355 words on Software
So, Safari 1.2 (v125) was on Software Update yesterday night – perhaps as a counterpoint to the newly released OmniWeb beta – let's query Feedster in a day or to see who managed to grab more attention. I downloaded it and loathed the restart it needed. What can I say, I didn't notice to many differences yet. – And I consider that a good thing, particularly as I have be mostly happy with Safari's performance. Apple's website states as improvements:
Safari 1.2 features improved compatibility with websites and web applications, support for personal certificate authentication, full keyboard access for navigation and the ability to resume interrupted downloads. It also works withJava 1.4.2 to support websites that use LiveConnect for communication between JavaScript and Java applets.
Regarding the first point, perhaps: Safari can now download my e-mail certificates from Thawte and opens them in the keychain automagically – bye bye Mozilla.
Regarding keyboard navigation: I don't care too much personally, but I know people who do, so that's good thing. Also, when considering universal access aspects. The thing I'd really like to see, though, is type-ahead find which Mozilla/Phoenix on my office machine sport.
That last Java point they mention sounds like it belongs in the 'couldn't care less' category.
Other changes, include an inverted reload button, which is turning clockwise now. The button looked strange to me and I compared with Safari 1.0, where it still pointed counter-clockwise. And there is a UI option to set the minimum font size in the advanced preferences now.
Off the main path of using Safari, the Debug menu seems to have a new option called 'Use ATSU'. This is probably only of interest for the over-curious as all it does is mess up the letter spacing to look like you're using Linux (top example, 'normal' setting at bottom).
Finally, my main pet bug in Safari – that fact that textareas will always be scrolled in a way that you see only the top of them when you're switching between tabs – disappointingly is still around. I thought that would be an obvious (and of course reported) thing to fix.
The LiveConnect thing may not sound like much, but it could be a big compatibility win for Safari. There are a bunch of sites that have never worked in either Mac IE or Safari because this wasn’t supported, and now it is. Just Google for “Mac compatibility LiveConnect” to get a bunch of hits.
I hope some people will benefit from that LiveConnect thing. It’s just that I have never been unlucky enough to bump into such sites, I guess.
I was surfing along and came across your website. I really enjoyed it. Thanks! This site is very informative. I hope to see more in the near future, Wishing you all the best!
Hi, just popped in here through a random link. Cool site, keep this good work up :-)