Tao of Mac

Jan 1st 2007 · 1 min read

Safari

Safari is the default browser, based on WebKit.

Resources:

Date Link Notes
Sep’11 ClickToPlugin An alternative for Safari 5
Jan’09 ClickToFlash A plugin to disable Flash content on a page unless it’s clicked upon
Older Glims a great plugin that adds a full-screen mode, improved search and other niceties.
ForgetMeNot a SIMBL plugin that saves open URLs when you quit and restores them when you re-launch it.
Blocking Ads Using nothing but CSS. My technique of choice for years now.
Pimp My Safari plugins and add-ons

Speeding it up

  • Disable Top Sites (and set the home page to about:blank)
  • Disable RSS polling (the source of some irritating little pauses)
  • Disable “Warn when visiting a fraudulent website” (i.e., no checks for every single URL)
  • Disable Flash by using an extension (see above) or removing the plugin in it’s entirety.

Enabling the Debug Menu:

On open a terminal and enter:

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

On , edit C:\Documents and Settings\_username_\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari\Preferences.plist and insert a new preference:

<key>IncludeDebugMenu</key><true/>

…or start Safari.exe with /enableDebugMenu or /disableDebugMenu (it updates the.plist, so you only need to do it once).

Safari 4 Hidden Preferences

Copied from here for future reference:

# http://swedishcampground.com/safari-4-hidden-preferences

Having a quick poke through the new Safari binary yields the following strings:
	
	$ strings /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari | grep DebugSafari4
	DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop
	DebugSafari4IncludeToolbarRedesign
	DebugSafari4IncludeFancyURLCompletionList
	DebugSafari4IncludeGoogleSuggest
	DebugSafari4LoadProgressStyle
	DebugSafari4IncludeFlowViewInBookmarksView
	DebugSafari4TopSitesZoomToPageAnimationDimsSnapshot
	DebugSafari4IncludeTopSites

*NB: Need to restart Safari after changing any of these.*

## DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop

This moves the tab bar back where you expect it to be:

	$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO

## DebugSafari4IncludeToolbarRedesign and DebugSafari4LoadProgressStyle

When both set to NO it restores the blue loading bar behind the URL.

	$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeToolbarRedesign -bool NO
	$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4LoadProgressStyle -bool NO

## DebugSafari4IncludeFancyURLCompletionList

Switches off the new URL autocomplete menu and goes back to the original one.

	$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeFancyURLCompletionList -bool NO

## DebugSafari4IncludeGoogleSuggest

Turns off the new Google suggest menu.

	$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeGoogleSuggest -bool NO

## DebugSafari4IncludeFlowViewInBookmarksView

Unknown.

## DebugSafari4TopSitesZoomToPageAnimationDimsSnapshot

Unknown.

## DebugSafari4IncludeTopSites

Disables Top Sites feature completely.

	$ defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeTopSites -bool NO

## Undoing changes

Just run the defaults command with the `delete` flag for the appropriate key you wish to delete.

	$ defaults delete com.apple.Safari <key>

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