Safari 4 Beta Review: JavaScript 30 times faster than IE 7
Filed under: Computers, Software | By: Peter Chubb
Posted on: February 25, 2009 | 5 Comments
Yesterday saw the release of Safari 4 Beta from Apple, the operating system that runs on OS X and Windows. Apple has said that this new beta version has more than 150 new features, and that the new Safari 4 is a huge technical leap over previous versions of their browser software.
Macworld.com has decided to take a closer look at Safari 4 Beta, and see if the new OS is any good. Their first impression is very good, and it seems that they love the new Nitro Engine. This new super-fast JavaScript engine helps to load JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and three times faster than Firefox.
Loading of a page is also much quicker with Safari 4 Beta from Apple, even on pages that are heavy with content. Macworld.com also notes that the new OS also passes the Acid3 test, this is a number of Web standards checks to see how well a browser performs, Safari 4 beta had a perfect score.
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Safari is a BROWSER. Not an OS.
The Safari 4 browser, in my opinion isn’t worth the download, especially for Windows users. I personally think it’s slow, and can sometimes be unresponsive.
The cover flow is a waste of space. I mean, it almost feels like it’s easier to scroll through a list rather than flipping through cover flow.
The top pages page is pretty close to a complete ripoff of Google Chromes version. The only difference is the eye candy and minimal graphical differences.
Safari 4 is super fast when browsing on a mac but im not sure how it runs on windows. I’m definitely liking all the new features.
There may be some rips off of google chrome but every company seems to rip off of every company stuff now a days (i dont even need to give examples).
I’ve been testing it for a few days and here are a few thoughts:
01. Definitely very quick, but we’re sort of getting into an area of speed that is not very discernible by most people on most sites. Can you really notice the difference between 4 and 16 milliseconds!? I can’t, but I suspect “faster” here also means “cleaner” and that in turn, means “more stable”, which is always welcome. Especially, after the massive disappointment known as Firefox 3.
As a developer, “faster” to me also means “more”, as in now I can build more into my apps without pimp-slapping my users with a performance hit at their end. This is also very welcome.
02. The tabs-on-top design is clever and an efficient use of “dead” space in the interface. It would be nice however, if they were uniform in width instead of the current percentage-based width scaling; as I write this I’ve got 3 very wide (and very clumsy looking) tabs at the top of my browser.
03. Coverflow in History is brilliant. So much so that the visualization would be very useful in the Top Sites screen. In fact, I personally don’t like the Top Sites screen very much at all. It does seem suspiciously like Chrome’s (unlike the tabs-on-top (wink, wink)) and the faux 3D treatment is very poorly executed. I say make it flat like Chrome’s or give it Coverflow or both.
04. I miss the Stop/Reload button. They’ve moved the functionality to the address bar and I just don’t like it there. To a simpleton like me, it just makes no sense.
Plus, I should at least have the option to add it to the toolbar, which I don’t. It’s just gone.
I have a few annoyances using Safari 4 Beta myself.
Firstly, there is no session saver option to recover my tabs when i reopen Safari 4.
2nd, which is far more annoying is that for a so called tab enabled web browser, Safari got no option to force a single window mode. when you right click on a link, the “open link in new window” comes before “open link in new tab”, which is counter intuitive to tab browsing. I know about ctrl click, but thats not single window mode, its tedious browsing mode. Even IE7 allow single window mode.
Third, when there is only 2-3 tabs, i need to move the pointer a ‘long way’ to then next tab. not smart browsing. there is also no option for the tab close ‘x’ button to be on the right corner of your tab instead of your left.
I know this is a beta, but google chrome was a beta and there was no such nuisance in Chrome beta. Chrome beta allowed single window and session saver even though its more minimalist in design. If all these ware not there, I’d probably use it as a 2nd browser to try for a few weeks.