Safari’s Decline as a Developer Tool?

I’ve been developing on macOS for decades, but Safari, once a reliable tool, has become a daily hindrance. Here are proven and reproducible issues that highlight its decline:

1. Auto-Refresh & Live-Reload Failures

• • Confirmed Bug: CSS/HTML changes don’t apply without a hard refresh (Cmd+Shift+R), even with caching disabled (Develop > Disable Caches).
  • Evidence: Hundreds of threads on the WebKit Bug Tracker (e.g., #247003) and Stack Overflow.

Enjoy, Have look: https://bugs.webkit.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=safari

1. Inconsistent DevTools

• • DOM elements updated via JavaScript don’t reflect in the inspector, forcing server restarts.
  • Ignored Documentation: The official DevTools guide fails to address these gaps, despite repeated reports since macOS Monterey.

1. Piling Bugs, No Resolutions

• • Concrete Example: The flexbox gaps bug (ignored for 3 years, fixed in 2023) was followed by regressions in CSS Grid containers.
  • Statistics: 42% of developers avoid Safari during development, according to the State of CSS 2023.

1. Focus on Design, Zero Focus on Tools

• • Recent updates (e.g., Safari 17) add animations, but DevTools have stagnated since 2018. A stark contrast to Chrome DevTools and their monthly updates.

1. Forced Reliance on Plugins

• • To work around these bugs, we’re forced to use third-party tools (Webpack, BrowserSync), bloating projects. An irony for a brand that boasts “seamless integration.”

Real Impact:

• Wasted Time: 15-30% loss in productivity, according to a devRant study.
• Financial Cost: Billable hours wasted debugging browser issues, not code.

Question for Apple:

• Why are pro tools being sacrificed for aesthetics?
• When will a DevTools overhaul be prioritized?

Conclusion:

After 35 years on Mac, I’m preparing to migrate to Linux. You’re losing your developers—the very people who made macOS a credible platform. To those who will listen…