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Latest Safari/Webkit Builds Boost Javascript Performance

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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With the introduction of Safari 3, Apple's web browser has seen a significant number of improvements and performance enhancements. The latest nightly webkit builds have again been shown to be significantly faster at Javascript execution than even the final Safari 3.0 release. For comparison, Javascript Speed Test 2007 benchmarks are provided (smaller number faster)

Safari 3.0.4: 445ms
Webkit r28233: 207ms
(Tested on Dual Xeon Mac Pro 2.6GHz)

Webkit is an open source project that serves as the basis for Apple's Safari browser. Webkit's nightly builds offer end-users access to the latest Webkit updates. A number of other browsers also use Webkit and will also benefit from these improvements.

Article Link
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2007/11/30/latest-safari-webkit-builds-boost-javascript-performance/
On my Macbook the results are

Safari 3.0.4 (5523.10): 638 ms
Webkit r28233: 264 ms

Which is an impressive speed increase. And according to that site makes it much faster than Opera 9.50a which is the fastest browser listed. The total score would be 0.45X which is very good.
 
All the "Safari seems snappier"s will actually be right for once!

Poor java performance is the only reason i've had long stints using FF or Camino, some sites in particular used to be painful until Safari 3. Looking forward to more speed boosts. :)
 
I take it this will not resolve the fans issue on my macbook. Why a simple flash animation banner on a site can set those RPM's through the roof.
 
Foxglove9 said:
I take it this will not resolve the fans issue on my macbook. Why a simple flash animation banner on a site can set those RPM's through the roof.
Click to expand...

There will be improvements elsewhere so you could always download it and try it on the same sites.
 
I love the new features and speed enhancements that these nightly builds of WebKit brings, but it would be great to be able to integrate that nightly build into the original Safari app rather than having to launch the WebKit app, which is just... crufty and unclean.

Actually, you can integrate the new WebKit into your existing Safari... Open up the downloaded WebKit.app, go to the Frameworks folder, and copy all those. Go into /System/Library/Frameworks, back up JavaScriptCore.framework and WebKit.framework, and paste the contents of the WebKit.app's Frameworks folder into your system frameworks folder. Worked like a charm.
 
Templex said:
I love the new features and speed enhancements that these nightly builds of WebKit brings, but it would be great to be able to integrate that nightly build into the original Safari app rather than having to launch the WebKit app, which is just... crufty and unclean.
Click to expand...

I'm unsure what you mean by "crufty and unclean". All WebKit.app does is launch the existing Safari that is on your system with the frameworks contained within it's bundle.

While Safari is usually thought of as the flagship product for WebKit, it is heavily utilized outside of Safari (Adium, Mail, Dashboard, Colloquy and TextMate to name some apps with very obvious uses of WebKit and many, many more using it in not so obvious ways) and adding some kind of nightly integration would seem, to me, to be to be outside of the scope of both Safari and WebKit.

Templex said:
Actually, you can integrate the new WebKit into your existing Safari... Open up the downloaded WebKit.app, go to the Frameworks folder, and copy all those. Go into /System/Library/Frameworks, back up JavaScriptCore.framework and WebKit.framework, and paste the contents of the WebKit.app's Frameworks folder into your system frameworks folder. Worked like a charm.
Click to expand...

Please don't do that. Things like WebKit.app exist solely so you don't need to do that. There are safer ways to test non-Safari apps (ie: the run-webkit-app script).
 
Why not? The nightly build's perfectly stable for me, and I am aware of how WebKit.app works. Opening an app that opens another app and is called "WebKit" is pretty crufty to me, compared to just opening plain ol' Safari.
 
Foxglove9 said:
I take it this will not resolve the fans issue on my macbook. Why a simple flash animation banner on a site can set those RPM's through the roof.
Click to expand...

This is really more an issue with the Flash plugin than with any browser engine. Submitting feedback to Adobe is the best way to improve the situation.
 
Templex said:
Why not? The nightly build's perfectly stable for me, and I am aware of how WebKit.app works. Opening an app that opens another app and is called "WebKit" is pretty crufty to me, compared to just opening plain ol' Safari.
Click to expand...

You probably just got lucky and managed to grab a build that doesn't have any major bugs in areas you're using. Being development software, the stability of the nightlies can vary even with just one check-in. The goal of WebKit.app is so that when you undoubtedly get one of the flakier builds, you don't screw up you're entire system.

Personally, I don't see the "cruft" in WebKit.app. You can set it as your default browser in the Safari preferences and it's just a darker compass than Safari. The fact that it launches Safari is really transparent to you - you could easily remove Safari from your dock and replace it with WebKit.app and never really tell the difference...
 
My experience with nightly builds of browsers (Camino, Firefox, etc) has been that they're nearly as reliable as the stable releases. For Firefox, there were a few dud builds that refused to launch at all - the other builds that launched worked perfectly, however. I don't see how replacing WebKit could possibly screw up your entire system... Worst case would be WebKit-based apps wouldn't render things and it would be trivial to just replace the files with the ones from the backup.

As for setting WebKit as your default browser and removing Safari from your dock, that's unclean to me. And seeing "WebKit" in your dock instead of "Safari" is just... egh.
 
sweet how can I get my safari icon that pimped out gold color....I know it will "wreck my UI" but I want just because it looks so cool!
 
chris200x9 said:
sweet how can I get my safari icon that pimped out gold color....I know it will "wreck my UI" but I want just because it looks so cool!
Click to expand...

Well cmd+I Webkit to get info select the icon at the top of that window and press cmd+c. Then cmd+I on Safari, select the icon at the top of that window and press cmd+v.
 
do you think this has got something to do with iPhone. All the web apps are JS based, and I assume safari on iPhone/touch is webkit based. Better performance on javascript apps on iPhone would be great!
 
It's good to speed up things but many javascript things doesn't work at all. Apple doesn't seem to be interested in bug reports :mad:
 
Lefteous said:
It's good to speed up things but many javascript things doesn't work at all. Apple doesn't seem to be interested in bug reports :mad:
Click to expand...

apple are always very responsive with the bug reports I send them, though of course they can't fix everything instantly ;)
 
Webkit Nightly Builds are my primary browser. Safari's memory issues are really bad on my computer for some reason, Webkit uses less than FF2, FF3Beta, and Camino. Webkit to me is probably one of the best browsers out there. And Inquisitor works with it, although I do get a message about having it whenever I install a new build.
 
I used to use a program that would automatically download and install the latest version of webkit nightly. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, or find it. Anyone know what I am talking about.
 
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