Apple Safari

Analysis and Evaluation

 

Adoption

 
According to our Mac Platform Browser Usage statistics, Safari is the most used browser on the platform.  Safari is the default browser shipped with Mac OS X (since v10.3), and the only browser bundled with Mac OS v10.4.

Application Future

Safari was released in 2003, presumably as a strategic maneuver by Apple, who had previously been shipping with a Mac version of Internet Explorer. Safari is based on the linux konqueror KHTML layout engine, and the rendering portions continue to be released by apple under open source licenses.  The elements other than the rendering engine remain in a proprietary license.

The latest version, 2.0, released on April 29th, 2005, has a built in RSS and Atom reader, and reported speed improvements.  It is clear that Apple is comitted to the continuing development of the browser.

Safari is currently competing with Firefox in popularity for Mac users.  A poll done in February indicated that 65% of Mac users preferred Safari, but nearly a quarter used Firefox.[1]

Security

As with all other browsers, safari has had security exploits which require patching.  As an apple product, security updates are released through the normal system update utility included with Mac OS X.  Users with administrative priviledges on the host are notified on login when there are new updates to install.  There aren't any apparent design decisions in safari that would cause it to be liable to exploit, such as direct links into the operating system or other non-standard extensions.

Safari has some privacy related features, such as "private browsing" which hides cookies and history from other users.  Additionally, private browsing does not cache any of the information that is sent or received.  This is especially useful for users of publicly accessible machines, or other shared-user environments.   Pop up blocking is also built into safari.

Standards Compliance

Safari's layout engine Webcore, and its heritage KHTML, were designed with w3c standards compliance as a goal.  The current development version of Safari at Apple is the first browser to pass the Acid2 test, which tests some of the CSS2 features, especially in the area of error handling.

However, because many web sites are not based strictly on w3c standards, users have had some trouble with certain web sites.  Many sights implement javascript without testing on the safari browser.  Some sites who don't test on all popular browsers, include code on their sites that prevent users from using their site if not using a short list of acceptable browsers.  This recently became a problem for macintosh users attempting to access the FEMA Aid Site.[2] It is hoped that with the increase of the use of alternate browsers and platforms, that large sites would lead the way in understanding the importance of internet web standards for universal access to the information they publish.

Supportability

As safari is already installed in Mac OS X, and is updated via its general system update tool, it should be easy to support from an administrative perspective.  As far as usability, it complies with the graphical interface conventions of the Mac platform and includes advanced features such a tabbed browsing.  Performance was a primary design goal for safari, rendering even graphics heavy sites quickly.

Apple offers a FAQ site for safari for further support.  Discussion boards are also available.  Technical support via phone or email is not available at this time.

 

1. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119832,00.asp

2. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=170701321