Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing

Apple Releases Safari 3.1

By

Apple has released Safari 3.1, the latest version it’s cross-platform Web browser which also ships as the default browser for Mac OS X computers. Apple has always aimed for a sleek interface, broad standards compatibility, and fast performance with Safari, and the company claims version 3.1 improves on that history by being up to three times faster than Internet Explorer and Firefox in HTML rendering and JavaScript execution. Version 3.1 also becomes the first browser available that supports portions of the upcoming HTML 5 standard, including HTML offline storage (in a local SQLLite database) and audio and video media tags. Safari 3.1 also implements support for CSS Animations (yes, something else that can blink and twitch on your screen), downloadable CSS Web Fonts.

“Safari 3.1 for Mac and Windows is blazingly fast, easy to use and features an elegant user interface,” said Apple’s senior VP of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller, in a statement. “And best of all, Safari supports the latest audio, video, and animation standards for an industry-leading Web 2.0 experience.”

Recommended Videos

As more and more Web-based services and applications rely on so-called “Web 2.0” interface techniques and manage increasing amounts of information, speed of JavaScript execution has a very real impact on the perceived performance and ease of use of a Web site. Offline local storage, once widely implemented, will be very useful to Web-based applications (think of things like Google Docs or Flickr) that can benefit from being able to store data locally on a user’s system. Google Gears is an open source effort to provide similar functionality; it’s currently available for Firefox.

Related

Safari 3.1 is a free download from Apple; it’s available for Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer, as well as for Windows XP/Vista.

Editors' Recommendations

Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
The M3 is the most important chip Apple has ever made
Apple's M3 chip family.

Macs with Apple silicon were a revelation when they launched three years ago, but we haven't seen Apple demonstrate how it will carry that idea forward since then. We saw the M2 release and the middling performance improvements that came with it, but the M3, announced during Apple's "Scary Fast" event, is the most important chip Apple has ever designed for Macs.

Although it carries the branding of the third generation of Apple silicon, it's really the second true generation. There's a lot riding on this release for Apple to prove that it can sustain its own silicon in Macs, and M3 is arriving at a time when there's fierce competition on all sides.
Second-gen Apple silicon

Read more
Everything announced at Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ event: iMac, M3, and more
Apple revealing new Macs at an event.

Apple's unexpected "Scary Fast" event has wrapped, and the 30-minute presentation was packed full of announcements. Headlining the showcase was Apple's new M3 chip, which is showing up in a variety of devices in just a week from now.

We have the lowdown on everything Apple announced at its unprecedented fall event, which kicks off the third generation of Apple's silicon with two major product updates.
M3 family of chips

Read more
Apple just did something unprecedented with its new M3 chips
Logos for Apple's M3 chips.

Apple announced the M3 series of chips today but has switched up the rollout in a significant way. In previous years, the company started with the base configuration of the chip series, whether that's the M1 or the M2. The initial releases would build the foundation of what these chips could do on entry-level devices like the MacBook Air or Mac mini.

Intel rolls out its chips in a similar way, starting its annual refresh of laptop chips with its entry-level stuff first.

Read more