Apple Launches Updated Safari 5.0.1 with Extensions Support

Apple has released Safari 5.0.1 turning on Safari Extensions and introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery, the company announced just minutes ago. With Safari Extensions Gallery, users can immediately find extensions that add new features to Safari. Users can also get their extensions directly from their developers’ web site. Extensions support was introduced in Safari 5 last month so that developers would have the time to create extensions with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards. Extensions have all the power and functionality of advanced web applications, Apple claims, while each item is signed with a digital certificate from Apple to prevent tampering and to verify that updates to the extension are from their makers. Safari extensions can’t access information on a user’s system or communicate with websites aside from those specified by the developer, in what is called sandboxing. They also run solely in the browser, for stability reasons. “Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response to the innovative new Safari Reader has been fantastic,” said Brian Croll, Apple’s vice president of OS X Product Marketing. “We’re thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari.” Accessible from the Safari menu or at extensions.apple.com, the Safari Extensions Gallery enables users to download and install extensions with a single click, while restarting the browser is not necessary, Apple said. Just like Firefox users, those employing Apple’s Safari can enable or disable individual extensions, or turn off all extensions with one click, the company said. Safari 5.0.1 also contains improvements to stability, accessibility and security, including more accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field, aore accurate timing for CSS animations, better stability when using the Safari Reader keyboard shortcut, better stability when scrolling through MobileMe Mail, and numerous other fixes. These are also delivered in the 4.1.1 update to Safari for Mac OS X Tiger. Download Safari (Free)

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