Review of Apple Safari for Windows

Download from: http://www.apple.com/safari/download

Current Version: 4.0.3 (531.9.1)

Safari is the de-facto Browser for the Apple Macintosh, where it ruled and rules unchallenged. It is a beautiful Browser that displays pages beautifully, even on the relatively poor displays of IBM-compatibles (poor in comparison with Apple's dazzling-sharp, colorful displays). Even the ugliest site would look better on the Safari Browser, on a Mac! This is the lovely Browser that is now available for the Windows platform - you also cannot miss the ‘live’ blue scroll bars, unique on the Windows platform! The interface is uncluttered and lets you browse – no bothering with controls and settings!

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Apple Safari for Windows is also fast to load. It has never crashed on us so far! However, perhaps due to all those beautiful features, its download size is the second biggest after Internet Explorer.

Apple Safari for Windows is high on security too, like the Mac version. This is not to imply that it cannot be 'cracked': any software can be, if enough people try sufficiently hard and sufficiently long! However since Safari for Windows is probably used on less than 0.5% of Windows-based Computers worldwide today, cracking it does not interest hackers.

Apple Safari for Windows initially went through frequent upgrades, but seems to have stabilized now. Perhaps Apple is now poised for the next stage of development, pushing Safari for Windows to a new peak! The latest version, 4 certainly lends credence to this line of argument!

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WellOiledpc Recommendation on Browsers: Safari is easily the most visually-pleasing Browser we have reviewed! However, if you are used to Internet Explorer or the other standard Windows Browsers, you could have some difficulties using Safari - the interface is juuust a wee bit non-standard! Having said that, if you DO check Safari out, it is quite easy to fall in love with it - so much so, that you may never want to go back to your earlier *or any other) Browser!

Here is the link that tracks Browser usage and publishes Browser Statistics:

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

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The very first thing that will strike you, if you have used Apple Safari for Windows Version 3.x, is Version 4's new feature, called Top Sites. This is similar to Opera's Speed Dial - only, (a) a few thousand times more beautiful and (b) does not let YOU decide your favorite sites, instead, displays the sites you visit most frequently, a la Chrome! (see the screenshot to the left, click it for a full-screen image). We seriously doubt whether there is a more beautiful-looking screen in ANY Windows software, leave alone any Windows-based Browser! Unlike CometBird, this is NOT a text-based Favorites Listing and like Chrome, it does not lets YOU decide which site should appear in the Thumbnails, instead, it mechanically decides which sites you should visit from this page. We wish it had been exactly like Opera's Speed Dial (with the far-more-beautiful interface, of Apple Safari for Windows, of course!), instead of Chrome's "Most Visited Sites"... (read about CometBird's treatment of Favorites by clicking here and about Chrome's treatment by clicking here).

PCs: Hardware, Software and Computer Services. And, People who use PCs

People seeking reliable advice for PC Purchases

People seeking advice for extracting maximum utility from their PCs

People looking for reviews of and purchase links for top-notch Security Products (AntiViruses, AntiSpyware, etc.)

Small/ Home Offices with Networked PCs, seeking maximum RoI from their IT Investments/ advice on expanding IT Infrastructure

People and Corporations planning to set up professional, contemporary, optimized, aesthetic websites

Worldwide IT Vendors looking for authentic, professional and inexpensive Market Research on global IT Markets

Software Developers wanting to Document/ create quality User Manuals for their Products/ Services

The Version 4 Beta 528.16 had a niggling problem, which we had written about on these pages - the Windows Star Bar disappeared when Apple Safari 4 Beta was running, if your preference was to 'Auto Hide' the Start Bar! You could of course press the 'Windows Key' to bring back the Start Bar... If yours is an older Computer without a Windows key, you can also press Alt-Tab to cycle through all open applications. However these are surely not the ways to bring up the other minimized programs!! Interestingly, none of the earlier Apple Safari for Windows versions had this issue - and the problem goes away the moment you close Apple Safari for Windows too!

We are glad to see that in the final version 4, Apple have corrected this little detail!

Overall, despite its pluses, we are a little hesitant in recommending Safari to users who have worked with other Browsers. It has a slightly non-standard interface, for old-time users of Internet Explorer or Firefox. For example, to refresh a web page, you need to press Control-R. Not that the standard F5 key doesn't work - it does too! So then, why not mention F5 too as a Hot Key beats us...

Similarly, there is no F11 function, to view a website full screen. This is achieved in 4 steps, as follows:

Hide the Menu Bar by clicking Hide Menu Bar under the View MenuItem - this has no Hot key, so you need to go to Options and enable the Menu Bar, if you want to see it again!
Hide Bookmarks Bar by pressing Control-Shift-B - pressing them again will cause the Bookmarks bar to show once again
Hide the Status Bar at the bottom of the page by pressing Control-/. Pressing them again will show the Status Bar once again
Hide the Tool Bar by pressing Control-Shift-\. Press it to show the Tool Bar once again

Whew! All this just for displaying your favorite website full-screen! Besides, once you are used to certain Hot Keys, it is very difficult to 'unlearn' them and learn new ones! So if Apple are serious about weaning users away from the Internet Explorer and Firefox camps, they need to work on this rightaway!

Common functions should be easy to access and we are hopeful that Apple standardizes these in future versions... For now, the fact is that just about every site looks much better: the text, graphics, everything, when viewed under Apple Safari for Windows, in comparison with any of the other Browsers we have reviewed!

Apple Safari for Windows is a great Browser choice if;

You are an absolute beginner with Computers or have never used a Browser before
You are the adventurous sort and like to check out new software all the time
You are changing over to the IBM platform after years of working on the Apple Macintosh
You are looking for a lovely Browser that displays all sites in the best-possible manner and are willing to invest a few hours in re-learning how to use a Browser!

Our Verdict:

ThumbsUp

Despite its slightly non-standard interface, Safari wins a "Thumbs Up" from us for its lovely interface, startup speed, Top Sites feature (despite the mechanical manner it decides what to display there) and other innovative features, as well as its rock-solid stability. We are sure that future versions will sport a more standard interface (for Windows users), while continuing to exhibit Apple's excellent innovation skills!