Apple just released a beta of Safari 4 for Windows.
Not a lot of web sites mention what I think are the most important changes.
For starters, the tabs are now at the top like Google Chrome, and the menu is hidden and replaced by page and settings icons on the right-hand side like Internet Explorer 7.
By default, Safari now uses the operating system's standard font rendering, so fonts look as blurry or clear as all other programs. In my case, I have Windows ClearType turned on, and they look reasonably smooth without being too blurry or bold in my opinion.
You can now change tabs using Ctrl+Tab. Unfortunately, it goes to the next tab on the right like it does in Google Chrome, rather than the most recently used tab like Alt+Tab does in Windows. I don't know why anyone thinks that's a good idea.
They also still haven't made Ctrl+Page Up and Ctrl+Page Down do anything, which is the shortcut I tend to use most often in Chrome. (But I'd still rather Ctrl+Tab to work better.)
Apparently the history page now looks like the cover art page in iTunes or on the iPod with pictures for each page.
I don't use the history page, so I don't care.
A couple of interesting changes that are in the right direction, but not enough to make me change from Google Chrome.
In particular, there's still no way to search from the address bar as far as I can tell. It's all well and good to have a separate box to do a Google search, but I also want to search Wikipedia and IMDb.com easily.
Not a lot of web sites mention what I think are the most important changes.
New User Interface
New menus, tabs and toolbars
For starters, the tabs are now at the top like Google Chrome, and the menu is hidden and replaced by page and settings icons on the right-hand side like Internet Explorer 7.
Native Font Rendering
New font rendering options
By default, Safari now uses the operating system's standard font rendering, so fonts look as blurry or clear as all other programs. In my case, I have Windows ClearType turned on, and they look reasonably smooth without being too blurry or bold in my opinion.
A sample web page using the new font rendering
Changed Keyboard Shortcuts
You can now change tabs using Ctrl+Tab. Unfortunately, it goes to the next tab on the right like it does in Google Chrome, rather than the most recently used tab like Alt+Tab does in Windows. I don't know why anyone thinks that's a good idea.
They also still haven't made Ctrl+Page Up and Ctrl+Page Down do anything, which is the shortcut I tend to use most often in Chrome. (But I'd still rather Ctrl+Tab to work better.)
New Visual History
Apparently the history page now looks like the cover art page in iTunes or on the iPod with pictures for each page.
I don't use the history page, so I don't care.
Final Thoughts
A couple of interesting changes that are in the right direction, but not enough to make me change from Google Chrome.
In particular, there's still no way to search from the address bar as far as I can tell. It's all well and good to have a separate box to do a Google search, but I also want to search Wikipedia and IMDb.com easily.
Post a Comment