The beta of Apple’s latest web browser has something borrowed, something nicked, with a cover-flow style interface borrowed from iTunes 4, a minimalist menu bar swiped from Google Chrome, and a focus on JavaScript that follows everybody.

The coverflow feature (above) looks fantastic, taking Chrome’s Most Visited sites feature, and turning its static screen shots into a flickable wall or stack. But I also wonder if, like Aero, it’s a bit of a cocktail trick. You’ll use it a couple of times then resort you your favourite one-click option to visit recently-visited sites, like the good old bookmark tab on the main menu bar.

I do like the new look, however, which takes Safari 3’s minimalism, then takes it to Chrome-like levels. There’s a growing chasm between Firefox and IE’s stuff-it-all-in, customise everything approach and the cleaner, learner Safari and Chrome look.

Another similarity with Chrome: new tabs appear above the address bar. IE puts them below, intruding more on your onscreen realestate.

You also get a Chrome-like ability to text-search your history, double-decked with a graphical, cover-flow option in the top half of the search window, and an IE style History pane to the left.

But what really impresses is speed. Even though I’m using the Windows version of the Safari 4 beta (the browser always performs best on its native Mac), it seems snappier than Chrome – and that’s saying something.

Some of the big US sites like Amazon.com, which comes as pre-installed in a “Popular” sites menu, seem unbelievably fast. Maybe there’s some slick optimisation, or maybe some caching trick to help finesse the beta launch. But even other sites, Safari crackles.

That’s thanks to the new JavaScript engine, Nitro.

Nothing, these days, is more important to page-loading speed than how a browser handles JavaScript.

Google, with Chrome, and Microsoft with its IE 8 beta have blazed the trail, assigning whole armies of geeks to hone their respective JavaScript engines.

Mozilla is rebuilding Firefox’s JavaScript engine from the bottom up in a project dubbed TraceMonkey, but seems frustratingly incapable of getting a stable beta the door. It’s a pity to see the Fox in fourth place in this regard.

The little things
As a Windows user, I always found Safari 3 a little fuzzy. Turns out I wasn't mad. Safari 3 didn't natively render Windows fonts. Safari 4 does, and it makes a bit difference. Everything's crisp and sharp. Nice touch.

Note that Life Hacker (see link below) does call the new Safari "crash". I haven't had that problem myself, but it is a first-beta with a dedicated button on the menu bar for one-click bug reporting, so tread carefully.

Even before the Safari 4 beta's release, Apple was on a roll, moving up to 8.29% browser share in the latest world-wide stats.

With Chrome and Firefox flat, Safari is seemingly taking share from Microsoft's IE, which hit an all-time low.