Safari Technology Preview 242: Key Updates and Fixes in Q&A
Welcome to our Q&A guide for Safari Technology Preview 242. This release, available for macOS Tahoe and macOS Sequoia, brings a host of improvements to WebKit. From enhanced accessibility to cutting-edge CSS features and refined HTML parsing, we've broken down the highlights into easy-to-digest questions and answers. Whether you're a developer or an enthusiast, these insights will help you understand what's new. Click on any question below to jump to its answer.
How do I download or update to Safari Technology Preview 242?
If you're new to Safari Technology Preview, you can download version 242 directly from Apple's developer website for macOS Tahoe and macOS Sequoia. For existing users, updating is simple: open System Settings, navigate to General, and then click Software Update. The update will appear there, allowing you to install the latest WebKit changes from build 310187@main to 310599@main. This release includes critical fixes and new features that enhance both developer tools and end-user experiences.
What accessibility issues were resolved in this update?
Two key accessibility problems have been fixed. First, VoiceOver no longer reads text inside images that have role="presentation", ensuring a more accurate screen reader experience for users with visual impairments. Second, macOS accessibility support for customizable <select> elements using appearance: base-select has been corrected. This means that custom-styled dropdown menus now interact properly with assistive technologies, making web forms more inclusive and easier to navigate.
What new CSS features were added in Safari Technology Preview 242?
This release introduces two notable CSS enhancements. The first is support for the CSS attr() function from CSS Values Level 5. Developers can now retrieve attribute values directly from elements within stylesheets, reducing the need for JavaScript workarounds. The second addition is the oblique-only value for the font-synthesis-style property, as defined in CSS Fonts Level 4. This allows finer control over font style synthesis, ensuring that only oblique (slanted) styles are synthesized when the primary font lacks them, without falling back to italic.
Which CSS bugs were fixed that matter most to developers?
Several significant CSS issues were resolved. For instance, @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) now works correctly inside iframes with color-scheme: dark. The position-try-order property now interprets logical axis values based on the containing block's writing mode, not the element's own. Percent-height replaced elements no longer compute stale preferred widths in shrink-to-fit containers. Other fixes include correcting table cell nowrap minimum width quirk, aligning checkbox outlines properly, ensuring anchor-positioned elements stick to sticky-positioned parents, sorting pseudo-elements correctly, and preventing ligatures from causing non-zero layout widths when font-size: 0.
What improvements were made to HTML in this release?
HTML handling saw both a new feature and several bug fixes. The closedby attribute is now supported on <dialog> elements, giving developers a standard way to control which user interactions (like clicking outside or pressing Escape) can close a dialog. On the parser side, the fast path was fixed to correctly process escaped attribute values longer than one character, detect nested <li> elements properly, and use the adjusted current node for MathML and SVG integration point checks. These parser improvements ensure more reliable rendering of complex HTML documents.
What was fixed for forms in Safari Technology Preview 242?
A single but important form fix addresses the <select multiple> element. Previously, the onchange event did not always fire when the mouse button was released far outside the element. Now, the event triggers correctly regardless of where the mouse is released, ensuring that multi-select dropdowns behave predictably and improving user experience in form submissions.
Are there any other notable changes in this release?
Yes, an issue with images was partially addressed: the release notes mention a fix for inserting an image with a srcset attribute, though details are not fully listed. Additionally, the accessibility and CSS fixes mentioned cover many edge cases that developers encounter. Overall, Safari Technology Preview 242 polishes WebKit's performance, reliability, and standards compliance, making it a valuable update for web developers testing on macOS.