Safari (web browser)

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Safari

Safari 2.0 under Mac OS X v10.4 showing the Wikipedia Mainpage
Maintainer: Apple Computer
Stable release: 2.0.2 (416.12)  (October 31, 2005) [+/-]
Preview release: none  (none) [+/-]
OS: Mac OS X
Genre: Web browser
License: Proprietary EULA, LGPL
Website: www.apple.com/safari/

Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Computer, Inc. and available as part of its Mac OS X operating system. It was included as the default browser in Mac OS X v10.3 (Panther) and is the only browser bundled with Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger).

Safari uses Apple's brushed metal user interface, has a bookmark management scheme that functions like the iTunes jukebox software, is integrated with Apple's QuickTime multimedia technology, and features a tabbed-browsing interface similar to that of Mozilla. A Google search box is a standard component of the Safari interface, as are software services which automatically fill out Web forms and spellcheck entries into web page text fields.

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History and development

Until 1997, Apple Macintosh computers had shipped with Netscape Navigator. Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Mac was subsequently included as the default web browser. However in June 2003, in response to the release of Safari, Microsoft announced it would discontinue development of Internet Explorer for Mac. Although Internet Explorer for Mac shipped with Mac OS X v10.3 four months later, it was only included as an alternate to the default browser. With the release of Mac OS X v10.4, Safari is the only web browser included with the operating system.

Safari uses Apple's WebKit for rendering web pages and running JavaScript. WebKit consists of WebCore (based on Konqueror's KHTML engine) and JavaScriptCore (based on KDE's kjs JavaScript engine). Like KHTML and kjs, WebCore and JavaScriptCore are free software and are released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. Some Apple improvements to the KHTML code are merged back into the Konqueror project. Apple also releases additional code under an open source 2-clause BSD-like license.

In June 2005, after some criticism from KHTML developers over lack of access to change logs, Apple moved the development source code and bug tracking of WebCore and JavaScriptCore to opendarwin.org. WebKit itself was also released as open source. The source code for non-renderer aspects of the browser, such as its GUI elements remain proprietary.

Safari passing the Acid 2 test.
Enlarge
Safari passing the Acid 2 test.

Version 2.0 of Safari, released on April 29, 2005 includes a built in RSS and Atom reader. Other features include private browsing (which does not record any information of your web visit), the ability to archive and e-mail webpages, the ability to search bookmarks, and a reported 1.8x speed boost over version 1.2.4.

In April 2005, Dave Hyatt, one of the Safari developers at Apple, documented his progress fixing bugs in Safari to get it to pass the Acid2 test. On April 27 he announced that his development version of Safari now passed the test, making it the first web browser to do so. [1] The changes were not initially available to end-users unless they downloaded and compiled the WebKit source code themselves or ran one of the nightly automated builds available at opendarwin.org. [2] However on October 31, Apple released version 2.0.2 of Safari that included the Acid2 bug fixes.

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Version history

Safari version Webcore version OS version Release date Features
10.2 10.3 10.4
0.8 48 Yes January 7, 2003 Public Beta. Initial release at Macworld conference.
0.8.1 51 Yes January 10, 2003 Public Beta. Minor improvements recommended to all users.
0.8.2 60 Yes February 12, 2003 Public Beta. Improved compability with websites, XML support, improved stability, improved Macromedia Flash performance, improved support for web standards.
0.9 73 Yes April 14, 2003 Public Beta 2. Tabbed browsing, forms & passwords autofill, browser reset (removes cookies, cache and so on), Netscape and Mozilla bookmarks importing, improved support for web standards, improved AppleScript support, more localizations.
0.9 74 Yes May 15, 2003 Public Beta 2. Improved SSL certificate validation
1.0 85 Yes June 23, 2003 First non-beta release. Safari is now default Mac OS X browser, faster autotabs, support for iSync bookmark syncronization, all Mac OS X languages supported, more AppleScripts to control browser, improved support for web standards.
1.0 85.5 Yes October 3, 2003 Released with Mac OS X 10.2.8 update.
1.1 100 Yes October 24, 2003 Released with Mac OS X v10.3. Improved speed, improved support for web standards, improved CSS support.
1.1.1 100.1 Yes November 19, 2003 Released with Security Update 2003-11-19.
1.0.1 85.6 Yes November 19, 2003 Released with Security Update 2003-11-19.
1.2 125 Yes February 2, 2004 Improved compatibility with websites and web applications. Support for personal certificate authentication. Full keyboard access for navigation. Ability to resume interrupted downloads. LiveConnect support. XMLHttpRequest support.
1.0.2 85.7 Yes
1.2.1 125.1 Yes March 15, 2004 Released with Mac OS X 10.3.3 update.
1.2.2 125.7 Yes May 26, 2004 Released with Mac OS X 10.3.4 update. Fixed problems with Hotmail attachments.
1.2.2 125.8 Yes June 7, 2004 Released with Security Update 2004-06-07. Resolves a security issue where the "Show in Finder" button would execute certain downloaded applications.
1.0.3 85.8 Yes
1.0.3 85.8.1 Yes
1.2.3 125.9 Yes August 9, 2004 Released with Mac OS X 10.3.5 update. Improved handling of GIF images.
1.2.4 125.11 Yes November 5, 2004 Released with Mac OS X 10.3.6 update. Removed 60 second timeout. Resolved problem with hard drive names that contain non-ASCII characters.
1.2.4 125.12 Yes December 2, 2004 Released with Security Update 2004-12-02. Resolves a couple of security issues; URL spoofing in the status bar and uncertainty about the origin of pop-up windows. [3] [4]
1.3 312 Yes April 15, 2005 Released with 10.3.9. Included most of the rendering speed and website compatibility improvements that were developed for 2.0.
2.0 412 Yes April 29, 2005 Released with Mac OS X v10.4. Improved rendering speed and website compatibility. Integrated RSS and Atom reader. Integrated PDF viewer. Private Browsing mode and Parental Controls. Saving Websites completely as Web Archives.
2.0 412.2 Yes July 12, 2005 Released with Mac OS X 10.4.2 update. Improvements to proxy server authentication amongst other things.
2.0 412.2.2 Yes August 15, 2005 Released with Security Update 2005-007. Security fixes for CAN-2005-2516, CAN-2005-2517 and CAN-2005-2522.
1.3.1 312.3 Yes August 29, 2005 Released as "Safari Update 1.3.1". Updates website compatibility, stability and third party support.
2.0.1 412.5 Yes August 29, 2005 Released as "Safari Update 2.0.1". Updates website compatibility, stability and third party support.
2.0.2 416.12 Yes October 31, 2005 Part of Mac OS X 10.4.3 update. Safari now passes Acid2, improved Hebrew and Arabic text handling, better OpenGL support for Macromedia Shockwave, impoved webcam compatability
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See also

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External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_%28web_browser%29"
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