14 DAY TRIAL // This week, Apple developers received the second developer preview of Safari 6, the latest version of the company’s standard web browser on Macintosh computers.
The update is officially identified as "Developer Preview 2," according to people who are familiar with the software, cited by AppleInsider. The Safari 6 beta allows developers to test the next major version of the browser in OS X 10.7 Lion environments.
Safari 6 Developer Preview 2 reportedly addresses a crash that would occur when the user types a string ending with two periods in the URL bar.
“In the first developer preview, typing two periods or auto-completing an address with two periods would reportedly crash the software,” the report notes.
No other changes have been recorded in Safari 6 DP2 so far, but developers are sure to churn up more in the days leading up to its debut.
Safari 6 promises to deliver key features that make browsing the web smarter and faster. Users will get a single search field for both search terms and web addresses – something Opera and Chrome have had for quite some time now – and it will suggest a Top Hit, popular search terms, and pages from your bookmarks and history.
Probably the most visual feature of the lot, Tab View will show users all their open tabs. On trackpads (MacBooks) they will simply pinch to see them all and swipe left and right to switch between them.
If you happen to own an iPad or an iPhone too, iCloud Tabs will kick in and display your last browsing session on whichever device you choose.
Safari 6 saves entire web pages in the Reading List, allowing users to do some offline reading when there’s no Internet connection.
Finally, Safari 6 is set to deliver the fastest JavaScript of any browser released to date. We’ll see if that pans out or not soon enough.