A pple has releases Safari Beta 2, the first official release of the product since February 12th. Safari is Appleis open source-based Web browser that is exclusive to Mac OS X. The new Beta 2 release includes tabbed browsing (a much-requested feature), AutoFill form completion with Address Book integration, and a new "Reset Safari" security feature that automatically erases your history, cache, downloads, cookies, Google searches, AutoFill names and passwords, all at one time. Apple is also touting what it says is 2 million downloads of the browser since it was announced. From Apple:
Apple today released Safari Beta 2, an updated beta version of the Safari browser that delivers highly requested features including tabbed browsing and AutoFill forms. Safari is now the browser of choice for millions of Mac users with more than two million downloads since its free public beta release on January 7, 2003. Safari is the fastest web browser ever created for the Mac, and re-energizes the browser category in general with innovations like built-in Google search; SnapBack to instantly return to search results; a completely new way to name, organize and present bookmarks; and automatic "pop-up" ad blocking.
Building on the innovative features delivered with the first Safari public beta, Safari Beta 2 popularizes the most convenient way to see and switch between multiple web pages in a single window by bringing the latest browser innovation to Safari-tabbed browsing. The new AutoFill feature makes web form completion incredibly easy by using information from the Address Book or previous forms to automatically fill in name, street address, city, zip code, e-mail and other information. The updated beta also provides the option of automatically filling in user names and passwords, which are securely stored in the Mac OS X Keychain.
Because protecting personal information on public computers is essential, Safari Beta 2 introduces the "Reset Safari" option that erases browsing history, empties the cache, clears the Downloads window, removes cookies, clears Google search entries and removes any saved names and passwords or other AutoFill text. Additional Safari Beta 2 features and enhancements include: easy import of Netscape and Mozilla bookmarks, increased support for AppleScript, enhanced standards compatibility for improved web browsing and expanded language support for Japanese, French and German.
Safari is powered by the industryis best rendering engine based on KHTML, from KDEis Konqueror open source project, and Apple continues to contribute to and work closely with the open source community. Safari related sessions planned for the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, June 23-27, in San Francisco will help developers learn how to factor Safari technology in to their applications. For more information on conference tracks, exhibits and registration visit www.apple.com/wwdc.
Requirements
The Safari Beta 2 release requires Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" and is optimized for Mac OS X v10.2.3 or later. Safari Beta 2 is a compact 3.9MB download and is localized for English, Japanese, French and German. The final version of Safari will be made available later in 2003.
You can download Safari Beta 2 at Appleis Safari Web site. Safari is a free download.