whatever too -- so I'm not sure if it just Safari 4 specific, though you are right, it SHOULD be fixed. As for tabs on top, I liked it a lot at first but trying to drag stuff with them got really tedious, so I understand reverting back. It'll be interesting to see if there is a reverse terminal trick out there.
Sam said 6:01PM on 6-08-2009
I've hunted around in the prefs file and couldn't find anything. I don't think there was anything in the beta either so it doesn't look good.
Even if there were an option available, the graphics files within Safari 4 would need the images used for the old tabs. I'm doubtful they're in there but I'll have to poke around a bit.
In the meantime, everyone please file bug reports and ask them to bring this back!
Paul said 5:41PM on 6-08-2009
Agreed. As soon as I downloaded I hit all the preference areas to see if I could change that setting. Hopefully it's in the app somewhere, and we can change it via a terminal command.