Make Safari Awesome
I lately have been testing out the Safari 4 Beta. It's speed alone was good enough to get me to think of switching back from Firefox. I did, however, find myself missing a few features I had come to depend on with Firefox.
There are two free extensions out there, though, that have made Safari my full-time browser.
First is SafariBlock. Instead of being some obscure adblocking extension that requires custom filters, it's an extension of the AdBlock for Firefox add-on. It allows for list subscription and automatic updating, and has made browsing the web as ad-free in Safari as it was in Firefox. Check.
The second is Glims which is a fairly new add-on to the scene, but has shot straight to the top of my list of best Safari add-ons. It replicates almost all the features I missed from Firefox. From the site:
For GreaseMonkey there's Greasekit, which I've found to work fairly well. And TwiceTab allows me to double-click on the tab bar to open a new tab.
I now, more or less, have a browser that is feature-equivalent to what I had shaped Firefox to be, but far more integrated to my operating system and far, far faster.
These extensions are available for free and work with Safari 3, and the Safari 4 beta is available for free if you sign up (for free) with the Apple Developer Connection.
There are two free extensions out there, though, that have made Safari my full-time browser.
First is SafariBlock. Instead of being some obscure adblocking extension that requires custom filters, it's an extension of the AdBlock for Firefox add-on. It allows for list subscription and automatic updating, and has made browsing the web as ad-free in Safari as it was in Firefox. Check.
The second is Glims which is a fairly new add-on to the scene, but has shot straight to the top of my list of best Safari add-ons. It replicates almost all the features I missed from Firefox. From the site:
Quote:
Current features list:
Adds thumbnails to Google.com search results
Adds thumbnails to Yahoo.com search results
Adds search engines to the default Google search tab
Adds full-screen browsing capability
Adds Favicons to tab labels
Adds keyword search from address bar
Undo "Close Tab" (cmd-z)
Re-opens last session when Safari starts
Auto-Closes download window
Focus last selected tab
Always open links in a new tab
Type-ahead support (auto cmd-f)
Sets the focus on the search field when opening a new window
Adds Amazon's information banner on Google.com search results
Adds Amazon's information banner on Yahoo.com search results
Adds a "Max Window Size" menu item to resize the Safari window
Forms autocomplete always on
Dated download folders
Localized to Japanese, French, Greek, and German
Tested with WebKit lastest build ( www.webkit.org )
Whats new in this version:
Added Custom Search Engines
Added Keyword/Shortcut Support
Minor improvements to Suggestion Window
Improved Google Thumbnails (back to normal, sorry for the glitches of the previous release)
Improved Webkit Support
Improved Autcomplete Always On
Rewrite of the Tab Restore Feature (we now use fully the Safari session restore functionality)
Current features list:
Adds thumbnails to Google.com search results
Adds thumbnails to Yahoo.com search results
Adds search engines to the default Google search tab
Adds full-screen browsing capability
Adds Favicons to tab labels
Adds keyword search from address bar
Undo "Close Tab" (cmd-z)
Re-opens last session when Safari starts
Auto-Closes download window
Focus last selected tab
Always open links in a new tab
Type-ahead support (auto cmd-f)
Sets the focus on the search field when opening a new window
Adds Amazon's information banner on Google.com search results
Adds Amazon's information banner on Yahoo.com search results
Adds a "Max Window Size" menu item to resize the Safari window
Forms autocomplete always on
Dated download folders
Localized to Japanese, French, Greek, and German
Tested with WebKit lastest build ( www.webkit.org )
Whats new in this version:
Added Custom Search Engines
Added Keyword/Shortcut Support
Minor improvements to Suggestion Window
Improved Google Thumbnails (back to normal, sorry for the glitches of the previous release)
Improved Webkit Support
Improved Autcomplete Always On
Rewrite of the Tab Restore Feature (we now use fully the Safari session restore functionality)
For GreaseMonkey there's Greasekit, which I've found to work fairly well. And TwiceTab allows me to double-click on the tab bar to open a new tab.
I now, more or less, have a browser that is feature-equivalent to what I had shaped Firefox to be, but far more integrated to my operating system and far, far faster.
These extensions are available for free and work with Safari 3, and the Safari 4 beta is available for free if you sign up (for free) with the Apple Developer Connection.
Comments
For those of you who want to check out Safari 4 but don't want to sign up for the Apple Dev Connection.
Check out:
http://nightly.webkit.org/
It is basically safari 4 with the new SquirrelFish javascript engine that blows even FireFox away in terms of speed and stability.
Now all we need is growl support and a more robust plug-in architecture supported by Apple.
Safari is really coming along to be a fantastic browser.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
I see what you're trying to say, but to be honest, Apple is pretty much as quick as Microsoft at getting new features injected into their browser. I could send them an e-mail suggesting features, but I wouldn't expect them to show up until Safari 7 or something like that.
Meanwhile, extensible browsers are not a bad thing. The idea of a browser being a platform is a good idea, and as long as the coding is tight, it allows, safely, for a user to build a product that best suits their workflow.
For example, I would never expect Apple to include something like Greasekit in a browser. These are people who have worked extremely hard to produce a browser that passes the Acid3 test at 100%. Completely standards compliant. Greasekit purposely breaks webpages. It's almost against the ideology that the Safari team has. But that doesn't make Greasekit a bad piece of software. It's extremely useful.
I've been using the nightly build for a week or so now, and I love the speed of it, but it "unexpectedly quits" VERY often. I had the same problem with Opera, however. Safari 3.1.2 doesn't do this almost at all. When I first opened up the Oct 16 nightly build, it said I had a plug-in that wouldn't agree with the browser, so I went into user/library/input manager and deleted the .bundle (i didn't even need it). But, the problem still persisted.
Interesting. I've had no stability problems with Safari 4. As for the incompatable plugin, does it have a copy in System/Library/... ?
Anyway, thanks for pointing out Glims. The search does not work as well as Inquisitor but it has some other nice features and Safari keeps crashing occasionaly, especially while configuring search engines. But it's still beta, so who am I to complain (too loudly).
I'd be really grateful for a plug-in architecture in Safari as I fear the input manager hacks won't work forever and Safari without SafariBlock, Glims (or Inquisitor + Stand) doesn't simply offer enough to use it despite having a far superior integration with OSX.