Safari is a web browser from Apple that provides a unique browsing experience to millions of users across the globe. The Safari browser online is pre-installed on Apple devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Users can obtain quick access to this browser without having to download it individually. Another advantage of using this browser is that it does not drain the battery quickly because it utilizes less memory and power than other browsers.
Whether someone is an Apple device enthusiast or simply exploring Safari browser options, this comprehensive guide for developers will explore how running the Safari browser online enhances the browsing experience with security measures, speed, customization options, and a range of powerful features.
What is the Safari browser?
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple for devices running Apple’s operating system including macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS. It is pre-installed on iOS-based devices, such as iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Macs, and uses Apple’s open-source browser engine WebKit.
Safari Browser provides a variety of functions and features to enhance the browsing experience, making it a preferred choice for users of all levels. It brings robust customization options, secure, powerful privacy protection, optimized battery life, and a fast web browser. It also helps in implementing high security with the help of Intelligent Tracking Prevention, and Private Browsing mode. All these unique features make it a powerful and reliable web browser.
Components of Safari browser online
- WebKit rendering engine: For displaying web pages in Safari, the WebKit rendering engine is responsible. It is a fast and efficient engine and it’s also found in other well-known web browsers like Google Chrome.
- Nitro JavaScript engine: JavaScript code in Safari is executed using the Nitro JavaScript engine. It is a fast and efficient engine that enhances web application performance.
- Multi-process architecture: Safari uses a multi-process architecture where every browser extension and tab operates as an independent process. This architecture increases stability and security because if one tab or extension crashes there is no impact on the entire browser.
- Customizable browser window: The layout of Safari bars, buttons, bookmarks, toolbar, and tab bar can be customized.
- Web Inspector: A tool that can modify, debug, and optimize websites for performance and compatibility on different platforms. Allowing access to Web Inspector by enabling the Develop menu in Safari’s Advanced preferences.
Notable features of the Safari browser online
It is difficult to spot the differences between Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari, or Microsoft Edge at first glance, but Safari browser has some key features that make it separate from others.
iCloud tab browsing: With the same iCloud account, the Safari browser can automatically sync open tabs across devices. Users can view a list of multiple tabs open on their MacBook while using Safari on the iPad or iPhone. It is similar to Chrome’s bookmark sharing but here logging in is not required.
Sharing: It has a built-in share button feature that empowers users to share a website through messaging, email, or social media quickly. The coolest feature of the Safari application is that it can share a site directly with another nearby iPhone, iPad, or Mac using AirDrop.
Reader view: In favor of a more readable view, Safari can easily detect content and introduce it in a format that strips out navigation and advertisement. For the website that loads new windows, this view is especially great for those websites.
Energy efficiency: Safari is known for its energy efficiency which helps extend battery life on laptops and mobile devices, giving users precious minutes, even hours sometimes of extra use in comparison to Chrome, Firefox, and other popular browsers.
Integration with Apple ecosystem: Safari can integrate seamlessly with other Apple devices and services. Be it iPhone, iPad, or Mac, Safari allows users for a unified browsing experience across all devices.
Performance: Safari can demonstrate superior performance with its optimized rendering engine and resource management, compared to other browsers like Chrome or Firefox.
Benefits of using Safari browsing online
Safari is a powerful tool that offers a seamless browsing experience. It is renowned for its impressive speed, enhanced security, and extensive customization options. Below are some of the benefits that make Safari a versatile browser.
Fast speed: The Safari browser is famous for its excellent speed, which makes it one of the fastest web browsers. Its rendering engine helps the web pages to load swiftly without any lag or buffering issues to ensure that the users can seamlessly navigate through websites. When browsing media-rich sites or streaming videos, this speed is particularly noticeable.
Strong security features: In web browsing, security is a top priority and Safari browser provides a safe online environment. It assists in integrating several security mechanisms to protect users from various threats such as malware, phishing attempts, and harmful websites.
With Intelligent Tracking Prevention, this browser prevents cross-site tracking to safeguard privacy by restricting advertisers’ ability to track online activities. Users get alerts frequently about malicious websites so that they can browse the web with confidence. This approach helps to protect personal data and contributes to a smoother browsing experience.
Extensive customization options: The customization options allow users to modify the toolbar, removing or adding buttons according to the user’s needs. Safari can easily install ad-blockers, password managers, or productivity tools to optimize their browsing experience. This type of customization makes it a versatile browser for all types of users.
Other than these Safari has the added advantage of integrating with other Apple devices and services that ensures a consistent user experience across multiple devices regardless of which Apple devices they started browsing. This integration further extends to other Apple services as well, such as iCloud Keychain, which keeps the passwords securely and auto-fills them across all devices. Such integration makes Safari an excellent choice for Apple ecosystem users.
