Apple released an update to Safari today, upgrading to version 5.0.1, that introduces extensions to the Safari user base. Extension tools were available in the original 5.0.0 release, but for developer use only. Since then, developers have been working to prepare their extensions for today"s release date. Some of the extensions highlighted by Apple in their press release are the Amazon Wish List extension, the Bing extension, the NyTimes.com extension, and more. The extensions gallery can be accessed at extensions.apple.com. Extensions can be set to auto-update and don"t require a browser reboot when installed or updated.
Safari 5 introduced features like Safari Reader, a way to pop out online article for seamless and scrollable reading, a faster Nitro Engine that makes it four times faster than Safari 4, and increased support for HTML 5 standards. Other features include hardware acceleration for Windows and Web Inspector, a web page debugging tool.
Firefox was the first browser to proliferate large amounts of third-party browser extensions, which they called plug-ins, to their users. Extensions offer a multitude of ways to make your browser your own, customizing and tweaking its functionality to where it does exactly what you want it to do. It also provides a robust platform for third-party websites to create a presence on the browser itself, creating a great incentive for companies to develop popular extensions. Google Chrome recently implemented extensions as well, and it is quickly becoming the de facto way to manage a browser.
Users of Safari can either run the Apple Software Update tool, or visit Safari"s download page to acquire the latest version.