Safari 4 Beta Web Browser Released
Safari 4 Beta Web Browser Released
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A beta version of Apple’s Safari 4 web browser is now available for public consumption by Macintosh and PC users alike. It boasts 150 features, 30 (yes, I counted) of which are marked as “NEW”.
Among these new features, the most interesting ones are:
Speculative Loading
Safari loads the documents, scripts, and style information required to view a web page ahead of time, so they’re ready when you need them.
I wonder how Safari will “guess” which files to pre-load. Hopefully this is something that can be turned off, for those among us who would like to conserve bandwidth.
CSS Effects
Pioneered by Safari, CSS effects help developers add polish to websites by stylizing images and photos with eye-catching gradients, precise masks, and stunning reflections that require only a few lines of code.
Does anyone recall IE’s ActiveX filters? They pretty much all died with the exception of the alpha filter, and even that was just used to fix its lack of support for PNG transparency.
Acid 3 Compliance
Safari is the first — and only — web browser to pass Acid 3. Acid 3 tests a browser’s ability to fully render pages using the web standards used to build dynamic, next-generation websites, including CSS, JavaScript, XML, and SVG.
I thought Opera 10 was the first browser to pass the Acid3 test? Still, kudos to the Safari team!
HTML 5 Offline Support
Web developers can now create applications that you can use even when you don’t have access to the Internet. Thanks to HTML 5 offline support, designers can build web applications that store themselves on your computer, where you have immediate access to them. Along with the application, web developers can also choose to store the application’s data on your system, so you always have the information you need. Applications and data can be stored in a traditional SQL-like database serving as an application cache or as a “super cookie,” which stores data in the familiar cookie format.
What!?! HTML 5 support even though we are 4664 days away from HTML 5? Woo hoo Safari!
Cover Flow
Using Cover Flow, you can flip through websites as easily as you flip through album art in iTunes. Cover Flow displays your bookmarks and history as large graphical previews, so you can pick out a website instantly.
I just hope IE8 doesn’t try to copy this “feature” by adding a Flip3D mode.
History View
Take a closer look at your browsing history in the History view. Search for previously visited sites, drag web pages to your bookmarks, and clear individual items. Safari displays your history using Cover Flow, so you can flip through your search results as easily as you flip through iTunes album art.
This is definitely useful for quickly locating a page in one’s history.
So what are you waiting for? Download Safari 4 for a test drive now.
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Fresh Logic Studios – Safari CSS Overflow Property Tests
Thousands of people use our free web-based applications every day for online … Doesn’t seem like Apple’s Safari browser understands the CSS overflow property. …Safari CSS Reference: Supported CSS Properties
… Reference > Apple Applications > Safari > Safari CSS Reference > … overflow-x. Defines the treatment of content that overflows the element’s horizontal bounds. …CSS Data Flow Diagram
Used to edit, transform and load all CSS input files. … Support) CSS Data Flow Diagram. CSSDEG.Q1yy (Summer) CSSDEG.Yyyyy (Acad. year) …Safari CSS Reference: Supported CSS Properties
… Library > Reference > Apple Applications > Safari > Safari CSS Reference > … CSS … CSS 2.1. border-bottom-color. Defines the color of the bottom …WebKit-based browser for Windows
Safari – or at least, something not unlike it – may be coming to the Windows platform. Swift is a new browser for Windows, based on Apple’s WebKit rendering engine.Swift is in the very earlier stages of development. Practically embryonic, you might even say. The repository was created a mere three weeks ago. And, as the Web Standards Project warns, “it’s marked as 1.0pre alpha, and it is very much an alpha: very rough-looking UI, no scrollwheel support, pathetic form controls and I’ve had reports from colleagues that some folks can’t even get it to install.”
