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Apple today launched Safari Technology Preview, a new version of its web browser aimed specifically at developers. Safari Technology Preview is aimed at giving developers a way to access new web technologies Apple is planning to implement in iOS and OS X, offering an early look at new developer tools, layout technologies, visual effects, and more.

According to TechCrunch, Apple's goal with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers on its browser development ahead of launch through a method that's more easily accessible than WebKit.

safaritechnologypreview-800x464.jpg
Of course, Apple has for a long time offered Nightly builds of WebKit, the open source browser engine that today runs on hundreds of millions of devices and powers Apple's Safari. However, getting access to these builds takes a bit more effort than using the new Safari Technology Preview browser. Instead, with the new browser, its updates are distributed every two weeks by way of the Mac App Store's software update mechanism. That means it's less hassle to run a browser that features the latest advances in web technologies, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS and WebKit.
Safari Technology Preview can be run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser, and it's able to be set as the default browser on a machine. It includes local data stores for history, bookmarks, cookies, and cache, and it supports syncing of browsing history and bookmarks over iCloud. Visually, the Safari Technology Preview icon is designed to resemble the Safari icon, but it is purple in color instead of blue.

safaripreviewicon.jpg

The current build of Safari Technology Preview includes several JavaScript improvements, HTML enhancements, and Web Inspector changes:
JavaScript Improvements
- ECMAScript 6 support including lexical scoping, iterators, generators, arrow functions, default parameter values and many new built-in APIs
- Better standards compliant IndexedDB support with more stability
- Included the B3 JavaScript JIT compiler with low-latency, high-throughput that boosts performance
- Added the ability to use document.execCommand('copy') and document.execCommand('cut') in response to a user gesture to copy and cut text programmatically

HTML Enhancements
- The latest implementation of the Shadow DOM specification
- Added support for Content Security Policy Level 2

Web Inspector Changes
- Added memory summary and JavaScript allocations timelines
- Added a fast JavaScript sampling profiler
- Improved JavaScript profiling timeline view

Behavior Changes
- Included many web compatibility fixes and bug fixes
Safari Technology Preview can be downloaded immediately from Apple's Developer website and it will receive regular updates through the Mac App Store. While designed for developers, Safari Technology Preview does not require a developer account to download.

Article Link: Apple Launches 'Safari Technology Preview' Browser for Web Developers
 

thisisnotmyname

macrumors 68020
Oct 22, 2014
2,438
5,251
known but velocity indeterminate
Anybody know why Apple stopped making the Windows version of Safari? What could motivate Apple to bring Safari back to Windows?

it was horrible and no one used it. Combine that with total dominance by the other players (IE mainly at that point but secondarily Mozilla) and it just didn't make sense to compete there anymore.
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Will it finally support webm?

I thought lack of webm was just because I don't have Flash. Isn't webm Flash based?
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Will this allow me to actually close YouTube tabs and windows without crashing the entire GUI and forcing me to restart, unlike Safari? How long do we have to go before Safari can work with YouTube on recent machines with El Capitan again?

I just tried it and it worked fine for me on current safari. Do you have third party plugins installed?
 

oneMadRssn

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,961
13,939
Anybody know why Apple stopped making the Windows version of Safari? What could motivate Apple to bring Safari back to Windows?

When Safari for Windows launched, browsers on Windows were a mess. The choices were Internet Explorer and Firefox, neither of which were compliant with web standards to the extent WebKit was. Safari offered Windows users a browser that was more compliant with web standards.

Today, there are many more browsers for windows, and several of them use WebKit. There is really no point anymore. Plus, with the iCloud for Windows, you can sync your bookmarks and passwords regardless of which browser you use.
 

ericinboston

macrumors 68010
Jan 13, 2008
2,004
476


Apple today launched Safari Technology Preview, a new version of its web browser aimed specifically at developers. Safari Technology Preview is aimed at giving developers a way to access new web technologies Apple is planning to implement...

You mean, like, that new weblink thing where you can click on a "link" in the middle of a webpage and be taken to another webpage!? COOL!!
 

gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
3,576
3,687
I set Technology Preview to be the default browser but so far the notifications links are still opening "old" Safari. Wonder if that is how it will be or because they came from Safari.
 

PizzaBoxStyle

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2014
321
412
Apple HQ Cupterino Spaceship
Anybody know why Apple stopped making the Windows version of Safari? What could motivate Apple to bring Safari back to Windows?

I think I remember reading somewhere that it had to do mostly with marketing. Apple/Steve Jobs didn't want to dump the resources needed into competing with Chrome's marketing.

As for what would bring it back to Windows... if it happened, it would probably be an effort from a 3rd party and not Apple directly.
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,083
31,014
Still waiting for Apple to fix the Twitter link issue. When I'm using split view on my iPP some Twitter links don't open in Safari. On my phone the link just opens in-app but on the iPP it kicks to over to Safari.
 

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
Will this allow me to actually close YouTube tabs and windows without crashing the entire GUI and forcing me to restart, unlike Safari? How long do we have to go before Safari can work with YouTube on recent machines with El Capitan again?
I have not experienced this once and it is not at all normal. Do you have any third-party extensions or plugins that may be causing this?
 

djang0

macrumors member
May 20, 2015
58
137
This is great news! Safari has been lacking in features and keeping up with the standards compared to other browsers as of late. Perhaps (hopefully?) this shows Apple's commitment to keep Safari up to date with the competition. This is especially relevant on iOS where WebKit is the only allowed web rendering engine - unlike OS X where you can use any browser as you wish.
 
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TrueBlou

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2014
4,531
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Scotland
Will this allow me to actually close YouTube tabs and windows without crashing the entire GUI and forcing me to restart, unlike Safari? How long do we have to go before Safari can work with YouTube on recent machines with El Capitan again?


It already does, do you run any extensions or additional toolbar add ons with your Safari? Some have been known to cause issues with a variety of things.
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This just goes to show how iPad Pro is not really a laptop replacement after all (just one example out of many). It's a marketing gimmick.


Was there ever any doubt? The "Pro" bit as far as I'm concerned is just a name, no different to Air or Mini. Yes I do own one.
 

keysofanxiety

macrumors G3
Nov 23, 2011
9,539
25,302
Will this allow me to actually close YouTube tabs and windows without crashing the entire GUI and forcing me to restart, unlike Safari? How long do we have to go before Safari can work with YouTube on recent machines with El Capitan again?

Looks like you have a different issue there. As odd as this sounds, a number of strange Safari problems I've encountered, similar to the ones you've been having, were due to faulty RAM DIMMs or a corrupted HDD/volume. Might be worth checking HDD SMART data here, verifying the volume is OK through Disk Utility if that comes back clean, and maybe a quick Apple hardware check (as I don't think MemTest works on El Cap)
 
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