Apple today released Safari 5.0.1, turning on Safari Extensions and introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery. Apple introduced extensions support in Safari 5 in June so developers could begin creating extensions with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards. With Safari Extensions Gallery, users can quickly find extensions that add powerful new features to Safari, from toolbars that display live web feeds to sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 allows users to download and install extensions either from the Safari Extensions Gallery or directly from a developer’s site.
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New in Safari 5.0.1 update:
• Safari Extensions
• Customize Safari with features created by third-party developers
• Find extensions in the Safari Extensions Gallery, accessible from the Safari menu and extensions.apple.com
Safari 5.0.1 update also contains improvements to stability, accessibility and security, including the following:
• More accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field
• More accurate timing for CSS animations
• Better stability when using the Safari Reader keyboard shortcut
• Better stability when scrolling through MobileMe Mail
• Fixes display of multipage articles from http://www.rollingstone.com in Safari Reader
• Fixes an issue that prevented Google Wave and other websites using JavaScript encryption libraries from working correctly on 32-bit systems
• Fixes an issue that prevented Safari from launching on Leopard systems with network home directories
• Fixes an issue that could cause borders on YouTube thumbnails to disappear when hovering over the thumbnail image
• Fixes an issue that could cause Flash content to overlap with other content on http://www.facebook.com, http://www.crateandbarrel.com, and other sites when using Flash 10.1
• Fixes an issue that prevented boarding passes from http://www.aa.com from printing correctly
• Fixes an issue that could cause DNS prefetching requests to overburden certain routers
• Fixes an issue that could cause VoiceOver to misidentify elements of webpages
For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
“Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response to the innovative new Safari Reader has been fantastic,” said Brian Croll, Apple’s vice president of OS X Product Marketing, in the press release. “We’re thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari.”
“Millions of our customers already use Amazon Wish Lists to store items they want to buy for themselves or receive as gifts,” said Gianna Puerini, vice president of Worldwide Design and Community at Amazon.com, in the press release. “With Safari 5, we were able to quickly build the Add to Amazon Wish List extension that lets customers add items from any website to their Amazon Wish List with the click of a button.”
“We’re excited to continue working closely with Apple to bring visually compelling Bing experiences to Safari,” said Jeff Henshaw, general manager of Bing User Experience, in the press release. “The Bing Extension for Safari brings Bing search intelligence to everyday browsing with Safari. When a user selects text in Safari, Bing instantly recognizes what they might need and pops up helpful, informative tips, from real time maps and driving directions to real time translations to direct web search results.”
“Using web standard technologies and Safari’s extension builder, we developed an MLB.com extension to give fans another way to consume up-to-the-moment baseball content, including live look-ins to games, right from the Safari toolbar,” said Noah Garden, executive vice president, Commerce and Sponsorship at MLB.com, in the press release.
MacDailyNews Take: “MLB Toolbar.” Wherever A-Roid goes for drinks.
“Our extension for Safari is a great way for readers to get all of the latest breaking news and all the important stories, blogs and columns they want to see,” said Denise Warren, general manager, NYTimes.com at The New York Times Company, in the press release. “While you browse other sites in Safari, our extension checks for updates and slides in new headlines and thumbnails, so you won’t miss a thing.”
“Creating our Twitter extension in Safari couldn’t have been easier,” said Jason Goldman, vice president of Product at Twitter, in the press release. “By providing features like the ability to tweet about a page and view trending topics, we’ve created a simple way to deliver relevant, interesting content to people regardless of where they are on the web.”
The Safari Extensions Gallery is accessible from the Safari menu or at extensions.apple.com. Users can download and install extensions from the gallery with a single click, and there’s no need to restart the browser. Extensions can be automatically updated and are easily managed within Safari. Users can enable or disable individual extensions, or turn off all extensions with one click.
Safari Extensions are built with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards, and can have all the power and functionality of advanced web applications. Every Safari Extension is signed with a digital certificate from Apple to prevent tampering and to verify that updates to the extension are from the original developer. Safari Extensions are sandboxed, so they can’t access information on a user’s system or communicate with websites aside from those specified by the developer. For increased stability, Safari Extensions run solely in the browser.
