From Apply Now,
Your Guide to Web Usability.
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With the recent release of beta version of Safari 3.0 for Windows it was time to see how it fared against IE, Firefox and other browsers on the same platform. From the outset it’s apparent that the new release attempts to replicate the look and feel of Safari on Mac, onto Windows. It continues to use simple, elegant interfaces with features such as tabbed browsing, SnapBack, resizable text fields and more to achieve this. Here we will explore some of these elements to see how they compare to competitors:

• User Interface:
  Safari continues to use its simple elegant design in Windows. What some users will enjoy is the integration of the status bar with the address field, with blue filling this area to indicate when the page is loading.
  
  Some differences, unique to Safari and Mac that Windows users will need to get used to are:
  • The lack of application and website names in the title bar
  • No minimize/restore options in the task bar, with users needing to resize windows from the bottom right corner
  • No toolbar customization available


• Bookmarks:
  If users are familiar with using iTunes, then they will be able to use Safari Bookmarks, as it has the same method of browsing and organizing in this feature as well.
  
  A disadvantage of the Bookmark Manager is that when it’s launched it loads in the active tab, which a lot of users will find irritating.


• Tabbed Browsing:
  Similar to other browsers, you can view and open multiple sites in tabs from one window. However, features unique to Safari are:
  • the ability to open tabs in new windows and;
  • merging all open windows into one tabbed window.


• SnapBack:
  SnapBack marks pages as return points that users can go to if they think they’ve gone too far or have lost their way. Although, this is standard in Safari it can be downloaded as an extension in Firefox if required.


• Private Browsing:
  For users that share computers, Safari has a mode that deletes cookies, download history and caches to keep online activities private. The downside, however, is that there is no indication that you’re in this mode which can mean users may at times forget to turn it off.


• Resizable Text Fields:
  A great feature of Safari is the ability to resize text fields to help users complete online forms. When fields are resized the page adjusts to accommodate the change.


• Find:
  With the inline find, terms that were searched for are displayed by dimming the rest of the page to make the matches stand out – this is another great feature that users will respond well too.


• RSS News Reader & Aggregator:
  Like Opera, Safari includes RSS Readers and Aggregators to its list of features to allow users to read the latest headlines without having to leave the current page.


• Security:
  Another toted feature of Safari was the advanced security it offered; however shortly after its release several vulnerabilities were found. So at this stage it is difficult to review, but hopefully with the official release all these glitches will have been resolved.

In summary, although Safari has several unique features such as Snapback and Inline Find, at this stage this version still needs to be tweaked so that it can compete against the giants in this field.