OmniWeb 5 Previewed, Public Beta Due In February

The Omni Group has posted OmniWeb 5 information and screen shots on its Web site. The browser is to be shown at Januaryis Macworld Expo, and a public beta will be available on February 2, 2004. Features include improved preferences and a unique new form of tabbed browsing.

Tabs have become popular recently, and OmniWeb was one of the remaining browsers lacking the feature. However, OmniWeb 5 will change this. Instead of a standard row of tabs across the top of the screen, the application will offer a sidebar that can be viewed in the form of thumbnails or a text-only list of page titles.

OmniWeb will also offer "workspaces," which allow users to save the currently open set of pages for later use without adding them all as bookmarks.

From the OmniWeb 5 Web site:

Upgraded bookmarks, history, Search Shortcuts, AutoFill, and a whole new way to work with browser preferences. Oh, really useful tabs, too. One or two of you asked for that.

OmniWeb 5.0 is just around the corner (honestly!). Weill be showing it off at Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco January 6-9, so drop by our booth (#934) at and be one of the first to test drive OmniWeb 5.0 first hand.

A public beta version of OmniWeb 5.0 will be released on February 2, 2004. In the meantime, hereis a sneak peek at just a few of the new and improved features youill find in OmniWeb 5.0.

OmniWeb was among the first applications available for Mac OS X. As of version 4.5 The Omni Group switched away from its traditional rendering engine in favor of WebCore, the KHTML-based engine Apple developed for its Safari browser.

OmniWeb 5 can be purchased for US$29.95. Owners of previous versions can upgrade for US$9.95, and anyone who purchases the application in December 2003 or later will receive a free upgrade.

For more details, visit the OmniWeb 5 Web site.