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Safari 5.0.3 update adds "more accurate" results in Safari's address field, Flash fix, more

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Nov 18th 2010 at 11:45AM

Safari 5.03 is available via Software Update on your Mac, or Apple Software Update on your PC. Apple lists the following new and changed items:

This update contains improvements to usability, compatibility, stability, accessibility and security, including the following:

  • More accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field
  • More accurate results in Top Sites
  • Fixes an issue that could cause content delivered with the Flash 10.1 plug-in to overlap webpage content
  • More reliable pop-up blocking
  • Improved stability when typing into search and text input fields on www.netflix.com and www.facebook.com
  • Improved stability when using JavaScript-intensive extensions
  • Improved stability when using VoiceOver with Safari

This update (like all Safari updates) does require a reboot as the OS X Webkit framework is being upgraded, not just Safari as an application. Safari 4.1.3 is also available for Tiger. You can also check out the security updates included here.

UPDATE: Holy wow, Apple seems to have fixed the nasty address field behavior I wrote about some weeks back. Details with side-by-side comparison on the next page.


I sync my Safari browser using MobileMe. On Machine A I'm running Safari 5.0.2. On Machine B, 5.0.3. Below you can see the better results delivered in Top Hit. Specifically, Top Hit now prefers your bookmarks to the words in headlines on web pages. A simple shift, but an important one for people who use their browser daily and know how to save bookmarks.
Below is the behavior in 5.0.2:

and here's the behavior in 5.0.3, giving me the more logical suggestion based on what I have bookmarked:


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Safari 5.03 is available via Software Update on your Mac, or Apple Software Update on your PC. Apple lists the following new and changed...
 

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24 Comments

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Anthony La

The address field STILL takes the domain over any frequently visited pages on said domain, e.g. "kotaku.com" over "kotaku.com/?p=1". I even BOOKMARKED the latter and the top hit is always the top level.

I use the latter address because otherwise I'd be redirected to the Australian site.

November 19 2010 at 5:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
AppleZilla

Thank God. The autofill was Awful.

November 18 2010 at 2:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
robert

Totally stoked they changed the URL completion to be more about URLs than page titles.

November 18 2010 at 2:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
owenmhv

safari, oh, forgot it was even there, use firefox, chrome & opera, in that order, no safari, on my mac.

November 18 2010 at 12:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to owenmhv's comment
John.B

And yet you found time to read the story and then post a response on the blog comments.

November 18 2010 at 3:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jamie White

Firefox is dreadful on OS X, the only apps that take longer to launch are Adobe’s suite.

November 19 2010 at 2:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ross Kimes

I wish Safari would unite the search bar and address bar like the new Internet Explorer.

November 18 2010 at 12:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to Ross Kimes's comment
digocms

Yes, the adress bar is now "less-dumb"... About time!

November 18 2010 at 12:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
9 replies to digocms's comment
sider1681

A couple things;

- Why just single out www.netflix.com and www.facebook.com? What are they doing differently that would cause typing into search and text input fields unstable?
- Why not just disabled the Top Hit results 'feature' all together? It's been my experience with it that it is more of a hassle and than useful.

Why I ask... why?

November 18 2010 at 12:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to sider1681's comment
Philip Pryce

They mention it like that so the "common" people who use computers (for want of a better word) understand the fixes.

Rather than explaining the basics of Javascript based auto-complete webikit-specific bugs.

They're just familiar examples, I'm sure they're not specifically targeting those sites in their code.

November 18 2010 at 12:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ryanasimov

STILL no whitelist for the pop-up blocker? C'mon, Apple...

November 18 2010 at 12:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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