Instant Alert: It may be time for Mac users to give Apple’s Safari browser another chance

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   It may be time for Mac users to give Apple's Safari browser another chance by Jeff Dunn on Jul 3, 2017, 6:22 PM Advertisement Safari is getting smarter. Though the new version of macOS, High Sierra, mainly consists of under-the-hood upgrades, Apple’s web browser is one of the few Mac apps set to receive tangible, visible improvements. There are only a handful of new features, but all of them are focused on making it less aggravating to use the web. They're also likely to cause some panic in publishers and ad-tech companies. I’ve been testing the new Safari for the past week on the beta version of macOS High Sierra. (A preview of the web browser is also available by itself; I wouldn’t recommend installing the beta versions of either Safari or macOS High Sierra on your primary computer.) Here’s what’s new and notable: SEE ALSO: Apple is giving iPhones a one-handed keyboard with iOS 11 — here's how to activate it 1. You can stop auto-playing videos from ever starting. Nobody likes it when videos start playing automatically as soon as a web site loads. The updated Safari allows you to end this annoyance. You can now go into the web browser’s “Preferences” menu and block all auto-play videos entirely. You can lay down a blanket ban, or customize things on a site-by-site basis, only stripping auto-play privileges from the worst offenders. You can also set the browser to show auto-play videos only if their audio is muted. Or you can just allow them to play unimpeded. For the most part, the feature works. In most cases, videos that would play on their own are either automatically paused or never load in the first place. (There are some sites like Twitter that are set up in a way that circumvents the ban.) For the user, the feature works great. It speeds up load times, and, more importantly, helps you feel more in control of what you see on the web. To give you an idea, here's an example of a site loading with an auto-play video on Chrome… … And here's that same site on Safari, with the "Never Auto-Play" setting turned on. See the rest of the story at Business Insider   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to:   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011