Apple releases Safari 5.0, and Safari 4.1 for Tiger

Apple has released the next full version of Safari. The new version boasts major improvements, including up to 25% increases in Javascript speed over Safari 4, and better support for HTML5, developer tools, PDF viewing, and various specific website features (Facebook and eMusic.com). In addition it comes with a new "Safari Reader" feature.

The update is available for both Intel and PowerPC machines, and requires OS X 10.5.8 or later. Apple has also released Safari 4.1 for people who are still runnign OS X 10.4 "Tiger."

The update should be available via Software Update as a ~40-50MB download, so be sure to check there for the easiest way to update. They are also available for download from the following pages:

Safari 5.0

Safari 4.1 for Tiger

The full list of new features in Safari 5.0 include:

1. Safari Reader: Click on the new Reader icon to view articles on the web in a single, clutter-free page.
2. Improved Performance: Safari 5 executes JavaScript up to 25% faster than Safari 4. Better page caching and DNS prefetching speed up browsing. Bing Search Option: New Bing search option for Safari's Search Field, in addition to Google and Yahoo!.
3. Improved HTML5 support: Safari supports over a dozen new HTML5 features, including Geolocation, full screen for HTML5 video, closed captions for HTML5 video, new sectioning elements (article, aside, footer, header, hgroup, nav and section), HTML5 AJAX History, EventSource, WebSocket, HTML5 draggable attribute, HTML5 forms validation, and HTML5 Ruby.
4. Safari Developer Tools: A new Timeline Panel in the Web Inspector shows how Safari interacts with a website and identifies areas for optimization. New keyboard shortcuts make it faster to switch between panels.
5. Smarter Address Field: The Smart Address Field can now match text against the titles of webpages in History and Bookmarks, as well as any part of their URL.
6. Tabs Setting: Automatically open new webpages in tabs instead of in separate windows.
7. Hardware Acceleration for Windows: Use the power of the computer's graphics processor to smoothly display media and effects on PC as well as Mac. Search History with Date: A new date indicator in Full History Search shows when webpages were viewed.
8. Top Sites/History Button: Switch easily between Top Sites and Full History Search with a new button that appears at the top of each view.
9. Private Browsing Icon: A "Private" icon appears in the Smart Address Field when Private Browsing is on. Click on the icon to turn off Private Browsing. DNS Prefetching: Safari looks up the addresses of links on webpages and can load those pages faster.
10. Improved Page Caching: Safari can add additional types of webpages to the cache so they load quickly.
11. XSS Auditor: Safari can filter potentially malicious scripts used in cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
12. Improved JavaScript Support: Safari allows web applications that use JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to run faster and more securely.

Be sure to back up your systems before applying this update, and if you rely on some websites be sure to have another browser handy that is compatible with them, just in case a problem arises and you cannot use them with the new version of Safari.

So far after installing Safari 5.0 on a PowerMac G5 (OS X 10.5.8) and a MacBook Pro (OS X 10.6.3) I have had no problems, but if any arise for people we will be sure to report on them and discuss possible fixes.

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or email us!
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