Actually, the non-block. David Carson’s post Android uses WebKit, reveals one reason why Safari 3 appears so much faster than the previous version: they simply don’t block rendering while waiting for resources that traditionally block other browsers. Current browser implementations normally block rendering while waiting to download stylesheets and external javascript as evidenced in the recommendations made by Steve Souders in his book High Performance Websites.
Animated events especially highlight new efficiencies in their Javascript implementation. Slide effects or animation on the page are butter-smooth compared to other browsers. They feel almost client-like. Safari 3 is such a marked improvement, I use it as my daily browser in OSX, supplanting Opera, which is a real shame since I’m one of only a handful of people who actually use Opera at the day job. Installing Adsubtract and GreaseKit help to round out some missing features due to the move.
