Four things Safari needs to do to get me to switch from Firefox

javacowboy · April 2, 2006 12:55PM

1) Keywords associated with bookmarks (ie google %s >>> www.google.com?search=%s)

2) Keyboard shorcut to navigate to tab (ex Command-1 to first tab)

3) Ability to drag and drop tabs to different position/order

4) Type-ahead find by typing / (more efficient than Command-F)

Other than that, Safari is pretty cool (ex the built-in spell-checker), but as long as it doesn't have the four features above, I'm sticking to Firefox.

chucker · April 2, 2006 1:10PM

You gotta love "Apple better do this, OR ELSE" type threads.

In any case, aside from 3), I don't think any of those are going to happen.

macanoid(tm) · April 2, 2006 1:12PM

Check out this plugin: SafariStand Adds Thumkbnail-tabs a la OmniWeb too.

bikertwin · April 2, 2006 1:22PM

I just wish Safari had 3 things:

1. An ad/popup blocker that was as easy to use as AdBlock for Firefox. I have PithHelmet, but it's so dang confusing to use. Why doesn't someone create an AdBlock for Safari?

2. I wish Safari had a toolbar button (or popup menu item) for "Mark Page for Snapback". As it is, I rarely use Snapback 'cause I'm not a keyboard kinda guy.

3. It's really slick how Firefox allows you to specify different languages for its interface.

I don't expect Apple to do #3, and it might be a third party to do #1. #2 would be nice, but it doesn't prevent me from using Safari, anyway.

javacowboy · April 2, 2006 2:00PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chucker

You gotta love "Apple better do this, OR ELSE" type threads.

In any case, aside from 3), I don't think any of those are going to happen.

Well, last time I checked, this was a free country. I'm free to express my opinion on what Apple needs to do to make a better browser.

Whether or not they choose to implement my suggestions is entirely up to them.

In the meantime, I continue to use Firefox. Whether or not I expect Apple to enhance/fix Safari is irrelevant.

aquatic · April 3, 2006 9:38AM

The way Find works in Firefox is an example of a really fscking great idea. Ironically it's so Apple.

I'm sure that will end up in Safari. I hope.

Marvin · April 3, 2006 3:04PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bikertwin

1. An ad/popup blocker that was as easy to use as AdBlock for Firefox. I have PithHelmet, but it's so dang confusing to use. Why doesn't someone create an AdBlock for Safari?

There is a safariblock extension that works pretty well using the wild cards but it stupidly doesn't remember the blocked sites after quitting and restarting Safari. I think you might be able to save an reload a file though but it would be nicer if it was automated. It really makes browing so much better. So many sites these days are full of annoying ads. It wouldn't be so bad but I browse the web daily at least 3 hours and have done for years now and I have not once found an ad that made me want to buy their product. If I want to buy something, I go looking for a suitable product.

http://pimpmysafari.com/

I think safaristand and saft have blockers too. Safaristand is free.

frank777 · April 3, 2006 4:27PM

About once a day, my computer freezes while I'm using Safari.

While it brings back the good old days of OS9, I do want it to stop.

javacowboy · April 3, 2006 8:13PM

Quote:

Originally posted by macanoid?

Check out this plugin: SafariStand Adds Thumkbnail-tabs a la OmniWeb too.

I was going to install this when I found out that it requires you to install the component in ~/Library/InputManagers. This directory is a well-known vulnerability in OS X, as per this link:

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08430

I've presently disabled this vulnerability by creating an InputManagers file with 0 permissions for anybody, including my own ID.

There's no way in hell I'm going to re-expose myself to this vulnerability.

towel · April 4, 2006 12:16AM

This is just a minor annoyance, but I wish Safari would handle autocompletion the same way as Firefox - that is, leaving the line you're typing alone, and presenting all the autocomplete options on lines below it. Safari's behavior is annoying as hell.

xool · April 4, 2006 1:00AM

I wish FireFox supported native text fields so that Shift-Up or Shift-Down would select a full line of text. Instead it does something else, preventing me from easily lopping of portions of a url like sub pages or query strings.

Also it doesn't support the inline dictionary I love so much.

I'll keep the Fox around for testing, but I'm sticking with Safari until FireFox can keep up. Now Camino... might consider switching there if it didn't crash all the time.

Actually, since Safari syncs with .Mac I don't see ever switching full time. Sorry Fox!

Marvin · April 4, 2006 3:41PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JavaCowboy

I was going to install this when I found out that it requires you to install the component in ~/Library/InputManagers. This directory is a well-known vulnerability in OS X, as per this link:

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08430

I've presently disabled this vulnerability by creating an InputManagers file with 0 permissions for anybody, including my own ID.

There's no way in hell I'm going to re-expose myself to this vulnerability.

You just need to prevent write access not all access. By preventing write access, OS X will pop up a password dialog every time something trys to modify that directory by adding something malicious perhaps. This will let you install Safaristand and stay safe. FWIW, I tried Safaristand and I didn't see anything useful in it. I want an adblocker and safariblock worked well but it doesn't remember the blocked URLs on relaunching Safari.

kickaha · April 4, 2006 3:52PM

Yeah, it isn't InputManagers *per se* that are the possible vulnerability, it's the fact that installers can place things there without your explicit permission first. Do what Marvin said and if something tries, you'll be alerted. SImple.

javacowboy · April 4, 2006 5:35PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marvin

You just need to prevent write access not all access. By preventing write access, OS X will pop up a password dialog every time something trys to modify that directory by adding something malicious perhaps. This will let you install Safaristand and stay safe. FWIW, I tried Safaristand and I didn't see anything useful in it. I want an adblocker and safariblock worked well but it doesn't remember the blocked URLs on relaunching Safari.

You're mostly right, but I should clarify to re-enforce your point. You must remove write access for yourself, not just others.

This amounts to r-x, or 5(as opposed to 7)

If you do an ls -la from the command prompt, you should see something like this:

dr-x------ 2 userid userid 68 0 Feb 17 18:53 InputManagers

You also need to enter an administrator password (if you're not an admin). The user password will not do.

kickaha · April 4, 2006 5:39PM

Good point - I think the thrust was that preventing invisible writes plugs the possible hole, while if you *also* prevent *reads* then you're just plain blocking yourself from using all InputManagers. There are some good ones out there. I like CocoaGestures, and have used it on a research project to good effect.

It's just the silent installation of them that you have to prevent against, and that just takes the removal of write access.

vox barbara · April 5, 2006 4:42AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Towel

This is just a minor annoyance, but I wish Safari would handle autocompletion the same way as Firefox - that is, leaving the line you're typing alone, and presenting all the autocomplete options on lines below it. Safari's behavior is annoying as hell.

Yes this behavior (autocompletion in Safari) drives me nuts

sometimes.

But, I just don't like the appearance of Firefox. Otherwise i like

some of the features FF supports. I wished Safari would

share some of them.

Four things Safari needs to do to get me to switch from Firefox

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