Safari doesn't work with some websites, but Firefox does, why?

So what you are saying is that in their quest for purity of coding, they are willing to be the least functional browser.

In fact, this is actually the case.

So what you are saying is that in their quest for purity of coding, they are willing to be the least functional browser.

No, I'm not saying that.

I was really just responding to the theoretical statement you made about standards, which is brought up here occasionally. The theory that web standards should be defined by certain browsers' rendering just doesn't work.

I do understand what you're saying, though. It would be a mistake for a web browser to be "so pure" that it couldn't access any but a few sites, if such a thing were possible according to the web standards that exist. But personally, I find that Safari works for almost every web site that I visit, rendering it properly and functioning properly. The few really glaring exceptions are web sites that are really horribly coded - ignoring any and all standards. Those sometimes work well in some other browsers - sometimes don't.

Another set of exceptions are web sites that simply block Safari (and most other web browsers as well) in an attempt to circumvent any need to code properly or support any but a couple of browsers. Obviously that's a short-sighted web design policy and doesn't really fit into this discussion.

And on a side note, the Safari 3 beta seems to be fixing some of the flaws people have noted in Safari 2, so perhaps Apple is fixing some of the problems that are legitimate issues with Safari's rendering.

I have been a bit reluctant to install the beta. Is it difficult to revert if too buggy?

I have been a bit reluctant to install the beta. Is it difficult to revert if too buggy?

It's very easy to revert, by most reports at least. (I haven't reverted myself since I'm very happy with the beta.) The installer download includes an uninstaller which, when run, reverts you to Safari 2 and all supporting system files required for Safari 2.

A few things:

• Make sure your Safari 2 application is in the Applications folder before you install and don't delete it or the Safari 3 beta application. (The installer and the uninstaller apparently need to see the application in place before they'll do their work.)

• I would uninstall any Safari hacks or add-ons that you might have before installing the Safari 3 beta.

• I would make sure to have a full system backup in the odd case that something goes horribly wrong. (I haven't had any problems, nor have most people, but it is a beta. And if something is corrupt or somehow wrong in your system files there is probably a chance of exacerbating that with the Safari beta install.)

• You might want to browse the Safari beta forums a bit first to see if any of its known bugs are things you can't live without.

Most hacks and Safari enhancer programs have updated versions now to work with Safari 3, so if you're using anything like that you might want to check for updates to any that you can't live without.