Update:

Since we posted this Microsoft has released the next version of the Edge browser scoring 453 on HTM5test.com.

Recently there was (and still is) a discussion the web professionals community if Safari is the new IE and whether Apple is doing the right thing by focusing on the user of if they are holding back the web with their lack of support for new browser features. Let’s step back for a minute and see which browser really supports important HTML5, CSS3 and ES6 features. For the sake of argument we’ll compare Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari, all in the latest version available (not counting preview or beta versions).

HTML 5 Support

To compare the HTML 5 support I have used the website HTML5Test.com which assigns points for every supported feature. Obliviously the more points the better the support.

There is a clear winner here and it is Chrome with 521 out of 555 points. After the Google browser there is Firefox (468 points), Safari (400 points) and lastly the new Microsoft Edge browser (397 points).

CSS 3 Support

I tested the CSS 3 support using the website CSS3Test.com which assigns a percentage of features supported. Again the higher the percentage the better the feature support.

This time Firefox comes out ahead with a score of 64%. On the second place there is Safari (55%) still in front of Chrome (52%) and again Microsoft Edge with only 46%.

JavaScript ES6 Support

Lastly let’s look at the JavaScript support using the support tables by kangax. As with the CSS test the results are shown in percentage.

Once again Firefox beats everybody else with a support of 71%. The second place is split between Chrome (63%) and Microsoft Edge (63%). This is actually the only test where Safari comes out last with only 55% support.

Summary

So what does this mean? We already know that the next version of Microsoft Edge (version 13) will beat out at least Safari on all of the above tests but of course we don’t know the road map Apple has for Safari 10. One could say that Apple is holding back the web not with missing feature support but with the total lack of transparency on what feature we can expect in the next release of Safari.