Safari 5: Overshadowed by the iPhone 4 but equally impressive
June 9, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke
Amid the iPhone 4 filled WWDC 2010 Keynote delivered by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Monday, the release of another improved Apple product was overlooked by many. Officially available on June 8, 2010, Safari 5 provides additional features and functionality that play directly into the internet-wide transition to HTML 5.
The new features may not be readily discernible from the outside, but the changes under the hood of the Apple browser for Mac and Windows are substantial, indeed. What do they include?
The following highlights were taken from the Safari update information provided to Mac users when notifying them of the update, which automatically showed up on Tuesday:
Safari Reader: Allows readers to click on a “Reader” icon to read articles in a “single, clutter-free” page.
Improved Performance: Apple says that the newest version of Safari enhances web browsing by executing JavaScript up to 25% faster than its predecessor, performing enhanced page caching and improved DNS prefetching to make pages render faster.
Bing Search Option: For users who prefer to use what Microsoft touts as its “Decision Engine,” the Safari search field now provides the option to search via Bing, instead of just Google and Yahoo!.
Improved HTML5 support: The much publicized transition to HTML 5 and its associated bells and whistles may be a work in progress, but Apple has prepositioned itself to be ready by adding support for HTML 5 features like “Geolocation, full screen for HTML5 video, closed captions for HTML5 video, new sectioning elements (article, aside, footer, header, hgroup, nav and section), HTML5 AJAX History, EventSource, WebSocket, HTML5 draggable attribute, HTML5 forms validation, and HTML5 Ruby.”
Safari Developer Tools: The work of developers is made easier through the addition of a “Timeline Panel” in the Web Inspector, which includes already existing tools to help optimize web pages under development. Keyboard shortcuts have also been added to allow for faster switching between Web Inspector panels.
With the exception of the Bing Search and Safari Reader features, everyday internet users aren’t likely to see much of a difference now. Once more web and platform developers begin transitioning to HTML 5 and incorporating visually impressive features like geolocation, full screen video, and virtual reality views, the true value of the improvements will begin to be recognized. For now, improved DNS prefetching and faster JavaScript execution will have to suffice.
More information:
Apple.com – Download Safari 5 for Mac & PC
Apple.com – What’s New in Safari 5
