I’ve been on a safari trip. A Safari trip, that is. Not satisfied with having three browsers, I installed a fourth one. Chrome is my default, but I use the others for testing purposes—too see how a site I’m working on displays in different browsers. I thought I might just as well add the default Apple browser to my browser showcase.
When my Safari launched, it was a trip to the first world aka the world of Apple users. The browser feels Apple-ish. I know, what a surprise. Another surprise was how poorly it renders fonts on my Windows laptop. My uneducated guess was that it’s because Safari wasn’t intended for Windows—though the Windows version does exist.
It’s actually right. Some Googling showed that it’s a common issue and that it’s apparently caused because Safari doesn’t use Windows ClearType font smoothing. There are several font smoothing options in Safari preferences, but none of them really fixes the problem. As one of the articles I found on the topic suggests, Safari for Windows is fast but fuzzy.
It’s not a big deal for the purpose for which I installed the browser in the first place—as a viewer rather than a browser. And I’m perversely glad that it doesn’t work right for me. It’s good to be reminded of your place. As a non-Apple user, I shouldn’t try using Apple products. It’s wise not to aspire to what you can’t have/do to avoid frustration. This might come across as negative, but my meaning is positive—after all, it’s what I hated the least today.
Mara Eastern 
I have a sneaky suspicion that Apple has not got long to go. The point of difference seems to be shrinking at an alarming rate.
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I’ve heard comments like this before. I’m both saddened and perversely satisfied. It was nice to think that Apple stands for quality, but it makes no difference to me since I can’t afford it. So they can just as well go to the dogs 😮
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My problem is i would rather buy something for half the price that works nearly as well. And lasts nearly as long.
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Nearly is the trouble word for me here. I obsess about quality. I should do something about myself.
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I once (late 90’s) described quality as “a perceived level of perfection”. I am still not sure if that actually makes sense really, but it might be a place to start
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You came up with the perfect definition of perfection. I perceive it as having the top level of perfection.
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I am glad someone got it, the room full of my ‘peers’ all looked at me as if I had been gargling LSD
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Once again, people are weird. No appreciation of genius.
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Or me either
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Oh my – it’s back to that gobbledogook speak !!
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Sorry about that 😦
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Don’t let it worry you – it’s just me 🙂
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I promise I’ll soon try to blog about something generally interesting, perhaps even nice, like kittens 😉
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Lol !!!!!!! Don’t take my ‘complaints’ to heart 🙂
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Thank you for being so tolerant of my quirks 🙂
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It’s my pleasure – I like quirky !!
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❤
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I remember trying this, long time ago — Safari on Windows. But I have a vague memory of the font looking better?! Now, bear in mind, this was long time ago, and perhaps anything looked better.
I agree with what you say in the end there … it was a good thing it didn’t render all that well, to avoid frustrations. Once you’ve experienced what it looks like on an Apple device … even without the Retina display … there’s no going back 🙂.
The above commenter do have a valid point, though. I look at my iPhone and realise how many apps that are Google … apps that I don’t want to be without. Guess that says something.
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I’m sure it can’t be generally said that Safari looks bad on Windows, it just happens to be my case. Nothing to stress about, I don’t need Safari.
My new non-Apple laptop is very good, it wasn’t cheap either, and the contrast between this new device and my old laptop is huge. I switched on the old one just the other day because I forgot to transfer some files, and I was shocked by how bad it was. I’m in love with my new laptop ❤
We’ll see where Apple will go. Wouldn’t be too surprising if they started to compromise quality, just like everyone else does.
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I know — I’ve done experiments like that too, like turning on the old one. That makes you so happy and thankful for the new one LOL.
Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me either, but it would be very sad.
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Interesting info. I never tried Safari on my Windows when I had them. I use Firefox on the Mac Air but Safari on mobile devices, they just work better.
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It was an interesting discovery. It’s funny that the official Safari for Windows even exists, seeing that it’s far from optimal, at least on my device. Firefox comes second in my list of favourite browsers, beaten only by Chrome 😉
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Chrome is OK but Firefox just tips a bit better for me. To each his or her own favorite browser!
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Exactly, agreed 🙂
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Firefox.
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As long as it’s not IE or, forbid, Edge.
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