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besson3c · Aug 25, 2011, 06:58 PM

Webkit2/Safari is:

- buggy at least for me, pages just randomly lock up for me giving me spinning beachballs. This seems unrelated to any extension. 10.7.1 was a slight improvement, but the problem still persists, and I'm also asked regularly to reload all pages

- noticeably slower than Chrome even at its best when it is behaving normally, particularly with a number of tabs loaded

- less Flash friendly. Click2Flash is not as good as the native Chrome Click2Play feature, Chrome's Click2Play loads movies much faster without initial hesitation

- pretty limited at importing bookmarks and settings from other browsers

Safari has some nice features that other browsers like Chrome lack (including native Lion scroll bars), but overall I'm finding that none of this is worth the hassle. I'd take older Webkit1 based versions of Safari over the current version as it stands.

I was really excited about Webkit2 and what it promised, but it has turned out to be a disappointment. It's kind of sad that Google seems to be better at making well-performing OS X browsers than Apple.

Is my disappointment shared?

mduell · Aug 25, 2011, 07:58 PM

The frequency of the "unable to connect" or whatever error is incredibly obnoxious.

TETENAL · Aug 25, 2011, 08:10 PM

WebKit2 is not yet ready for prime time.

P · Aug 26, 2011, 03:11 AM

Private Browsing is also broken, btw, at least on SL. IMO, Safari 5.1 on Snow Leopard is...fine. The new extension-based Click2Flash is less useful than the old Webkit plugin, but it's OK. I think the problem is related to Lion..

angelmb · Aug 26, 2011, 03:20 AM

No problems running iCab on Lion. Haven't installed Flash (neither I intend to), though.

besson3c · Aug 26, 2011, 03:20 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

The frequency of the "unable to connect" or whatever error is incredibly obnoxious.

Yeah, I don't understand how reloading all pages in all windows is necessary. In Chrome these unresponsive tabs can be killed when prompted, this is much better for users like me that have several windows of tabs open.

besson3c · Aug 26, 2011, 03:34 AM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

WebKit2 is not yet ready for prime time.

Given that there has been very little argument thus far, I would say that I can't remember the last time Apple shipped something this important this broken.

TETENAL · Aug 26, 2011, 06:16 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Yeah, I don't understand how reloading all pages in all windows is necessary. In Chrome these unresponsive tabs can be killed when prompted, this is much better for users like me that have several windows of tabs open.

Reloading all pages is necessary because there is only one renderer process total, not one per tab as in Chrome. If that meant performance was better, it would be OK, but since it obviously isn't, it's just lame.

WebKit2 is still a private framework only. Of course iCab runs well. It's still using the regular WebKit.

Yarlington · Aug 27, 2011, 12:43 AM

I gave up on Safari after installing Lion, it was consuming huge amount of memory both RAM and virtual everything slowed to a crawl, other software open also slowed by the lack of RAM of course the need to force reload 40 or 50 pages on a regular basis ran thin very quickly. I now have Chrome on my MacBook and Firefox on the iMac, software I had never considered before this fiasco
Add on the spell checker alterer ....thanks a lot Apple I am a lousy typist but this word substitution is beyond the pale
Don't get me started on the auto save in the background feature it is driving me nuts constantly interrupting entry of data while it whirls its little heart out .Note to developers this is NOT "in the background" saving....... it is in your face!

Wish I had never seen Lion , luckily I never installed it on the wife's computer or I would be divorced by now !
not a happy Lion tamer
Ron

moonmonkey · Aug 27, 2011, 01:06 AM

I have never used (or even looked at) Chrome because Safari is much better.

besson3c · Aug 27, 2011, 06:04 AM

Originally Posted by moonmonkey

I have never used (or even looked at) Chrome because Safari is much better.

In what respect, in context with this thread?

Thinine · Aug 29, 2011, 01:51 AM

Works fine for me. No UI crashes and the only WebProcess crashes I've seen were using the nightlies. Only one outstanding bug right now for me, which has a patch in the pipeline.

Radioflyer · Oct 3, 2011, 12:29 PM

When I type some text into Safari and some technical term invites spell checker to highlight the term and I then click on the "Ignore" button all the text I've just entered disappears when Safari reverts to the page before I began to enter the text. Its not dependant on the forum software for the site I'm visiting because it will happen in several different ones.

Do I have something set up wrong? Is this a special feature of Safari?

Thorzdad · Oct 4, 2011, 11:42 AM

My wife works in an all-Mac office. For whatever reason, they rely on Network Solutions' nsMail webmail for their office email. After they all upgraded to Safari 5.1, they discovered that the text field in nsMail no longer works. It stays gray and you can't enter any text, though the cursor changes to the text-entry cursor when you mouse over the field. The solution has been for the office to start using Firefox for their webmail.