I recently gave up on Firefox 2 in lieu of Leopard because of stability and memory issues. Safari 3 was a huge leap forward from Safari 2 so I decided to give it a try. Overall, I’ve found that I’m enjoying using Safari as my main browser. The only part of Firefox that I miss is the wealth of available add-ons. Here are a few tips and tricks that I have found that make my Safari experience better.
Safari Tricks
Right (cmd) click on the title bar
I accidentally found this feature while attempting to right click to customize the Safari toolbar. By right clicking (cmd-click) on the Safari title bar you can navigate within the hierarchy of a webpage (see below).
Show Statusbar
The very first thing that I modified when I switched from Firefox to Safari was to turn on the status bar. This is essential as it allows you to preview a link’s target before clicking on it. Clicking on links without knowing where I will be taken has always scared me.
Enable Web Inspector
One of my favorite Firefox add-ons was Firebug. This add-on allowed you to view the html and css style sheets of any page. Recently I happened upon a tip to achieve something similar in Safari. It is called the Web Inspector. To enable the Web Inspector you will ned to open up a terminal and enter the following command.
After relaunching Safari you should be able to right click on a web page and select ‘Inspect Element’ from the contextual menu (see below). So far I’m impressed with Web Inspector; however, it doesn’t replace Firebug in my book.
Drag an existing tab to create a new window (or vice-versa)
You can create a new Safari window by dragging an existing tab out of the tab bar (see below). You can also do the inverse (merge a new window into a tab in an existing window). Pretty cool, huh? I have to admit that I rarely use this feature, and it seems more like eye candy than a useful trick.
Other Tips
Using del.icio.us with Safari
I use del.icio.us heavily and migrating to Safari from Firefox would have been impossible without some sort of ability to use deli.cio.us. Luckily I found browser independent bookmarklets that work ‘well enough’ here.
StumbleUpon Demo
I really wish StumbleUpon would release a plugin for Safari, until they do, the demo mode will have to do.
Reader Suggestions
Know of a good Safari trick that I have overlooked? Leave me a comment and I will add your suggestion to the list.
- From Gabe: command-click on a link to have it open in a new tab within the existing window.
I think most people know this one but, command-click link opens link in a new tab….
Its not really a trick, but I couldn’t live without it
Gabe Jacobs | Mar 17, 2008 | Reply
@Gabe - Thanks, that is a good suggestion. I should have included that one as I use it everyday. Well, actually I use the middle mouse button which does the same thing.
Franklin | Mar 17, 2008 | Reply
To enable web inspector, you can go into Safari Preferences-> Advanced-> Show Develop menu in menu bar..
This creates a new menu with interesting things, including show web inspector. In addition, there are options for changing the User Agent, which allows you to access some sites that say “Windows XP only w/ IE only” or whatever.. it works quite nicely for the online version of msn messenger =D
reon | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply