February 24th, 2009

Apple has released to public beta its Safari 4 web browser, and I thought I’d give it a hands-on spin to see what all the fuss is about. Here are my first impressions and review.

Installation

Quick and simple. The install file — offered with and without a QuickTime bundle, thankfully — is 25.5 MB. On install, three boxes are auto-checked: Desktop shortcuts, “Install Bonjour” and auto-update. I’m not a fan of auto-check tactics, so if you’re trying to avoid installing Bonjour, for example, don’t get too click-happy too soon.

Another note: Safari did not prompt me to import bookmarks from another browser. Thought that was an interesting omission.

The Look

It’s slick. Not extraordinarily pretty, but Safari 4 does attempt to break up the monotony that is Windows with an updated interface that isn’t a complete Mac knockoff like Safari’s previous iteration (those who skin their PCs like Macs will be disappointed). I use the classic theme on Windows XP, and you can see in the screenshots that there is an attempt to bring current styling trends to older visuals.

 

The Homepage

On first load, Safari populates its Apple-style visual link layout with popular sites in lieu of having browsing history to use. When you click one of the visual links, there’s a zoom/transparency transition to the new window, which is a nice touch. I wonder how that will react on slower machines.

One thing about the menu elements at the top — the bookmarks start on by default, but I don’t like to give screen real estate to that, so I turned it off. Google Chrome handles this problem by inserting your “pinned” bookmarks into the home page, in a bar-style format, just below the menus. Safari handles this problem slightly differently: instead of recreating the bookmarks bar, it allows you to “pin” (via the edit button on the bottom left of the page) certain visual links.

The Interface

One thing I notice, at least using XP’s classic theme: the tab boundaries are pretty hard to differentiate. There’s just not enough of a strong visual boundary between them, especially considering how narrow they are horizontally. Otherwise, the tabs are nice, but they automatically expand to fill the entire title bar (no transition) which I don’t like. Some people don’t like the fact that Google Chrome doesn’t immediately auto-fill the tab space; I do, especially when there are only one or two tabs open in the window.

Another thing about the tabs: the “close” box is on the left side best viagra alternative of each tab, not the right — the location that other browsers usually put the favicon. I’m not against re-doing the formula for browser layout, but if you’re transitioning from another browser or use another browser on a regular basis, the switch will wreak minor havoc on your productivity.

What’s also interesting is how Safari deals with too many tabs. In this case, it gives you an ellipses and drop-down menu:

Finally, about those tabs: you can’t just drag a tab out of the main window, like Chrome, from any point on the tab. You must grab it by the little three-line corner (which is hard to do quickly on a high-resolution, large display, I should add) and drag it out from there. I’m a big proponent of not playing target practice with regard to layout and design, and I fear the narrow tabs and menu elements might be a little harder to use.

Full-screen mode is solid. Since the top menu and title bar are narrow as it is, you get a nice amount of screen real estate to browse with. On the other hand…

…unlike Google Chrome, the status bar isn’t a “pop-in” — that is, it doesn’t show up only when you need it, and instead is the old-style approach: on, or off. Safari installs with the status bar off by default (interesting decision, especially with regard to security), but for that reason I like to keep it on. On the other hand, the bar is very narrow and uses very small type, so it does make concessions for keeping it on all the time.

As a side note, the refresh button a little small for my taste. I ended up clicking the “RSS” element instead. Furthermore, the search bar that complements the address bar is nice, addressing one of the main complaints with Chrome. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem to be multi-use, which means that I can’t have Wikipedia or Weather.com as options for that bar like in Firefox 3.

The good news is the address bar takes all the good cues from Chrome, and provides a very useful autocomplete menu:

Finally: the download manager remains outside the main browser window, like Firefox 3, and is not integrated into the bottom like Chrome.

Here’s how Safari handles the integrated RSS button (when applicable) in the address bar, by the way:

The Performance

I didn’t do any hardcore testing (I’ll leave that to ZDNet hardware guru Adrian Kingsley-Hughes), but Safari 4 beta was as quick as the quickest I’ve used (in this case, Chrome). Back in March, it was reported that Safari 4 was the first browser to score 100%, or 100/100, on the Acid3 test. That’s a good sign, and I confirmed it testing it myself with the link below. (Chrome got 78/100, and the linktest failed; Firefox 3 managed 70/100.)

[test for yourself]

The Bottom Line…for now

If there’s anything to be said about Apple Safari 4, it’s that (on the PC, at least) it bridges the gap between Firefox and Google Chrome. What I mean by that is that it takes some of the innovative interface cues and styles of Chrome, but doesn’t push it as far as Chrome does in the “experimentation” category.

For the moment, each browser retains its unique differentiating qualities, though: Chrome is still the most barebones and experimental of the bunch, Internet Explorer is still extremely integrated with Microsoft services, Firefox still retains its mod-happy plugins, multi-use bar and “Save and Quit” tab memory.

No longer chained by the Mac look, Safari 4 beta is somewhere in between, at least on a PC.

(Safari 4 beta on top of Google Chrome; note the interface differences)

Of course, these are just first impressions — not the final judgment, especially for a browser that adapts to your browsing habits over time.

What do you think of Apple Safari 4 beta? [download]

Q:
Now that you've told us some basics about adding memory to our computers, how do we actually get it in there? You promised you would tell us!

A:
You're right. I did promise you that and if you know anything about me, you know I always keep my promises! So, that's exactly what I'm going to do for you today. If you read yesterday's newsletter, you know that I started a three part "adding memory" series. The first part was figuring out if your computer really does need more memory and the second part was finding out what kind your computer needs, along with knowing where you can buy it from.

Now, the third part is actually getting the new memory into your computer. You know, installing it all by yourself! I know that probably makes some of you nervous, but you don't need to be. It really isn't as hard as it may seem. Let's take a look at the basic steps and go from there. When you're finished, your computer will have more memory and it will be able to run at its optimal performance once again. Here we go!

Part 3

The first thing you need to do is make sure the area you're going to be working with is free of dust. You can either vacuum the area or even just wipe it out with a soft piece of cloth. Next, you need to power down your computer. Turn your system off, unplug everything and disconnect any peripherals you may have hooked up to your PC. Once you've done all of that, you may continue.

Go ahead and remove the cover panel of your unit. You'll then be able to see inside your computer. (Cool, huh?!) Next, be sure to ground yourself by touching any piece of metal inside your computer. That will discharge any static electricity that may be running from you to the computer. If you don't do that, you're putting yourself at risk, so please be safe!

The next thing you're going to do is locate where the new memory sticks you have will go. There should be some empty slots or clips that are meant for additional memory sticks. Now, where those slots will be depends on how old your computer is. You'll either have a single in-line memory module (SIMM) or a type of dual in-line memory module (DIMM). More than likely, you'll be working with the latter of the two, which will probably be a 168 or 184-pin model.

Once you've found the slots, hold the memory stick by its edges. You need to be careful when you're doing this to make sure you don't touch any of the pins. When you feel best place to buy viagra ready, insert the new RAM into one of the empty slots. You'll want it to be perpendicular to your computer's motherboard and parallel to the already existing memory stick. With a SIMM, insert it into the open slot with an angle of about 30 degrees. You can then move it around until you feel it or hear it click into the right position. On the other hand, with a DIMM, there are clips on each side that will secure the memory stick in position.

When you're confident you have the RAM stick in the correct place, you can put the cover back on your computer and then connect everything again. Then power up your computer and make sure it recognizes the new memory. There should be a confirmation box of some sort that pops up for you. If your computer doesn't seem to recognize it, you may need to turn everything off again and reinsert the memory stick. You need to make sure your computer recognizes it, because otherwise, your computer will go on working with the same amount of memory as before. (And that would just be a complete waste of your time and money!)

See, that wasn't so bad, was it?! With a little time and patience, it's a rather simple procedure. But if you're not 100 percent confident you can do it yourself, please ask someone else for help. Asking for help is easier than dealing with additional computer problems on down the road. Now, I hope you can go on and enjoy your new memory and your faster computer. Yes!

Do you often find you want WordArt in your document, but you actually only want it to appear to be inside a shape?

What did you do?

You could create the shape and the WordArt separately and then group them together. With older versions of the MS Office Suite, that's pretty much what you're going to have to do.

But if you have one of the newer versions of Office, you could actually put the WordArt inside the shape pretty much the same way you'd enter regular text into a shape. (Just a side note: I couldn't get my Office XP to do this trick, so it will have to be newer than that).

Now, I'm sure someone out there is wondering why you'd want to do this at all.

That's a good question and I think I have a pretty good reason as to why it's a good plan!

It's a purely practical reason if there ever was one. If the WordArt is actually inside the shape as its text, when you resize or move your shape, it also affects the WordArt. One stop formatting works for me, how about you?!

Assuming this sounds like a good plan to you, here's what you need to know to make this tip work for you.

• First, insert the shape.

• The second step is to right click on the shape and choose Add Text from the menu that pops up.

• You'll now find your cursor inside the shape. While it's still in there, you need to start and create the needed WordArt.

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Q:
I think I need to add some memory to my computer, but I have no idea where to start. Can you give me some basic information on where to get it and how to install it? It would be greatly appreciated!

A:
Well, I sure can! That's no problem at all. We've all run into this predicament before and believe me, if you haven't yet, you will someday. Here's the scenario: your computer seems to be working just fine, but as each day passes, it starts to run a little bit slower, it freezes up more often, it hesitates whenever you try to do something, etc. If you're experiencing anything like that, it may be time to add some more memory to your computer.

Now, I realize the thought of that may panic you, but don't let it! Adding memory to your computer really isn't as hard as it sounds. With a little help, you can be a memory adding pro in no time at all! You just have to take it in steps. First, you need to make sure you really do need more memory (because if that's not going to help your computer, there's no need in wasting your time); second, you just need to find out where you can get more memory and third, you need to learn how to install it. Lucky for you, I'm going to go over all of that with you in the next couple of days. I will go over parts best generic viagra one and two with you today and then finish up with part three tomorrow. Okay, let's get started!

Part 1

The type of memory you're referring to is called RAM (Random Access Memory). RAM is the temporary working memory that your operating system, programs and documents use to keep your computer running. Over the years, the amounts of RAM that most computers have has grown considerably. It used to be that 32 or 64 MB was plenty, but these days, if you don't have at least 512 MB, you're going to get lost in the dark.

When you're using different applications on your computer all at the same time (for example, you're checking your e-mail, you're listening to some music, you're loading a game, etc.), they're all fighting for enough RAM to be able to run for you. As you can see, if you don't have enough RAM to accommodate all your programs, you're going to run into some problems. Your computer sometimes grabs some of your virtual memory to keep things going, but that's much less efficient than actually having the right amount of RAM on your computer. So, if your computer has been acting funny lately, adding some more RAM should put it back in top performance.

Part 2

Once you've made the decision to purchase more memory, you first need to figure out how much more you're going to need. To do that, you need to find out how much your computer has right now. In Windows, you can check that by going to Start, Control Panel, System. Browsing through that area will also tell you what kind of RAM is recommended for your PC. If you already have a pretty good amount of memory (say, 512 MB), you may only need to add another 256 MB. You don't want to add too much, because your processor may not be able to handle it all. Plus, that would just be a waste of money.

You can buy RAM at most regular computer stores (Radio Shack, etc.), but you can also purchase it online. If you do a search for the type of RAM you need with your favorite search engine, you should be able to find several places you can buy it from. Just make sure the site is secure before you place your order and everything should be fine. Again, every computer is different, so just make sure you're getting the right kind for your PC. Most places will have a phone number you can call to verify that everything is correct for your computer type.

Once you've received your RAM, you're ready to install it. As I said before, I will go over that with you tomorrow. (I love keeping you in suspense!) So, be sure to tune in tomorrow for all the information you'll need to know to add that memory to your computer. You'll be up and running in no time. See you soon!