OS X Lion First Look: Safari

BYTE -- Apple has made significant improvements to Safari in OS X Lion. Here's a first look on advance of that upgrade's release.

I found the new Reading List feature easy to use. Just right-click any link and select Add to Reading List.

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Your list eventually grows and later you can access it in a sidebar.

It isn’t yet clear whether Apple intends on allowing Reading List to sync between devices. It should. And it if does, it will compete with the likes of two popular iOS apps -- Instapaper and ReadItLater.

Safari is another native OS X Lion application that will support running in full-screen mode. Once in this mode, it will occupy its own space and is easily accessible via Mission Control or a three-fingered swiping gesture on the trackpad. So it takes full advantage of OS X Lion's new multi-touch technology, which you can read more about in BYTE's preview.

Another new Safari feature in OS X Lion is auto setup of AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo email accounts. You get this the first time you log into one of these services' email accounts.

Click Add Account to use them with Mail, iCal, Address Book, iChat or other applications on your Mac.

These are just some of changes you'll see in Safari for OS X Lion. Users are going to like Reading List. If Apple eventually lets you sync this list between your Mac and mobile devices, that would be ideal.

Based in Houston, David Martin is a technologist at BYTE. Follow him @David_W_Martin or email him at [email protected].