Apple Dropping Safari for Windows

It looks like Apple is discontinuing support for Safari on Windows. With the release of Mountain Lion last week, Safari was updated to version 6. However, there is no Windows version 6 of Safari. When you go to the Apple website for Safari there's no download option if you're using Windows. However, if you Google for Safari 5.1.7 you will see that there is a link to a support site that has the download.



Here are a couple stories detailing the change.

SitePoint: Dropping Windows Safari is a Mistake

MacWorld: Safari 6 Not for Windows



I have to agree with the SitePoint Writer, getting rid of Safari on Windows seems like a bad idea. Although it is not that popular it is very useful as a development tool. Maybe Apple should consider open sourcing the Windows version? It is important for there to be another WebKit browser on Windows other than Chrome.

Storing Data in Safari for iPhone

Recently I have been thinking of different ways you could store simple text messages and the like on an iPhone. There are a number of note applications out there and you can sync the iPhone note application with some e-mail clients.



Anyway, I ran across this inventive solution, store an entire application in a URL. Its all explained on the Life with Lunchhooks blog. Now that is really cool. Simply put that in a link. Then click the link and save it to your Bookmark list. Whamo-bamo, you have some offline data stored on your iPhone. The only limitation is the data is read only.



But fear not, there are a number of ways you can store applications that can both read and write offline. Apple has this offline application programming guide on their web site. Really neat stuff. I gotta find some time to play with this. :)

Web Development for the IPhone

Well after running across all the cool iPhone apps Sunday, it got me interested in what you need to develop for the platform. It turns out most of the development looks to be done in Objective C. Lots of detailed information can be found out on the Apple iPhone developer site.

However, being the lazy dude that I am, that looks like far too much effort to me. So I checked out the Web options that are available for the iPhone. This is what I have found so far.

• Safari Mobile - Apple's official site for Safari mobile development. I know they have some very hot HTML 5 storage options they are implementing in Safari 4.


• iui - A CSS And JavaScript bundle that allows you to create Web applications for the iPhone. Josh Hewitt provides a detailed introduction here.


• jQTouch - A new library for integrating JQuery with the iPhone.

The web options look like a much better option for trying things out.

HTML 5 Application Cache and Database

I ran across this post on Ajaxian about an HTML 5 application cache and database being built into Safari in the iPhone 2.1 update. The Apple documentation page on this subject can be found at this link. Basically, in Safari 3.1 and iPhone 2.0 or later, an SQLite database is built into the browser. The Apple article shows you how to use use the database.

Really cool stuff! I think Google Gears does the same thing, but this is built in.

Double Click to Open a New Tab in Safari or Webkit

Did you know if you double click the tab bar on Safari or Webkit, the browser opens a new tab for you? Well it does. lol. I wish I had figured that out about 2 years ago. :-p I think God is teaching me about humility this week. :)