Another browser discovery, this time for OSX. Apple has released a public beta of their new web browser, Safari. It seems speedy (their main claim), and renders well all the sites I’ve thrown at it so far (not many), but it lacks several of the features that make mozilla my browser of choice on a mac. The number 1 missing feature is tabs. I’ve become so used to having tabs that using a window-based browser is nearly unthinkable for me. Browsing without tabs is somehow like a stunted version of the real thing.
When I browse without tabs, I tend to surf one site at a time, in a very linear fashion. Usually I am more goal oriented, and focused. I suppose this could be perceived as a good thing, but in my mind, it’s not. I like to open new tabs whenever I come across something that I might want to look at. When I’m browsing without tabs, my clickthrough threshold is much higher. I wouldn’t bother with a link I might want to read. If it’s not something I’m definitely looking for, I don’t even look at it twice. Thus, with tabs, I’m learning more, and exploring more.
I can’t say I think much of Safari’s interface, which has the brushed metal look of iTunes and the other iCrap series apps. (I do thoroughly enjoy iTunes, and some of the other products aren’t bad either, but none of them — with the exception of iTunes — have been good enough to replace the apps I used to use for the same purposes.) Anyway, it does block popups, and search google in a google-bar-like search box.
There is one other new-seeming feature, the “Snapback” button. Supposedly it’ll bring you “back” to either the typed URL, or clicked bookmark. I think it should recognize search result pages, and take you back to one of those too, but that’s just my opinion. I’d have to really use it to see know if it’s a worthwhile addition, and at this point I’m skeptical.