How to get rid of flickering in Safari 6.1 ?

No solution so far, unfortunately. It's very annoying since the flickering occurs on many of the websites I visit...

Apparently I got the flickering problem in 6.1 resolved after I botched an attempt at downgrading back to 6.0.5-for-Lion and then had to re-install 6.1 (7537.71) via Software Update.

I'm not sure which step was the key to sorting out the problem, so I recommend not to repeat what I did as I didn't succeed in my primary goal to go back to 6.0.5.

What I would recommend trying out nevertheless is to trash:

1) the contents of the 'Safari' folder in your user Library folder:

~/Library/Safari

2) your Safari user preference files in the Preferences folder:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist.lockfile

Beware, this deletes bookmarks, extensions, reading list items, top sites, preference settings, etc. To make a backup of the bookmarks first, use File > Export Bookmarks in Safari. The exported file can later be re-imported (File > Import Bookmarks) and be re-arranged in the Bookmark editing window (Cmd-Option-B). The exported file can also be imported in other browsers, e.g., Firefox...

To access the (hidden) Library folder in your user home, open some Finder window, hold down the Option key, and from the top menu bar, choose Go > Library.

BTW:

Other 6.1 bugs remained unresolved: going to the 'Google Translate' page instantly crashes Safari. Also, I discovered a quirk in the bookmarks editing view that required quitting&relaunching Safari several times to drag my re-imported bookmarks from subfolders to the top level ...

(PS: Again, I don't know what was the key factor, so I just describe what I did: Deleted the folder/files listed above, plus the folder /System/Library/StagedFrameworks/Safari. Then I ran the Safari 6.0.5 install package that I had downloaded from the Macupdate site, which succeeded. However, Safari crashed on launch. I then decided to reinstall 6.1 and did this by running Software Update from the Apple menu.)

Well, the flickering is back after a day. Resetting Safari didn't help. All you can hope for is that Apple will release a bug fixing update rather sooner than later. I should not have installed 6.1 in the first place – past experience with major updates of Apple software should have taught me that they are actually beta versions, so waiting for the bug fix before updating would have been wiser.

Deleting the following files and folder (see my previous answer) helps with the flickering – at least for a while:

1) the contents of the 'Safari' folder in your user Library folder:

~/Library/Safari

2) your Safari user preference files in the Preferences folder:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist.lockfile

I have now downgraded to 6.0.5 and will wait for the next Safari 6.1.x update (although I bet the flickering will still not be gone). Downgrading is relatively easy using the Terminal application and two lines of command that are copy-pasted from the answer to this related question here: Re: How can I downgrade Safari 6.1 to 6.0.5? . (The previously used Safari version is archived in the system and can be re-installed via Terminal commands)

Before downgrading: use File > Export Bookmarks and let Safari save the file on the Desktop (just to be sure in case the older version gets in trouble with the newer preference file versions – to prevent any possible problem with that, I deleted the Safari folder and my personal Safari preference files like I described in my earlier answer). Then quit Safari.

Launch the Terminal application and copy-paste the following command: (it's for Lion 10.7 specifically. If you are on Mountain Lion 10.8, change the '10.7' in the line to '10.8')

sudo tar -xvf /Library/Application\ Support/Apple/.Safari6.1-10.7Archive/SafariArchive.tar.gz -C /

then press the Return key and type in your Admin password when prompted, and press Return again. If everything is OK, you'll see a huge number of message lines rolling down...

After that, copy-paste this command and press Return:

sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.Safari6.*

That's it.

No improvement with Safari update 6.1.1 . 😠

Good news: Yesterday I installed the developer preview of Safari+Webkit update 6.1.2 (build 7537.74.9) on my OS X 10.7.5 system, and the flickering has not appeared ever since. So, finally, this seems sorted. However, the bug in the bookmark editing view where dragging-und-dropping of bookmark entries (for organising the list) works once and then stops working, is still present.

The preview is available on Apple's developer site (you need to register an account) https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action

Or wait for the regular release und use Software Update to install it.