Apple (Almost) Releases Safari 5

A press release with details about Safari 5 was leaked on the web Monday afternoon, then promptly removed.

Many were expecting Apple to release a new version of its Safari web browser during the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) taking place this week. But the Monday morning keynote was all about the new iPhone. Safari wasn't discussed.

Then, at about 3:30pm Pacific time, a press release went out over the PRNewsWire service. It was live for a short time – under 10 minutes – before it vanished. The link now returns an error. Apple has yet to update the Safari pages of its website or make any additional announcements. We're guessing the news item was released mistakenly or prematurely.

Update @ 4:30pm: The release is now available on the Apple website, though the Safari pages still haven't been updated.

It was live long enough for us to grab a copy, and you can read the full release below. Here are some details.

There's an extensions framework now. By description alone, Safari Extensions appears to be similar to the lightweight extensions frameworks used by Google Chrome and Mozilla's Jetpack for Firefox – extensions are written in HTML/JavaScript, installed on the fly, and sandboxed.

There's also Reader, a built-in app that strips ads, images and other clutter out of the way, presenting news articles and longer reads in a simplified, scrolling, text-only window "without distraction." Instapaper and Readability, it appears as though Apple is drinking your milkshake.

According to the release, the updated browser will include expanded support for the HTML5 stack, including geolocation, sectioning elements, drag and drop, form validation, Ajax history and WebSocket. There's also "full screen playback and closed captions for HTML5 video" – though we should note that Apple currently only supports native playback of h.264 video and not WebM, which all other major browsers are backing. No further details there.

Safari 5 uses the new Nitro JavaScript engine, which Apple says is 30 percent faster than Safari 4's engine. You also get the ability to choose Bing as your search provider (just like in the iPhone 4 demo).

Full release follows:

Apple today released Safari 5, the latest version of the world's fastest and most innovative web browser, featuring the new Safari Reader for reading articles on the web without distraction, a 30 percent performance increase over Safari 4,* and the ability to choose Google, Yahoo! or Bing as the search service powering Safari's search field. Available for both Mac and Windows, Safari 5 includes improved developer tools and supports more than a dozen new HTML5 technologies that allow web developers to create rich, dynamic websites. With Safari 5, developers can now create secure Safari Extensions to customize and enhance the browsing experience.

"Safari continues to lead the pack in performance, innovation and standards support," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Safari now runs on over 200 million devices worldwide and its open source WebKit engine runs on over 500 million devices."

Safari Reader makes it easy to read single and multipage articles on the web by presenting them in a new, scrollable view without any additional content or clutter. When Safari 5 detects an article, users can click on the Reader icon in the Smart Address Field to display the entire article for clear, uninterrupted reading with options to enlarge, print or send via email.

Powered by the Nitro JavaScript engine, Safari 5 on the Mac runs JavaScript 30 percent faster than Safari 4, three percent faster than Chrome 5.0, and over twice as fast as Firefox 3.6.* Safari 5 loads new webpages faster using Domain Name System (DNS) prefetching, and improves the caching of previously viewed pages to return to them more quickly.

Safari 5 adds more than a dozen powerful HTML5 features that allow web developers to create media-rich experiences, including full screen playback and closed captions for HTML5 video. Other new HTML5 features in Safari 5 include HTML5 Geolocation, HTML5 sectioning elements, HTML5 draggable attribute, HTML5 forms validation, HTML5 Ruby, HTML5 AJAX History, EventSource and WebSocket.

The new, free Safari Developer Program allows developers to customize and enhance Safari 5 with extensions based on standard web technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. The Extension Builder, new in Safari 5, simplifies the development, installation and packaging of extensions. For enhanced security and stability, Safari Extensions are sandboxed, signed with a digital certificate from Apple and run solely in the browser.

Pricing & Availability

Safari 5 is available for both Mac OS X and Windows as a free download at www.apple.com/safari. Safari 5 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 or later. Safari 5 for Windows requires Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista or Windows 7, a minimum 256MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor. Full system requirements and more information on Safari 5 can be found at www.apple.com/safari. The Safari Developer Program is free to join at developer.apple.com/programs/safari.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. All testing conducted by Apple in May 2010 on an iMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X 10.6.3, with 4GB of RAM. JavaScript benchmark based on the SunSpider 0.9.1 JavaScript Performance test.

See Also:

• Apple's HTML5 Showcase Less About Web Standards, More About Apple
• On Web Video Support, Safari Now Stands Alone
• Apple Taunts Flash With List of 'iPad Ready' Websites