Apple's release of a public beta for Safari 4 is the company's first truly major attempt to compete in the web browser space since, arguably, Safari 2. But while it incorporates several new features that are absolutely crucial to its acceptance as a mainstream app, a number of its most important features are actually drawn from some of its closest competitors, especially Google's Chrome. We examine why this is a good thing, as well as some of the more original features, in a first look at what might be Apple's most important release yet.

Tabs and Top Sites: the effects of competition on Apple

Safari was one of the first ground-up web browsers to have a practical, shipping implementation of tabbed web browsing. Over time, though, it's gradually become stale as Mozilla's Firefox and, eventually, Google Chrome started adding features that in some cases clearly appeared first, even if Apple eventually caught up in most areas.

In version 4, Safari closes the gap but primarily does so through a close implementation of Chrome's top-mounted tabs. While slightly disconcerting to Mac users or even Windows users that haven't yet tried Chrome, the implementation is tangibly more effective than what's currently used in Safari 3 and Firefox. It makes more room for tabs, reduces the amount of space occupied by the navigation bar, and adds a button to create new tabs without visiting a menu or memorizing the Command-T shortcut.



It's clear from the change that Apple now considers tabbed browsing a first-class feature, and it's all the better for it; the browser experience is now more consistent for every user. Tabs also vary in width based on the number of active pages and have specific "handles" to prevent users from unintentionally dragging tabs across the screen. But while these are all welcome, certain conveniences aren't there: while it's possible to tear tabs away and make them separate windows, users can't middle-click to close a tab or drag them into the Bookmarks Bar.

One feature that Safari lords over Firefox is its Top Sites view, though this itself borrows heavily from other sources; anyone will recognize it if they've used Opera's Speed Dial feature or, again, Google Chrome. Opening a new tab by default shows a view of at least nine frequently visited pages and is particularly valuable to anyone who regularly visits the same pages day after day.



As such, it's not especially creative, but it does have minor advantages over Chrome and Opera: users can do a live search of results with page previews shown in Cover Flow, and users have basic control over how many sites are visible (up to 24), pin favorites to the Top Sites page, and delete ones that aren't likely to be used often. Unlike Speed Dial, it's not possible to add new sites yourself, and the search doesn't include recent bookmarks or tabs in a separate column like Chrome.