Safari Struggles - Why Is It So Different?

Man, this is frustrating! Every browser I try has everything running smoothly, but then there’s Safari. It’s unbelievable that a multi-billion dollar company can’t get the basics right.

Today I learned that Safari has a ~20% market share. Who knew? Not me, since I’ve never owned an Apple device, so I never got to check my site on one until yesterday. After three years of development, I opened my website in Safari for the first time, and wow, it was a disaster. There were blue outlines, elements were all over the place, and the font rendering was awful. I’m just doing this as a hobby and to learn, but one thing I’ve learned is that frontend development on Safari is a real struggle. And it seems like that’s a pretty common opinion!

Trying to get started with Safari when you don’t have any Apple products is a pain. Safari for Windows? Nope! You’re left relying on third-party apps like Browserstack, which aren’t cheap. After some frustrating searches, I found a way to test with Playwright. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.

And don’t get me started on the font rendering! I spent 40 minutes yesterday trying to figure out how to fix it, but no luck. I have no clue what the problem is or how to resolve it. Google, Reddit, and Stack Overflow didn’t provide any helpful solutions either. The fixes that everyone raves about didn’t work for me. My variable fonts look bold and strong on other browsers, but on Safari? They look like they’re on a diet!

Why does something that should be straightforward turn into such a headache?

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I feel you, man! Safari can be a real pain. I don’t get why they can’t just make it work like the others. Have you tried adjusting the CSS specifically for Safari? Sometimes using -webkit- prefixes helps with rendering issues!

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Right? Safari is like the oddball of the browser family! I’ve had similar issues with fonts. I found that using @font-face with different formats can sometimes help. Have you tried that?

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Haha, I totally relate! Safari always feels like a step back. If you’re not already using it, maybe check out some font smoothing techniques? It might help with that skinny font issue.

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it’s wild how many developers have the same gripes about Safari! It’s almost like a rite of passage. Have you considered reaching out to Apple support? They might have some insight into your font rendering issues.

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Ugh, tell me about it! I had a similar experience with images not showing up correctly. It took me forever to find a workaround. Have you looked into any browser testing services besides Browserstack? There are some free ones out there.