I saw around the place there's a new version of Webkit, which is the core component of Safari, Apple's web browser. I was messing around trying to get the latest nightly build working just now and ended up having to download the Safari from Apple - there's a new public beta since I last looked. Check it out, its pretty fast. I mean, really, noticably faster than using Firefox.

(I'm having some problems figuring out if I'm using the stock beta3 from the above link, or if I'm in fact using the new Webkit build - if someone installs it can they go to help->about and let me know what version they get?)

This is 3.0.4, not 3.1

It's been seeded with the 10.5.2 update

*edit* AFAIK

last edited by dRanged at 18:25:21 11/Feb/08

*maybe* it's zippier. 3.0.4 was pretty quick to begin with!

Version 3.0.4 (5523.10.6)

I haven't looked around too much but I can't find anything about getting WebKit to run on its own (ie, w/o Safari installed) - do you know if its possible?

edit: ahh, I get it - webkit is just like a browser engine. I thought Safari was just like a "rebadged webkit" sort of thing, but really, its the UI part with a webkit core.

The only "native" Windows implementation I can find is Swift

last edited by trog at 21:08:43 11/Feb/08

Can someone say Spring 2.0!

Credit to apple/webkit devs. Whether you like the browser or not, most people agree, Safari is pretty fast.

Question:
I understand the rendering engine is separate from the GUI window/stuff in most browsers, but would Firefox's performance be affected by the fact it is also a bunch of high level XML+JavaScript (XUL) doing a bunch of work for the UI? As opposed to Safari and IE being done in C (objective/++)?

Apologies for possible noobish question, which I could probably just google.

I have often wondered that exact same question ccl - it certainly seems possible, if not probable, that it would be causing performance issues in Firefox.

I must confess I am f***ing blown away by how fast this Safari thing is. I only tried the first Windows release briefly but this new beta/webkit is really, really, really impressive.

It'll be hard for me to ditch Firefox because I have it all tricked out with extensions/addons and everything, but if someone wraps a decent front end around webkit and manages to keep the speed of it equivalent to Safari I'd definitely be looking at it. I can even see myself switching to Safari for some general purpose browsing due to its massive speed increases.

There are extensions available using SAFT and Pith Helmet for OSX Safari, but I think you windows noobs are s*** outta luck :P

i've been using it all morning at work and it's soooo much faster than firefox it's not funny, however i'm missing my mouse gestures and dictionary extensions

^^ GreaseKit is another good one; most of my Firefox greasemonkey scripts made it across ok

For webdev work you'd never switch, but for general browsing it cains

Wow... when people go on about different speeds of browsers they're normally talking about differences that I can't pick up, but this is hugely noticeable.

Most likely will be switching to Safari for my work browsing.

Yeah really pleasantly surprised at the speed ! Even faster than Opera (which is only marginally faster than Firefox). This beta build of Safari is faster than Firefox by huge amount. Really impressed, and yeah I'd be switching from FF to Safari for my general browsing at this stage. Well done Safari team!

i'd give it a go if it supported del.icio.us

I honestly didn't believe you when you said a browser was faster, I usually try them like Billy said and see no diff.
But this is a big difference. Sure the font sucks, but I like the rest at the moment!


P.S. I miss keywords and addons. I'm still testing it out though.

Yep, I would normally ignore "omgz try this browser it is way bettar then firefox and internot exploder!!!" threads as well but man, the speed difference is sweet as.

I spent some time looking last night at WebKit; there's a Windows implementation browser in Alpha called Swift - no binaries for the latest version and I can't be assed building it myself at the moment but it looks intriguing.

There's also a concerted effort to replace some of Apple's proprietary code (I think they're responsible for some the DLLs in Safari being closed-source) with an open source implementation; it sounds like it is making strides as well.

It's awesome to have good options.

But this is a big difference. Sure the font sucks, but I like the rest at the moment!

Yeah what's the go there? I tried to set the "Font Smoothing" to Light / Standard but when I restart the browser the setting just gets reset to Medium..... Anyway to make this option stick!@?

Wow, I just noticed that you can click and drag to change the size of the reply box on QGL! PHWOAR. Text fkn sucks though.

Also, where the f*** is the "home" button??

