Browser Know How – Safari

Safari is the default web browser, made by Apple, that comes with any Macintosh computer, much like IE is Microsoft’s web browser. Many Mac fans will hate the analogy, but it is true. And for a while, it was only available to the Macintosh users, however Apple has recently released a version available for Windows users as well.

People who have used Safari generally fall under one of two categories. They either love it, or hate it. I know several people who own Macs, and use Firefox instead because they feel it is superior to Safari, just as many people use Firefox instead of IE for the same reason on Windows.

Safari has all the standard features you’d expect in a modern browser, tabs browsing, RSS reader, bookmark bar, etc, but nothing that really makes it stand out.

Those who love it, generally can’t explain why, but let me offer a few possibilities:

• It based off the Web-Kit engine, and therefore is a standards compliant browser, which means it runs most web pages without difficulty. the Web-Kit engine is a very powerful and flexible browser engine (what does the work behind the scenes to show you a web page) It is being used in Chrome, and several Adobe products.
• It has an fast JavaScript engine, so rich web apps run quickly.
• They are fans of Steve Jobs– and all that he does.

Now I’ve only really used it on the Windows machines, but it is obvious to tell that it is not written for Windows.

It seems to have been designed not designed for Windows users, but Mac users who have to use a Windows machine. This means someone who has only used Windows machines will have a learning curve as they figure out hw to use the new browser.

Likewise, I’ve found several issues with using Safari on a Windows machine:

• The text isn’t always clear: The font rendering (how the text displays) was designed for the Mac, and ends up not displaying clearly on a Windows machine as it fights with the Windows based system. (Text that is large or small appears blurry for lack of a better term.) As new versions have come out, they have either been improving this, or I am getting used to it over time.
• No plug-ins/add-ons for PCs. I’m told on the Mac there are numerous add-ons, like Firefox has, but on the PC, I cannot seem to figure out how to add them. Firefox makes it easy to find and add new features to the browser – something that all modern browsers should consider.
• Large pages, with complex JavaScript will sometimes give Safari issues. I’ve seen some pages become almost unusable. While they were extreme in nature, one having 4 different rich text editors, other browsers didn’t have the same issues. I first noticed this actually when a client of mine was talking about a section of his website that I had built for him.
• Moving between tabs sometimes is slow. Slow to open new tabs, slow to change tabs…just slow.
• Standard short-cuts for Windows are not available, for example, the ability to go to your home page, add a bookmark etc. These are mainly for doing things like going to your home page, and a few other common features, that doesn’t seem to be so common for Safari.
• Copy and Paste doesn’t always work. And I cannot figure out a common reason for this either. However, when I want to copy a web address or part of a web page’s text into an email, it should be a simple matter, not something I have to check and recheck several times.

After using Safari for a few months, it has been relegated to a few small tasks, and not general surfing for myself.; Ironically I am using Google Chrome more and more, and it is based off of the same web engine.