When Apple detailed macOS Big Sur earlier this week, it spent a lot of time talking about how it redesigned the desktop operating system to make it look more modern. The company also mentioned upcoming enhancements to Safari, such as faster web page load times and better privacy monitoring. But the feature that will probably mean the most to Safari users is Apple’s version of the WebExtensions API. The move promises to significantly increase the number and variety of plugins you can install if you use Safari as your primary web browser. And now we have a better idea of how they will work thanks to a WWDC session detected by TechCrunch.
From the developer’s point of view, the most significant difference between the new Safari web extensions and the content blocking, sharing and application extensions that Apple currently supports is that they can be programmed using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Developers don’t need to strain to learn Objective-C or Swift, which are of limited use outside of the Apple ecosystem. Additionally, developers can take their existing extensions from Chrome, Firefox, or Edge and transfer them to Safari using a converter that Apple has created to speed up the process. As with other Safari add-ons, users will be able to find and download the new web-based ones through the App Store.
