Surfing with Safari, Tiger-Style

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AlbertPacino

Skilled
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(These feeds don’t use HTML, but rather one of several RSS formats that few Web browsers can understand.) With Safari 2.0, included with OS X 10.4, Mac users no longer need a dedicated RSS client such as Ranchero Software’s NetNewsWire to view these RSS feeds; instead, they can enjoy the latest feed updates right in Safari.

There’s certainly more to Safari than RSS—more on that in a moment—but with Tiger now shipping, we can finally see the features Steve Jobs described last summer in all their glory. As Jobs outlined, when browsing a site that features an RSS feed—both RSS and Atom formats are supported—a blue RSS icon appears in Safari’s address bar. Clicking the icon displays the feed right in your Safari window, and a simple slider control lets you adjust the size of article summaries on the fly.

But Safari’s RSS-related features also include a few neat tricks that haven’t been widely covered: You can bookmark a feed just like you would any other Web site; but unlike normal bookmarks, Safari automatically monitors RSS bookmarks for new content, displaying the number of new articles next to the bookmark name. And Safari’s RSS Personal Clipping Service goes one step further, by allowing you to search a particular RSS feed for a specific topic and then bookmark that search—Safari will automatically watch for new articles in that feed that fit your search criteria, and notify you when such articles appear.

If you’re already using a dedicated RSS client, will Safari’s support for RSS be good enough to convince you to switch? On the one hand, I haven’t seen a feature like Safari’s Personal Clipping Service in any other application. On the other hand, dedicated RSS clients generally offer features that advanced users will appreciate, such as more options for browsing, searching, and viewing articles; the ability to flag and filter articles; and more powerful feed management capabilities. The good news is that you have a choice: If—like me—you’d rather read RSS feeds in your current RSS client, Safari lets you set your default RSS reader as another application; clicking on an RSS icon in the Safari address bar will display the feed in that application.

But Apple has also added many significant features to Safari unrelated to RSS. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:

  • Improved Performance
  • Saving Websites
  • Private Browsing
  • Parental Controls
  • PDF Viewing
  • Bookmark Changes
  • Image Tools
  • More Obvious Download Security
  • Better Text Editing
  • Security Certificate Details
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