Apple recently released a Windows version of their internet browser, Safari. While I do love macs, I’m primarily a PC person and a long-time Firefox convert. With only a few laps around the old ‘tubes, I’m quite impressed with the PC version of this “world’s best browser.”
HTML Rendering Speed
The first claim that caught my attention was the HTML rendering speed boost. Being a web developer, I’m constantly paying attention to how pages load and render under different conditions. This is definately not scientific, but using the “one-thousand-one; one-thousand-two” method, I found that Safari loaded and rendered the CNN.com front page and the IndyStar.com front page in about half the time as Firefox 2. It was fast enough to make me say “whoa!” out loud.
Resize Text Boxes
Another simple, but ingenious, feature is the ability to resize text areas on any form you encounter on your journey across the web. This feature is quite meaningful in terms of giving the web user the power to customize and modify their experience on the web to their preference. Web designers often struggle over how tall or wide to make certain form elements. This small feature goes a long way towards web usability.
Anyone who uses the non-WYSIWYG editor in WordPress will love this!
SnapBack
The SnapBack feature could potentially be quite useful. However, I haven’t really used it much yet. Say you run a Google search and click on the first result. You get to the resulting page and click around for a few minutes. You decide that you want to keep searching and click the SnapBack button. Wham. You’re right back to the search results page.
Typically, when I search, I open about 5-10 search results in new tabs specifically so I don’t lose the search results page I’m on. So, if I can get used to using this feature, it could potentially change the way I search and make things easier (less tabs = less memory).
While I don’t have a use for the private browsing feature very often, I can definitely appreciate the ability to—with one click—surf privately from a public workstation. No cookies, no usernames, no passwords, no history—all in a convenient, built-in feature.
Gray… blah
Really, my only complaint so far is that I’m just not a fan of the color scheme of the browser. The dark gray (brushed steel on the Mac) just bugs me for some reason. I’m sure Mac fans think it’s a work of art. I just prefer something a bit lighter, I suppose. It doesn’t look like that’ll stop me from using it, though.
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