There is a lot of news about browsers these days… Firefox 3, Opera 9.5, Internet Explorer 8 and now its time for Safari 4. Apple unveiled its next version of the third most popular browser on Earth in WWDC 2008. Presently it is available only to the registered developers at Apple Developer Connection. With the present roadmap it is likely that Safari 4 might be released before Snow Leopard.

I downloaded and tried it out today and I should say I am impressed. It is a potential Firefox beater. No wonder, Safari is termed as “fastest browser”. It is quite lite with all the basic features built-in. Right now I am blogging with Safari 4 and I do have a feeling that I might switch over to Safari 4 only for writing posts. It is quite responsive and even Firefox RC3 didn’t match with this performance. In two words — “Smooth Operator”

According to Apple fans, the javascript implementation of Safari 4 is 53% faster than the previous versions. Thanks to SquirrelFish, a open source javascript rendering engine. It replaces old WebKit 3.1 implementation. That makes this edition of Safari much better than the Firefox 3’s SpiderMonkey engine.

The ability to save webpages as a desktop application is also a notable addition. So if you are a person who constantly saves webpages then Safari 4 is the thing for you.

The spell check along with Grammar check is a must tool for a blogger. One of the major reasons why I would be using Safari for my posting. Other features include more options for new windows and tab, full page zoom and other unexplored features.

You can download your copy of developer preview of Safari 4 from Apple Developer Center if you are a registered developer.

Source : [macnn]

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