Apple Launches 'Safari Technology Preview' Browser for Web Developers

[steve333]

Safari needs a lot of work, both with compatibility and speed.
Apple has more money than many countries but can't seem to perfect a freaking browser.
They can start by letting us delete history without also deleting cookies and passwords.

 

[Michael Goff]

Safari needs a lot of work, both with compatibility and speed.
Apple has more money than many countries but can't seem to perfect a freaking browser.
They can start by letting us delete history without also deleting cookies and passwords.

You do know that's not how it works, right?

 

[mi7chy]

Google Movie?

I hope never!

If they start supporting Google's formats, why not also support .mkv, whatever Microsoft cooks out, whatever Adobe cooks out, etc. etc. etc.

WebM, VP8/9, .mkv, etc. are royalty-free open standards. That's a positive if you had a clue.

 

[You are the One]

I have to try this.

Me too. Will play with it.

 

[hemanwomanhater]

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!!

Lol... yea... that's definitely all the web is good for.
[doublepost=1459388232][/doublepost]I think this is great but when you look at ES2015/ES6 support in all the browsers it's weird how Safari is so behind yet WebKit is the leader. See http://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/.

Apple should be releasing new versions of Safari way more often than they do currently.

 

[thatanonymoususer]

I thought lack of webm was just because I don't have Flash. Isn't webm Flash based?

I thought webm was based on one of the OGG/vorbis related video formats...

My recollection is that Apple believes WebM, based on the VP8 codec, likely infringes on the MPEG LA patents (regardless of intention of the VP8 developers), and because of that they have no plans to ever add support for WebM. It's not just a matter of not having gotten around to it yet.

WebM, VP8/9, .mkv, etc. are royalty-free open standards. That's a positive if you had a clue.

Steve Jobs himself said that it infringes on H.264 patents. For that reason alone, I don't think that Apple has any reason to want to implement WebM. Since WebM's release though, Google did decide to license the patents that they infringed. That does mean that WebM and its future iterations are going to be paid for / licensed by someone (Google for now). Most of the reasons left for not implementing WebM now are due to a lack of hardware support (which could use up valuable chip space), and its high reliance on CPU usage (and therefore power usage) to help get better compression/smaller files. That, and possibly a good old-fashioned grudge.

WebM and some other technologies like built-in DRM support are some of the reasons why Google forked WebKit and made their own blink branch.

If you want more information about Google and WebM's patent situation, there's some information over at Apple Insider: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13...its-vp8webm-codec-infringes-mpeg-h264-patents

And you can get a halfway solution through VLC's Safari plugin (you click the drop-down arrow on the download button to see it) http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html . It lets you open WebM's in another tab. Not the same as seeing it laid out nicely in the webpage, but at least you can view it if WebM's are only an occasional part of your browsing.

 

[Yelmurc]

Very cool, new tools are always welcome.

 

[Shirasaki]

All I hope is this is a correct step to let individual Apple apps update from App Store, not integrating them more and more into system. But, maybe, Safari is a browser, so, an exception somehow.

 

[BigHam]

Is it snappy?

 

[gsmornot]

Is it snappy?

Most snappy yet!

 

[CarlJ]

And you can get a halfway solution through VLC's Safari plugin (you click the drop-down arrow on the download button to see it) http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html .

I'm happy to know that this solution exists. I do wonder though, what out there these days requires WebM, with no fallback to more widely available formats (yes, I see the irony there, since the WebM developers wanted it to be ubiquitous)? I'm sure Google wanted to make YouTube WebM-only, but Apple ensured that couldn't happen. I can't recall running into any content that I couldn't play for lack of WebM capability (I do run into the occasional moth-eaten webpage that still insists on Flash, but _much_ less often nowadays).

 

[AdamJD]

I download youtube programs every day on El Cap, never had that issue once....

It's not related to downloading YouTube programs. It's a problem on YouTube that only exists with Safari. Other browsers work fine. The link I had in the post is only one lengthy thread of many having the issue.
[doublepost=1459400509][/doublepost]

Never happened.

GREAT for you...but not for the many experiencing it.
[doublepost=1459400616][/doublepost]

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?

The problem exists on clean installs with no plugins as well. It's very well documented in this thread as well as many others (including one here and another on reddit). Thanx for the suggestion though.
[doublepost=1459400866][/doublepost]

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)

Thanx for the suggestion. It's a very extensively reported issue. The thread I had mentioned is just one place where it's been described and reported on. It ONLY exists with Safari. Chrome and Firefox have no issues. Many of the users weighing in have tried clean installs as well. There could be a widespread faulty hardware issue that Apple hasn't admitted to yet, but it seems odd that everyone has the same experience. Safari running YouTube with no extensions - and the crash happens when closing a window or tab quickly.

