Safari 3.1, the latest version of WebKit that has long been talked about for its ultra-fast speeds, has finally arrived. It seems the Windows version will also be released at the same time. Is this the official version?

Safari3.1 About

Speed is a given, but there are other highlights too.

  • HTML5 support
  • CSS animation support
  • CSS Web Font support

Although it wasn't mentioned in the Apple release, I was actually very interested in the offline feature, which allows websites to build databases (probably sqlite) locally.

Safari3.1 DB

Speaking of offline functionality, it's been gaining momentum recently with the launch of Google's Google Gears, Mozilla's Prism, and Adobe's AIR. Future web browsers will likely support offline and synchronization features as standard, providing convenience that doesn't require users to be aware of their internet connection. For example, web versions of desktop apps like Google Docs will benefit greatly from this. Users will be able to focus on editing documents regardless of whether they're connected to the internet or not.

I haven't looked into how this offline feature (database) can be used in Safari yet, but I'd love to try it out. I wish the API was the same as other browsers, but that's probably not the case. Personally, I think Adobe AIR has a better chance of winning in terms of market share.