Nevertheless, Swift looks promising! I recommend keeping a close watch on this project. It could be very helpful to developers who need to ensure that their sites (particularly those with heavy scripting) function across browsers.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Interview with Håkon Wium Lie
Check out this Slashdot interview with Håkon Wium Lie, the originator of the CSS idea. (Can you believe it’s been over 10 years since CSS was proposed? Time flies when you’re coding with tables!) Lie currently serves as CTO of Opera Software.In the interview, Lie suggests that before releasing IE 7, Microsoft should ensure that the browser passes the Acid2 test and supports TrueType downloadable fonts. He also discusses XML, microformats, Ajax, and (of course) the future of CSS. Read the interview and watch him effortlessly knock down all suggestions that CSS is somehow lacking in capabilities.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
SlickMap CSS Lets You Create Beautiful Visual Site Maps Easily
Bored with the same old uninspiring, list-based sitemaps? If you’re like me, most likely you will find that creating better looking sitemaps can be quite time consuming. Thus, we end up having to settle for text-based unordered lists that look nothing like a map.
Well well well, worry not my friends, for now you can have a very beautiful and visual site map with nothing more than your standard unordered list and some CSS magic. Thanks to the efforts of Matt Everson of Astuteo, LLC, who released for public consumption what they call SlickMap CSS.
SlickMap CSS is “a simple stylesheet for displaying finished sitemaps directly from HTML unordered list navigation. It’s suitable for most web sites – accommodating up to three levels of page navigation and additional utility links – and can easily be customized to meet your own individual needs, branding, or style preferences.”
The first thing that really impressed me with SlickMap was the way data is visualized. The arrangment, grouping, and color coding of data makes it very easy to identify and find relevant data. The “Home link” is color blue and found at the top left most corner, immediately followed by the “Main links”, also colored blue. Level 2 and level 3 links can be found below them, each level having its own color, with a connector leading to each link. “Utility links” are grouped at the top right corner, separate from the main map.
What’s even more amazing about SlickMap is that everything is implemented in pure CSS. There is not a single line of JavaScript to be found anywhere. It’s also very easy to implement. Simply create an HTML file with an unordered set of links and import the slickmap.css file. Couple this up with an online site map tool like WriteMaps and you should be all set to rock and roll.
It supports most standards-compliant browsers, which means Safari, Firefox, and Opera. Sorry, IE but no love for you.
In the README file:
SlickMap CSS was created for web designers, and such was tested and developed for use with Safari, Firefox, Opera, and other standards-compliant browsers. Because of that, current versions of Internet Explorer (and probably IE versions long into the future) might look like sh*t.
The only downside I could think of right now is actually a strength in itself. While those large boxes would work for small to medium websites with a fairly standard site map layout like the one Astuteo has, it might do very well for larger websites with hundreds of links on their site maps. But then again there are methods to optimize and trim down those gigantic things.
It is a very well thought out and solid demonstration of the power of CSS, and for this reason I raise my glass and give my kudos to Matt Everson and the folks at Astuteo. Well done guys!
IE 7 Beta 3 available
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 has been announced and is now available for download. Features include tabbed browsing, RSS integration, multiple search engines via the built-in search box, and more. Sure, these are all features that Firefox, Safari, etc. have had for a quite some time, but as the old saying goes, better late than pregnant. There are no new CSS features, however; Microsoft has stayed true to their promise that, for better or for worse, as of this March IE 7 was “layout complete.”Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsXML and CSS Scrollbar – FlashDen
Home ” Browse Categories ” Flash ” Applications and Utilities ” XML and CSS Scrollbar … External CSS formatting. HTML support. Scrollbar hides if not needed …Code Better CSS And Preview Websites Across Different Browsers With Adobe BrowserLab
Adobe BrowserLab is an online service that allows web professionals to test their websites on popular browsers and operating systems. Screenshots of actual browser renderings are generated in real time, with multiple viewing options to help pinpoint issues. Adobe provides integration with Dreamweaver CS4, and the free preview is currently available only to a limited number of users.
Currently, BrowserLab supports the following web browsers and operating systems:
The sad thing about BrowserLab is that it will eventually be released as a paid service. In the meanwhile, there are alternatives like Browsershots which remain free for low-priority usage.