Apple has issued new Safari betas to developers

Earlier this month Apple seeded the first beta versions of Safari 7.1 and 6.2 to developers. Tonight a second beta has been published. Interestingly, aside from the focus areas outlined with the previous beta, Apple is also requesting that developers taking this beta for a spin try out the password and credit card auto-fill feature. The 7.1 and 6.2 updates are expected to be the last big updates to those specific versions of Apple’s browser before the release of OS X Yosemite, which ships with Safari 8. The 7.1/6.2 update features big changes to the WebKit engine and extensions systems built into Safari.

Apple late Wednesday seeded to developers new builds of Safari 7.1 for OS X 10.9 Mavericks and Safari 6.2 for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, asking developers focus on credit card and password autofill features. Not much has changed from the initial release of Safari 7.1 and 6.2 earlier in July, but Apple is asking testers of the most recent “Beta 2” versions to focus on password and credit card autofill tools. The first builds of Safari 7.1 for Mavericks and Safari 6.2 for Mountain Lion brought WebGL-powered 3D rendering to Apple’s browser and WebKit engine features like IndexedDB, JavaScript Promises and CSS Shapes and Compositing. Along with Apple’s upcoming Safari updates, the WebKit and WebGL modifications seen in today’s betas are expected to see wider adoption in OS X 10.10 Yosemite and iOS 8. Developers are once again asked to concentrate on “general website compatibility,” including subpixel rendering and CSS model getters, the latter of which may render content differently depending on design constraints. Finally, Apple requests testing of Safari extensions. Developers can download the Beta 2 versions of Safari 7.1 for Mavericks Safari 6.2 for Mountain Lion via Apple’s Developer Portal.