Attention to detail

Of course, what matters is how well an application works. And Apple has gotten the little things right in Safari. Take bookmark management, for example. It's easy to add bookmarks and organize them into folders -- and then add those folders to Safari's bookmark bar. That means all of your favorite tech bookmarks, or news sites, or even RSS feeds, can be lumped together and ordered however you want. Click on a folder of bookmarks in the bookmark bar and the drop-down menu offers easy access to all the sites you want. You can choose to open them all in separate tabs with a single click, and you can even have them open up automatically in tabs when you click on the folder of links in your bookmarks bar.

Importing links from another browser? Some browsers I could mention (Opera and Internet Explorer) import bookmarks and then list them alphabetically. I'm willing to bet that 99 percent of browser users don't organize their surfing that way. With Safari, they're imported in the same order used by the other browser.

Making Safari an RSS reader was also a smart move by Apple. RSS feeds are increasingly popular because they allow surfers to quickly scan headlines for the sites and stories they want to read. In Safari, a site that offers RSS feeds is designated with a blue RSS icon in the URL address bar. Click on the icon, and the RSS feed drops down in place of the standard site. Click it again and the feed rolls back up and you're right back where you landed originally. Want to add that feed to your bookmark bar or RSS folder? Click the RSS icon, then drag and drop the link from the address bar to wherever you want it. Again, think easy, think intuitive.

In its last major update to Safari last year, Apple also added "private browsing" as an option. If you're concerned that someone else might use your computer and take a look at where you've been online, you can turn this feature on with one click. Once it's enabled, you can surf away knowing that sites you visit and information you type in won't be saved. Go ahead, enjoy the anonymity.