“This is the fourth pre-release seed of Safari 5.2,” Apple informs programmers

May 17, 2012 08:51 GMT  ·  By

Apple Developer Program members have been greeted by a new release of Safari 5.2 this week, with instructions to test the web browser against the most recent builds of OS X Lion.

Safari 5.2 Update 4 is the fourth pre-release seed of Safari 5.2 which Apple is now offering via its Safari Dev Center. The included seed note explains the purpose of the update, as well as the focus areas.

Last month, when the Cupertino, California-based computer giant released Safari 5.2 Update 3, programmers were asked to focus their coding skills on SVG filters and the redesigned web inspector.

According to the release notes (which also include the installation instructions), “Using SVG Filters, you can combine several filter primitive elements and light source elements into a single sophisticated filter, which can then be applied to any SVG element.”

As for the redesigned Web Inspector, Apple said it had “a streamlined new design that speeds up common development tasks.”

“It features a new all new iconography, a navigation bar that lets you easily switch between different web page elements, a persistent JavaScript console, integrated timelines, and more. Additionally, JavaScript debugging is now enabled by default, and the page source view now opens in the Web Inspector automatically,” the company added.

Regular customers can only download Safari 5.1.7 for Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion, as well as Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

Released last week, Safari 5.1.7 contains improvements to performance, stability, compatibility, and security.

For example, the new version improves the browser's responsiveness when the system is low on memory, and fixes a couple of issues that could prevent webpages from responding after using a pinch-to-zoom gesture, or that could affect websites using forms to authenticate users.

Most importantly, the security side of the software disables versions of Adobe Flash Player that lack the latest security updates. Safari 5.1.7 provides customers with the option to get the current version of Flash from Adobe's website.