Also, where the f*** is the "home" button??

You'll have to go:

View -> Customize Toolbar


Then drag and it to your toolbar.

Anyway to make this option stick!@?

Mine sticks fine?

Mine sticks fine?

:( Not working for me. As soon as I closed the browser it just reset to Medium...

:( Just confirmed its working as expected for me

Wow, I just noticed that you can click and drag to change the size of the reply box on QGL! PHWOAR. Text fkn sucks though.

Can't make it smaller though which seems weird.

:( Just confirmed its working as expected for me

Oh well....

Can't make it smaller though which seems weird.

Yeah that's strange. PS Billy with Safari you can resize any textarea boxes. :) Pretty awesome feature.

Doesn't seem weird or strange. If the person who made the textarea decided it should be a certain size, then there are multiple reasons why making it smaller will f*** it up (such as if it had a fixed width background, if other elements depending on that element's minimum dimensions for their own positioning, if there was a javascript 'toolbar' added to the textarea) . The textarea on this website isn't a good example.
Making things bigger is not always such a problem, though it can be!!

Anyone know how I can get a google search upon typing in the text area? i.e. like Firefox
Also, would love to know if anyone can get keywords working (also like Firefox)
Problems seem to arise because it is a mac program and PC comes off second best.
Guess this is what it feels like to be a mac gamer...

EDIT: Would also love to double-click on tab bar to open new tab! Argh, I want the features of Firefox but with the sleek feel of Safari! Am I eternally cursed?


last edited by Seven at 08:56:32 14/Feb/08

Anyone know how I can get a google search upon typing in the text area? i.e. like Firefox

There's a google search in the top right corner???

EDIT: Would also love to double-click on tab bar to open new tab! Argh, I want the features of Firefox but with the sleek feel of Safari! Am I eternally cursed?

Ctrl+T is what I've always used.

EDIT: Would also love to double-click on tab bar to open new tab! Argh, I want the features of Firefox but with the sleek feel of Safari! Am I eternally cursed?

I have some of the same problems; its good that lots of the shortcuts etc are the same (try CTRL-K to get to the google bar), but there's a lot of small differences to get used to - like no tab completion in the address bar, which really bugs me.

I think to really compete effectively against firefox etc - at least in the hardcore nerd market - they should have 'modes' that emulate the behaviour as best as possible of other browsers, at least for things like that

There's a google search in the top right corner???

Firefox uses Google's 'I'm Feeling Lucky' feature when you type key words in the address bar. e.g.: QGL AUSFORUMS will take you to qgl.ausforums.com (slightly less typing each time)

they should have 'modes' that emulate the behaviour as best as possible of other browsers

Sounds feasible, could be a good feature to bring people over from other browsers, especially if the only real difference is the much faster speed in browsing (definitely not a negative)

What would grab me right now is if those "addons" were not in .dmg format, and worked on the PC version of Safari.

P.S. I now love the Safari default font and the silver finish.

One thing that really s***s me is the lack of an option to open new windows as tabs :( I have s*** popping up everywhere!

The only solution I've found to that Trog is Window>Merge All Windows

Still annoying as all buggery though.

ah neat, that's a cool option; I'll bear that in mind

Well I gave up on Safari in about an hour

try CTRL-K to get to the google bar

<3

One thing that really s***s me is the lack of an option to open new windows as tabs :( I have s*** popping up everywhere!

yup.. how I solve this: I have the tab bar on all the time, and you can pretty easily drag tabs between windows. Can pretty easily rearrange the tabs into windows (meaningful groups). It's pretty nifty.

edit: um.. oops. This is Farseeker.

last edited by myWhiteWolf at 11:44:24 16/Feb/08

:( Not working for me. As soon as I closed the browser it just reset to Medium...

I'm getting this problem now at home:( Work PC was fine.

WTF... one of my main gripes about Safari was that there is no bar down the bottom that shows you a link when you hover over it with the mouse. Then BAM one appeared today. But now it's gone again... ????

status bar sk

Why the hell does it randomly disappear?

Since I moved to Webkit, my cookies have been disappearing; haven't had it happen enough to discern any detailed pattern, but I am now back with 3.0.4, which I know to be reliable. ^ I've never had the status bar go bye bye..