Safari 5 also features Safari Reader, which presents single and multipage articles on the web in a new, scrollable view without distracting content or clutter. The Nitro JavaScript engine runs JavaScript up to 30 percent faster than Safari 4.* Built on the open source WebKit engine developed by Apple, Safari 5 includes more than a dozen powerful new HTML5 features for creating media-rich experiences, like full screen playback and closed captions for HTML5 video.
Safari 5 is available for both Mac OS X and Windows as a free download at http://www.apple.com/safari. Safari 5 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 or later. Safari 5 for Windows requires Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista or Windows 7, a minimum 256MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor. Full system requirements and more information on Safari 5 can be found at www.apple.com/safari. The Safari Extensions Gallery is available at extensions.apple.com. The Safari Developer Program is free to join at developer.apple.com/programs/safari.
*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. All testing conducted by Apple in May 2010 on an iMac® 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X 10.6.3, with 4GB of RAM. JavaScript benchmark based on the SunSpider 0.9.1 JavaScript Performance test.
Source: Apple Inc.
I though extensions are a thing of the past.. Thanks to all those crappy tool bars In Internet explored that allowed trojens through
This is EXACTLY what Safari needs to compete with Firefox…NICE! Can we add these to the iPad Safari someday too please?!
I use WebKit, so will I find anything new in Safari?
TOOLBARS?
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo
Does it fix the problem that caused the entire system to crash or lock up?
MDN take is hilarious.
I got the Fox news extension and I love it!!!
Safari needs TOOLBARS to compete with Firefox? Don’t think so.
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I just saw a write-up on Tab Joy(?), a feature soon to be brought to Firefox, that will help make Firefox MUCH more usable than the other browsers out there. There seem to be two major concepts involved – the ability to group Tabs together (naming groups is optional, switching groups at will, moving Tabs between groups when desired) and sharing Tab groups with others.
The only problem I see with this might be memory constraints. Sure, the unused groups could be swapped out while not in use, but that would lead to speed issues when attempting to access that set again. Still … a Mac can hold a whole chunk of RAM – at least, a POWER MAC can.
Firefox has had this for years. Nice to see that Safari is catching up.
@ Al
We support roughly 8,000 Macs (education) and none of them experience freezes, crashes or lockups unless the computers are broken (defective hardware/corrupted software).
I’d suggest you get your system looked at, ‘cos you’re living outside reality if you’re blaming Safari for your woes.
Moo
I have a 2 month old MacBook. It has frozen up at least 8 times.
Al, you need me to have a look at it.
Next best thing is to take to the Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Reseller.
Sounds something minor, something software related.
Doesn’t seem to fix the HTML 5 problem stopping you from being able to fast forward or skip ahead in YouTube.
BUG — quit Safari before running the installer otherwise you’ll get caught in an endless loop: “Please quite Safari before beginning this update” click OK “Please quite Safari before beginning this update” click ok “Please quite Safari before beginning this update”……
Too little too late. I loved Safari early – became a Firefox fan and stayed. Safari is to buggy and slow on sites with google analytics and click to flash.
Did it fix that thing where Safari is a buggy, spinning beachball, constantly crashing and unusable disaster?
I have a feeling that this extensions business is just to appease the countless morons out there who think that more doodads make things better. People who prefer Firefux should just use it and be happy.
No cookie-blocking extension. No No-Squint. Mouse Gestures is a joke.
Thank the diety of your choice for Firefox.
I like it. Not buggy and snappy.
Does it repair the potential Autofill vulnerability?
“We’re excited to continue working closely with Apple to bring visually compelling Bing experiences to Safari”
Meanwhile, I am very excited to continue banning the Boink experience from my Safari browser.
I’ve been able to change the search box in Safari to Boing for nearly a year thanks to the Glims add-on for Safari. I joyfully have unchecked that option since I first installed it. This is me smiling:
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Did anyone neuter anonymous coward “Paul Horne” in order to stop him pissing on the furniture?
‘Paul Johnson’ sez: “Does it repair the potential Autofill vulnerability?”
Go do your homework and read the Apple article at the link MDN provided. It answered your question:
— For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
Sorry to take up so much of your time, Derek.
For others who might be interested, the answer is yes. Safari 5.0.1 and 4.1.1 does solve the Autofill vulnerability.
Safari is much better than FireFox and the other browsers in my opinion. Extensions looks promising.