Switch to Safari: A look at Safari for Windows

Many who have known this blog from back in the days, must know that I was a firefox boy. Well, at least until it screwed with me. However, back then I had no other alternative but to use Firefox on Windows.

Then came along Safari. In its BETA versions of Windows, it was a little crashy and buggy so I never mentioned it. I did however use it all along. However, now, with the Safari 3.1 update, it's finally out of BETA. The browser is stable, super fast, extremely standards compliant, and I can finally say, you gotta switch to Safari.

If however you are a heavy extensions user (Power users they call themselves), and can't live without them, then Safari is not for you. If you prefer to customise your browser instead of surfing the web, then Safari is not for you. If you want an out-of-the-box ready to use browser, with some really awesome features, speedy, stable, then give Safari a shot. Here's a small list of reasons to 'go Safari'.

1. The interface: Your web page is your interface. The browser takes a backseat with it's dark window colour and almost no border lining. There's no million toolbars and buttons. Now, even with such a simple interface, it has all the required features.

2. Tabs: Sure every other browser has tabs, but none like Safari. Take for instance when you move a tab. It's so fluid. All the other tabs slide across and you know exactly where your new tab is going to be. Try this with Firefox and you have to hunt around for the blue arrow. Got too many tabs? Just drag out a tab and it creates a new window with a cool, but ultimately helpful animation.

3. Private Browsing: This is for all those times you want to browse pages on how to help people with cancer, but don't want your family to know you are surfing such pages. And clearing out the history is such a dead give-away. Just hit private browsing and no one will ever know you are such a good soul.

4. Text Box resizing: There's always that page where you find the text box is a tad big smaller than you'd have liked. Like this blog's comment box for instance. Just use the resizer to make the box bigger without breaking the page layout.

5. Font Rendering: I'm sorry to say, but font rendering is horrible on Firefox and IE. I haven't given much thought to this on the Mac end, but here's a little screenshot of what a regular "Impact" font looks like in Firefox. Let's just say IE makes it look worse, I don't want to make my blog look uglier than it is. Safari 3.1 has some really smooth font rendering and makes pages look like they were on printed paper.


6. History: Ever wanted to go through your history but just can't find the right page? Safari's History shows you a favicon next to each history icon making the job a whole lot simpler. For instance, you can without thinking weed out all those history elements that you are sure the page is not.

7. Bookmarks: Although firefox has a bookmarks management feature, it is not as intuitive or pretty as Safari. Managing bookmarks on Safari is like managing files in your file browser.

8. Page Search: Again, even though a similar feature is there in Firefox, Safari just has that edge over it. Searching a page highlights all the words in a way that just makes it really easy to find things. For instance, every time you jump to the next word, there is a slight pop animation which draws your eyes to it instead of searching for where the blue highlight disappeared.



Safari also has clean and streamlined RSS, Session-restore feature in case of browser crashes, Snapback feature in case you get lost on the web, and quite a few more that I just can't add in there. Not like I need to add anymore anyway. And setup is super simple for those who are a little hesitant with technology.

A point to note, however, and this is a big one, is that even with all of this stuff, Safari for Mac makes the Windows version look like the rear end of a chimpanzee who has just given birth to a gorilla. It's that awesome! So while you Windows users do get a little bit of ice water in hell, we mac people get some royal treatment.

*Note: Features have been compared mainly with Firefox cause IE just plain sucks.