Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

The Practical Mac

Safari and the Apple Internet Experience

A 'Best of the Practical Mac' Column

- 2003.05.13 - Tip Jar

Rating: 3 out of 4

If you your using Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) or later and have not downloaded the latest update to the beta of Safari, Apple's new Web browser, you should. The latest release goes a long way toward making Safari a major player in the browser market.

Like previous releases, 1.0 Beta 2 (v.73), or "version 73," fixes some bugs. But for the first time, there are some serious new heavy-duty features.

The first is the addition of tabbed browsing. The ability to open new pages in a tab in the same browser window is almost a requirement these days. With this feature now included in Safari, Internet Explorer is the only major browser that still lacks this functionality. (When first installed, this feature is not enabled. Enable it through the preferences menu.)

With version 73, Safari adds an equally welcome password manager and form fill feature. The password manager has one feature that, when I first saw it, made me exclaim, "Finally!" When you enter a user name and password, a dialog box pops up and asks you if you want to save this password.

No different from other browsers, right? Wrong! Your choices here are "Yes," "Never for this web site," and the somebody-finally-got-it-right choice of "Not Now." Although I find password managers indispensable, I am irritated that I only get one chance to give my final answer. Let me think about. Let's see how it goes, and then I'll make my decision.

Apple has given me that choice. Did we expect any less from the company who, when iPhoto asks us if we want to launch it automatically when we plug in a digital camera, gives as one of our choices, "Decide later?"

AutoFill starts with the information contained in your card in Address Book and allows you to add more information. When you start typing information in a form, Safari will autocomplete if it recognizes the input. Hit the Tab key after the first field, and Safari fills in the remainder of the fields. Select the AutoFill button (which is not displayed by default; select it from the "View" menu to add it to your browser bar) to fill in a form without typing anything first.

These are the little things that can mean the difference between a pleasant user experience and irritation, and it is often the little things that set a company apart from the competition. In Steve Jobs' Apple, user experience is a priority, and it shows.

Apple has also improved page rendering with the new version of Safari. There is an improvement in Java and JavaScript performance, probably owing to the recent Java update of OS X as much as to Safari. The most noticeable improvement is that Safari now properly renders more pages containing Microsoft's nonstandard, proprietary code and served on its abysmal Internet Information Server (Motto: "Secure as Barney Fife, reliable as a Yugo").

Rating: 3 out of 4 LEMs

Pros

  • A ton of new features.
  • Improved Java and JavaScript handling.
  • Tames Front Page and IIS code garbage.
  • It's free!

Cons

  • Occasional improper page rendering.
I am unfortunately required to regularly access a website that is loaded to the hilt with everything Microsoft, and up until now it only displayed properly in Internet Explorer. Fortunately, Safari continues to properly display the other 90% of sites on the Internet, namely those that adhere to universal (outside of Redmond, WA, anyway) standards and are served on non-Microsoft platforms. Oddly, I was often required to switch from IE to Safari anyway in order to properly view these sites.

Safari now has a one button Privacy Reset. Select "Reset Safari" from the Safari menu to automatically clear the cache, history, passwords, and form data. You can also selectively clear these items.

Safari can now import Netscape/Mozilla bookmarks. In fact, it appears to do so automatically. I know I never did this manually. However, shortly after installing this latest version, I opened my bookmarks and an "Imported Netscape/Mozilla Favorites" had magically appeared there.

Among the "oldie but goodie" features we really love:

  • The ability to block popup windows. This should be a standard requirement for every browser.
  • Safari automatically cleans up after itself when downloading file. It deletes the original archive so all you get is the fully decompressed file. I recently spent over an hour scouring one of my Macs and deleting all the .bin, .zip, .gz, and .sit files cluttering up the disk. Hopefully those days are nearing an end.
  • Safari handles bookmarks in the most intuitive way of any browser. They appear in a traditional window instead of a difficult to maneuver hierarchical menu.

After you download the latest version, go to "Safari Help" and click on "List of Topics." All topics dealing with a new feature of Safari are highlighted with a red "New" at the side. This is a good way to get familiar with a new version.

This latest release of Safari takes some giant leaps forward in terms of features. If it is not currently your primary browser, it may be in the not-too-distant future. LEM

Steve Watkins is the Vice President for Information Technology for a mid-sized bank and also an attorney. He has been a Mac user for about ten years. He has owned some PCs along the way - but always came back to the Mac. If you find Steve's's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Practical Mac Articles

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Practical Mac articles copyright ©2001-08 by Steve Watkins. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.