Apple recently released a fairly important update to Safari for OS X Lion: version 5.1.4. This update brought a number of various updates to the application, covering aspects of performance as well as security.
The biggest, and probably most noticeable update, is that of JavaScript within Safari. Apple claims that with this update JavaScript performance will improve up to 11%, compared to its performance in 5.1.3. Many websites are built using the JavaScript language, such as those with built-in animation and interactive menus. An improvement to Safari’s performance with it is going to be helpful for most, if not all, users.
As far as fixes for security within Safari, version 5.1.4 fixes a small bug with Private Browsing. Normally, when using Private Browsing, none of your browsing history is recorded, making for a discreet session of internet usage. The bug was with webpages using a certain JavaScript language that were still being recorded in the user’s browsing history, effectively defeating the purpose.
Another smaller, but still important issue that was addressed pertained to PDF files saved from a website. The bug was with hyperlinks in the PDFs that, when downloaded and saved to the user’s hard drive, would break and no longer bring you to the intended webpage. This was an issue I had noticed a few times while using Safari, and I’m very glad they fixed this.
These bugs, as well as many other small ones, were addressed and resolved in this Safari update. You can read more about what exactly was addressed in the 5.1.4 update here.