 

[mi7chy]

Steve Jobs himself said that it infringes on H.264 patents. For that reason alone, I don't think that Apple has any reason to want to implement WebM. Since WebM's release though, Google did decide to license the patents that they infringed. That does mean that WebM and its future iterations are going to be paid for / licensed by someone (Google for now). Most of the reasons left for not implementing WebM now are due to a lack of hardware support (which could use up valuable chip space), and its high reliance on CPU usage (and therefore power usage) to help get better compression/smaller files. That, and possibly a good old-fashioned grudge.

Doesn't matter what Jobs said because a lot of patents that he claimed were his have been invalidated by USPTO and whatever money MPEG-LA has extorted from its monopoly can, too, be overturned. More reasons to support royalty-free open standards and choice like VP9 that's in both Chrome and Firefox that are better than broken proprietary Internet Explorer/Edge and Safari.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/mpeg-la-hit-by-antitrust-suit-over-video-codecs/

http://techrights.org/2012/07/03/apple-and-patenting/

 

[nutjob]

People still use Safari? Wow.

 

[Zirel]

WebM, VP8/9, .mkv, etc. are royalty-free open standards. That's a positive if you had a clue.

Yes. They are.

And if I create a royalty-free open standard just because I feel like it, does Apple need to support it?

 

[iTom17]

All I hope is this is a correct step to let individual Apple apps update from App Store, not integrating them more and more into system. But, maybe, Safari is a browser, so, an exception somehow.

You do know that it has been this way for quite some time on OS X? Safari and iTunes are being offered updates through the Mac App Store for longer than today.

Though I do think it would be great move for Apple to do the same for other apps as well, plus on iOS and not only on OS X.

 

[Shirasaki]

You do know that it has been this way for quite some time on OS X? Safari and iTunes are being offered updates through the Mac App Store for longer than today.

Though I do think it would be great move for Apple to do the same for other apps as well, plus on iOS and not only on OS X.

And here. This is my main point.
There are already too many complaints about those "useless" yet not removable apps, like "Find my friends".

 

[mleonm5]

I also experience issues with my whole system freezing on Youtube with zero plugins installed. He isn't alone. Maybe this will help.

 

[hemanwomanhater]

People still use Safari? Wow.

Aside from the fact that extension support is not quite awesome, Safari is definitely a great browser. Much snappier experience than Firefox or Chrome. I mostly use Chrome because it's nicer for development in some ways.

 

[nutjob]

Aside from the fact that extension support is not quite awesome, Safari is definitely a great browser. Much snappier experience than Firefox or Chrome. I mostly use Chrome because it's nicer for development in some ways.

Chrome has many features that make it more attractive. Even when people say another browser is "much faster" I can't seem to tell the difference. Maybe it's becuase I'm not on fiber.

 

[MacBH928]

Sorry to say that Safari lost its touch. I don't believe many code the web with Safari in mind(Except for mobile?) . Fireofx+Chrome probably make 80% of internet browsers.

 

[osxrumours]

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?

This is not happening a majority but is happening to a significant amount of Macbooks. Predominantly 2014 models. I don't recommend going through all 18 pages of the thread linked but if anybody does they'll see that many who have commented have the problem occurring on a completely clean, fresh install with zero third party software of extensions. Most affected (including myself) have had this issue since purchasing the laptop.

There are many posts online relating to Safari freezing in El Capitan but this one seems to be the only one that is not a third party or configuration issue. It will not happen for most users but those who have it know the cautious feeling of closing or switching a tab in Safari containing an embedded HTML5 video.

Apple have had bug/feedback comments filed numerous times. They discount bug reports as duplicates so they are very aware of it. Howver, this has not trickled down to call centre support as they don't acknowledge the issue and end up asking for a clean install, where the problem persists.

Personally, after trying to tackle the issue for months I'm almost convinced those of us experiencing this are having an issue not unlike when Apple announced a replacement program relating to Mac Pros (I think?) that had a certain type of soldering. I'm just waiting for the day that it turns out this problem that renders Safari useless is not affecting some users as randomly as it appears.

 

[Tech198]

This seems good..


So i gather this would be president over the OS X public betas that already allow to submit feedback then. As in, this would just be for submitting Safari feedback only from developers point of view before customers get pubic betas, which is still not an finished release anyway (which is what the preview would be for) ...umm..

Sorry Apple, i just can't help but bursting your bubble.

 

[Skoal]

J

 

[lowbatteries]

Safari needs a lot of work, both with compatibility and speed.
Apple has more money than many countries but can't seem to perfect a freaking browser.
They can start by letting us delete history without also deleting cookies and passwords.

This is already possible. Click on the History menu item, then hold the ALT key and the "Clear History" option becomes "Clear History and Keep Website Data".