Webkit Nightly

[TaylorWright619]

Hi all,

I just installed Webkit Nightly on my 15" rMBP and have a few questions.

How much is it actually better than the current Safari?

When Safari is fixed and updated, will I easily be able to change back to Safari and keep new bookmarks etc?

And finally, when I was using Safari, I disabled graphics switching so that I would only use discreet graphics. Now that I'm using Webkit, is it possible for me to enable graphics switching again to save battery and keep my laptop cooler? Or should I leave it on discreet?

Thanks,
Taylor

 

[gmikesell]

Hi all,

I just installed Webkit Nightly on my 15" rMBP and have a few questions.

How much is it actually better than the current Safari?

When Safari is fixed and updated, will I easily be able to change back to Safari and keep new bookmarks etc?

Thanks,
Taylor

When I had the 13" rMBP I found Safari scrolling to be a bit jittery. I downloaded the Webkit browser and found that when it works, it is a noticeable improvement in scrolling and perhaps speed. However, I also found that it crashed more than usual, too. Since I haven't been hearing any others complain about that I am thinking maybe it was an issue with my machine. Not sure though. I upgraded to the 15" cMBP a week later and Safari has been working fine for me there so haven't downloaded Webkit for it.

As far as bookmarks and settings, it didn't seem to affect those, leaving Safari as is. They seem to share the same bookmarks file so I didn't have any problem going back to Safari. My bookmarks list was still consistent in either app.

 

[Mac Rules]

If you use the Webkit Nightly builds, the much publicised 'lag' on the rMBP vanishes, especially given most people report it when scrolling Facebook or twitter.

If you're happy to accept that once maybe every couple of weeks there might be a build which doesn't work correctly then you can use Webkit as your everyday browser - I certainly can accept a few crashes for the much enhanced performance.

Updates are published at least once a day usually so bugs and crashes don't often stay unfixed for very long.

And if you don't like it, or if Apple finally update OS X Safari, then because it exists as a separate app to Safari you can simply uninstall without any impact on bookmarks, cookies, etc.

 

[TaylorWright619]

Any advice about graphics switching?

 

[Andydigital]

I am not using the discrete graphics switch (i.e. auto switching is on) with WebKit and scrolling seems fine to me.

 

[bill-p]

Hi all,

I just installed Webkit Nightly on my 15" rMBP and have a few questions.

How much is it actually better than the current Safari?

When Safari is fixed and updated, will I easily be able to change back to Safari and keep new bookmarks etc?

And finally, when I was using Safari, I disabled graphics switching so that I would only use discreet graphics. Now that I'm using Webkit, is it possible for me to enable graphics switching again to save battery and keep my laptop cooler? Or should I leave it on discreet?

Thanks,
Taylor

If you don't browse Facebook or one of those websites that are specifically troublesome, then it's not better than Safari. It may actually be worse because Webkit nightlies are usually much more unstable (read: crash-prone) than Safari.

My advice: use Safari until you bump into a troublesome website, then switch to Webkit momentarily.

And you shouldn't disable graphics switching under any circumstance. This is not a graphics problem. I don't know why people keep assuming that it is...

 

[TaylorWright619]

Hi all,

Webkit Nightly does not seem to be syncing my bookmarks to my iPhone?

 

[Veradun]

Just updated WebKit and noticed it's crashing every time I upload the browser and doing my usual thing (Facebook before anything else). I only really noticed an improvement in scrolling performance on Facebook and other sites that were image heavy (read The Verge). Safari is fine for everything else, really - every other site I've visited is buttery smooth having graphics switching enabled has worked fine for me, but I guess everyone has different tolerance levels towards scrolling lag...

 

[TaylorWright619]

So does anybody have some information on the bookmarks?