Technology review: Safari 3.0.3 Public Beta

Over the weekend, I decided it was time to try out Apple’s new Public Beta version of Safari 3. My two points of motivation were checking out the new tabbed browsing additions which have been sadly lacking in Safari, and beyond that I was hoping that the new version of Safari might be more compatible with my Verizon FiOS wireless router. I am happy to report that I am quite satisfied with both.

Draggable/arrangeable tabs are one of the main new features of Safari 3. This is a great feature, and one that I have been hoping for for a long time. Mind you, I know that draggable tabs already exist in Firefox, I just for some reason can’t make the switch. I am happy to report that Apple’s version of draggable tabs works great, and makes browsing a much more pleasurable experience.

Along with draggable tabs comes bookmarkable tab groups. Under the “Bookmarks” menu exists a selection called “Add Bookmark for these X tabs…” which will bookmark each tab for you. It’s a great way to bookmark your morning reading, or to bookmark a certain workflow like editing your blog or some other web-based operation that you do on a regular basis.

A new feature that I didn’t realize was in Safari 3 is the spell checker. Again, this is an increasingly necessary browser feature. I can tell you it has already saved me much pain and suffering by helping me avoid re-editing blog entries.

So far I’m very happy with Safari 3. I can’t wait to see the official release version, and can only imagine that it will be yet another excellent Apple product. Oh, and by the way… it works much better than Safari 2 with my Verizon wireless router too.