Safari Developer Tools
Safari offers a wide range of comprehensive sets of tools to aid in website development and debugging. In addition to increasing efficiency, these tools are designed to enhance productivity and provide an understanding of the performance and behavior of web pages. Now let’s examine the key developer tools that Safari offers:
Elements: With the Elements tool, developers can analyze and work with a web page’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. It allows for easy navigation and editing and provides a tree-like representation of the page’s structure. Elements tool allows developers to modify the content, layout, and styles of a web page in real-time.
Console: One of the most useful and powerful tools for debugging JavaScript code and logging messages is the Console tool. Developers can easily execute JavaScript code, monitor function calls and network requests, as well as evaluate and read error messages. The Console tool is quite useful in troubleshooting, testing code fragments, and performance-boosting websites.
Sources: The Sources tool provides a thorough perspective of all the JavaScript, CSS, and every resource file connected to a web page. With Sources tools, developers can set breakpoints, step through code, and examine the execution’s flow. Additionally, it enables advanced capabilities like code profiling and debugging of web workers.
Network: Using the Network tool, developers can monitor and analyze activity on the network, including requests and responses. It provides information about loading times, caching behavior, and the performance of the network. With the Network tool, developers can optimize web asset loading, and identify bottlenecks to improve the overall user experience.
Performance: The Performance tool is created to help developers identify and fix web page performance problems. It provides a thorough timeline of events, pointing out areas of concern such as memory leaks, a high CPU use rate, and ineffective code execution.
Application: Developers can inspect and manipulate various aspects of web applications with the Application tool including storage, databases, and service workers. It provides developers the ability to view and edit data stored in local storage, session storage, indexedDB, and cookies. The Application tool is invaluable when it comes to testing and debugging web applications.
With these powerful developer tools, Safari provides a robust environment for developing and debugging websites. Whether testers are debugging JavaScript, checking changing code, and network activities, or optimizing performance, Safari’s developer tools offer the required functionalities to expedite the development process.
Advanced testing techniques for running Safari browser online
Below are some advanced testing techniques that can help developers and testers greatly enhance their capacity for testing on the Safari browser across the Apple ecosystem.
Implementing automation testing
The efficiency and functionality of the Safari browser can be greatly enhanced by implementing automated testing. Integrating automation testing frameworks like Selenium with the Safari Driver testers can use the automated test scripts with continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines using dedicated tools such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or GitLab CI. By implementing this approach the developers can execute constant testing with the Safari browser.
Performance Testing
Performance is one of the most important factors that determines how an application performs for the end user. There are several helpful tools to measure and optimize the Safari browser’s app performance.
Testers can use the Safari test cases with the Lighthouse tool. Although this tool is primarily linked with Chrome, the Lighthouse audits may be executed on Safari with the use of command line tools. Implementing this audit will offer a thorough performance analysis of the application that is being created and tested.
Accessibility Testing
While Safari provides access to multiple tools to assist with accessibility testing.
The Mac operating system’s built-in screen recorder, VoiceOver, makes it easier for testers to understand how users interact with web applications with visual impairments and allows them to determine whether any accessibility issues might be present when interpreting the user interface elements.
Cross-browser compatibility testing
WebKit and other rendering engines differ significantly from one another, so the developers need to ensure cross-browser compatibility testing while testing their web applications’ functionality with the Safari browser. To test Safari browsers, a cross-browser testing tool is required to ensure that no bugs go undetected. When it comes to cross-browser testing, LambdaTest is the preferred option for developers.
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets testers perform cross-browser testing across more than 3000 environments, real mobile devices, and browsers both manually and automated at scale. This makes it a top choice among other cloud testing platforms.
Additionally, if testers want to test Safari on Windows they can leverage the LambdaTest platform to test Safari across different versions and devices. Since Safari is associated with macOS, and Apple does support Safari for Windows, LambdaTest provides access to real Safari browsers, so testers don’t need to worry about the lack of native Safari support on Windows.
LambdaTest is a leading cloud-based platform revolutionizing testing in the digital era. Other than cross-browser testing it offers several other features including real device testing, data-driven testing, parallel testing, regression testing, and geolocation testing. The platform also provides integration with various project management tools and CI/CD pipelines for improved test workflow.
Security and Privacy Testing
The privacy features of Safari need to be thoroughly tested to ensure compliance and functionality with no issues. To prevent cross-site tracking systems developers need to use intelligent tracking prevention. Testing whether the app handles different cookies and other tracking methods is also important.
Conclusion
Considering every factor, it is analyzed that testing web applications on Safari requires an understanding of its unique features, setting up robust environments, and deploying advanced techniques. So, by using all the methods discussed in this article, testers can deliver a seamless and optimal user experience on Safari.
Hope this guide provides developers the knowledge of running Safari browser online and helps them enhance the effectiveness of testing efforts further.