If you're only after speed, try the Safari beta but keep your other browser, too. Security buffs should skip Safari for now.
Why build a new browser? That's the question on everyone's lips since Apple released Safari 1.0 Beta in January (and updated it with Beta 2 in April). The OS X-only browser shares its open-source foundations with Konqueror, a standalone browser and the file manager for the Linux KDE Desktop Environment. Apple says it improved on the tiny Konqueror kernel to meet its goal--a lightning-fast browser. Even in beta, we found Safari acceptably fast. In addition, we were thrilled to see that Safari Beta 2 added hoped-for tabbed browsing and autofill features. But Safari still doesn't offer the advanced customisation or security features of Internet Explorer for Mac or Opera. Try Safari if you're really sick of Internet Explorer--it's free, after all--but if secure browsing is your concern, you should still hold off.
Safari Beta 2 is a 3.7MB download that you'll have to go find yourself--this browser doesn't yet have built-in auto-updating. Beta 2, like Beta 1, deposits itself on your OS X desktop rather than in the Applications folder; but unlike the previous version, it's not a mounted drive, it's a Safari icon. When you first open the browser, it automatically imports your IE favourites and some settings, including the home page, but Safari also sets itself as your default browser without asking. How rude!
The browser's spartan toolbar features only forward, back, home, and refresh buttons, as well as a plus-sign button that adds the current URL to your bookmarks or acts as a stop button while a page is loading. Apple integrates a Google search field into the Safari toolbar--a nice feature since Google's own toolbar isn't compatible with IE for Mac--but you can search only Google from that field. We prefer Opera's drop-down menu of search choices. Bookmarks are in a tiny toolbar below the address bar, and that's all you'll find--Safari really maximizes page real estate.
Safari's best interface feature arrives fresh in Beta 2: tabbed browsing. Now you can open multiple Web pages without cluttering your screen, and the tabs are subtle, automatically adjust in size to accommodate multiple Web sites, and feature handy close-window X's in the corners. There's even a new preference menu just for tabs (they're disabled by default). To open a new tab, press Command+T (or click File > New Tab), or Command-click to open a link in a tab. (There are also a series of keyboard commands for opening and selecting a tab, opening a link in a new window and selecting it, or opening a link in a new window behind the current window.) Unfortunately, Safari, like Opera, doesn't provide a key command for switching between tabs--Command+tilde switches between actual Safari windows and all other open windows in a specific application, but it doesn't work on the tabs.
Apple says Safari's speed is its premier feature, and indeed, this browser offers few additional tools. Most notably, Safari lacks any advanced security settings. You can block third-party cookies and some Web scripts, but you can't, say, enter specific Web sites from which to accept or reject cookies, as you can with both Opera for Mac and IE. You also won't find any controls for passwords, certificate authentication, or encryption (beyond asking for a prompt when you're sending an insecure form). Those are standard security and privacy features in Opera, IE, Chimera, and almost any other browser for Mac or PC.
Safari Beta 2 adds an advanced settings toolbar, which gives us hope for the future. For now, though, it lets you only choose a style sheet and change your proxy settings. One thing we're extremely happy to see, though: the preferences menu adds an autofill menu; autofill is a tool that remembers previously typed information, such as your name, address, or address-bar URLs. The autofill tool integrates with Apple's Address Book, not the Keychain password manager.
Safari does, thankfully, include a pop-up blocker that, like all such browser tools, stops ads as well as some legitimate pop-ups. Happily, Safari makes it incredibly easy to toggle the feature on and off; simply press Command+K or click the Safari menu and choose "Block pop-up windows."
Possibly Safari's only true innovation is the SnapBack button found in both the address bar and the Google toolbar. When you surf deeply into a Web site or search results, the orange button appears at the right of the search or URL field. Click it, and you'll pop back to the last URL you typed or to your list of Google search results. It's handy but not life-changing; IE lets you click and hold the back button to bring up a short history of visited sites, with much the same effect.
Safari does simplify bookmark management, however. You can drag a bookmark onto the Safari bookmarks bar, as in IE, but Safari lets you rename the Web page so that it's easier for you to remember. You can also click the plus button next to the address bar to add a bookmark. A book-shaped button opens a new page where you can easily drag, drop, and rearrange your bookmarks, and even access your address book. Annoyingly, this page always opens over your current Web page. We'd much prefer a bookmarks pane like that in IE or even a new window.
As for Apple's claims of cheetah-like speed, we found Safari occasionally blazingly fast but inconsistent. ZDNet doesn't apply formal testing to beta software, but in anecdotal use and informal tests, we found that Safari loaded most graphics-heavy pages (such as Shockwave.com or even Apple.com) more quickly than Internet Explorer for Mac. However, we found Safari's launch time about on a par with IE and only slightly faster than Chimera (the free version of Opera for Mac forces you to view a start-up dialog, delaying its overall launch time). The browser never crashed in our use but did occasionally stall when rendering pages. We encountered only minor bugs, usually related to JavaScript errors, but Safari performed well overall.
Service and support
Apple doesn't offer any formal support for Safari--that is, you won't get free telephone or e-mail support (not unusual for free and beta software). But we did find a fair amount of helpful information in Apple's online knowledge base, which is impressive, given Safari's beta status.
Apple Safari 1.0 Beta 2
Company: Apple Computer
Price: Free via download
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