My favourite web browser on the Mac is Safari…for one reason only, the amazing Top Sites feature that gives you a HUD like display of your favourite websites. Sadly, this feature has yet to make it to iOS, but Apple is bringing some other key features the desktop version has to our iPads and iPhones.
Safari mobile has handled multiple pages in a relatively simple way, with a single tap you can zoom out to a view of all your currently open pages, then tap to activate the one you want to open. Desktop browsers and many other mobile browsers offer tabbed browsing, a faster way to switch between to pages. Though not very visual, it’s reduces your tapping by a whole 50%! Safari mobile in iOS 5 will finally allow pages to be opened in a tab as apposed to a new page.
Safari has another unique feature that I personally LOVE, called Reader. A lot of us spend out time on the Internet reading articles and blogs, and the vast majority of these (save this one my loved readers!) are supported by various ad services, cluttering the page and vying for your attention like a team of rodeo clowns. Tapping Reader magically de-clutters the page by removing all the ads, increasing the text size, and stitching multiple page articles into one. Ah…reading bliss…
Alongside Reader is the new Reading List. An offline article archive for those of us who don’t want a 3G enabled iPad, or are in and out of Internet range. See a nice article about Peruvian horse blanket stitching methods you just HAVE to read, but have to get to work? Tap the menu and tap Add to Reading List. The entire article will be saved locally, and you can bring it up, regardless of your wireless connection, to read at your leisure.
Now I’m just waiting for them to but a toggle in for shutting off that damned automatic history searching in the URL bar…drives me nuts when the keyboard takes 2 seconds to catch up!
By Ryszard(Rick) Gold of The Stem Group
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