Apple Releases Safari 5.1.2 Beta to Developers w/PDF Fixes

Apple released a beta version of its Safari web browser, 5.1.2, to developers Thursday evening. The release notes asked developers to focus on the following changes and fixes:

Inline PDF Support: Fixes an issue where PDFs in frames were not displayed in the browser. Test using websites that use PDFs inline such as banks and document management systems. Also test saving and using context menus with PDFs in frames.
Plug-ins: Test mouse and keyboard interaction in plug-ins with input fields.
Printing: Test printing web pages. Printing web pages to PDF is sufficient.
Known Issues: There is a known issue with some Safari Extensions that use the ‘beforeload’ event. This can cause Safari to crash under certain circumstances.

Safari 5.1.2 Beta

Safari 5 was first introduced by Apple on June 7, 2010, with Safari 5.1 launched alongside OS X Lion. Since 5’s release, Safari has received mixed reviews from users and tech pundits, citing its slow speed relative to other browsers, along with security and feature bugs.

As is typical of Apple Release Notes, there is no specific mention of these esoteric issues and we will have to wait for broader adoption and usage to determine 5.1.2’s full impact. Apple has not set a date for the update’s general availability.