Safari 4 Beta Released
A
pple unveiled Safari 4 beta today, calling it the world’s fastest and most innovative browser.
The Nitro engine in Safari 4 runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3 according to Apple.
New features that are supposed to make browsing more intuitive and enjoyable include Top Sites, for a visual preview of frequently visited pages; Full History Search, to search through titles, web addresses and th
Some Features
VoiceOver Screen Reader
Safari features built-in support for Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader in Mac OS X. VoiceOver describes aloud what appears on your screen and reads the text and links of websites. Using VoiceOver, you can completely control the computer with the keyboard instead of the mouse.
ARIA Support
Safari supports Accessible Rich Interactive Applications (ARIA). The ARIA standard helps web developers make dynamic web content more accessible for people with disabilities. With ARIA, sites taking advantage of advanced technologies like AJAX and JavaScript can now easily interoperate with assistive technologies.
Enhanced Keyboard Navigation
Thanks to the enhanced keyboard navigation options in Safari, you can navigate the web without a mouse. Press the Tab key, and Safari jumps to the next password field, pop-up menu, or input field. For increased keyboard control, you can hold down the Option key while tabbing to have Safari skip through every link on the page. And if you press the Return key, Safari opens the highlighted link, letting you “point and click” with just a few keystrokes.
Full-Page Zoom
Zoom in or out on web content using keyboard shortcuts, Multi-Touch gestures, or the Zoom toolbar button for more comfortable reading. Images and graphics scale up while your text remains razor sharp, keeping the web page layout consistent as you zoom. To add the Zoom button to your toolbar, simply choose Customize toolbar from the View menu and drag the button onto your toolbar.
Zoom Text Only
You can choose to zoom in on only the text when you take a closer look at a web page.
Custom Style Sheets
Apply custom style sheets — that you download or create yourself — that set default fonts, font sizes, colors, and contrast, making your favorite websites more readable.
Minimum Font Size
If you find that text on some websites is too small to read (such as photo captions or fine print) Safari can increase the font size to make it more legible. Just set the minimum font size in the Advanced pane of Safari preferences.
