Mytour's 9 Safari Browser Hacks focus on tweaking settings and customizations. Ready to elevate your browsing experience? Let's start fine-tuning your Safari web browser settings.
While Safari comes pre-installed on Mac OSX, Windows users can also enjoy its benefits by installing the browser. Discover how to install Safari hassle-free.
Enhancing Your Safari Browsing Experience: 9 Pro Tips
1. Activate Link Preview on the Status Bar
While browsing the web, you encounter all sorts of hyperlinks. Some lead you to the exact page you desire, while others may redirect you to phishing sites, compromising your personal information. The ideal solution is to preview links before accessing websites.
By default, the Safari web browser doesn't display link previews, but you can easily activate this feature with a few clicks. Simply click on View in the menu bar, then select Show status bar.
Once activated, you'll see link previews positioned at the bottom left corner of your screen.
2. Display the Entire URL on the Address Bar
By default, Safari only shows the main domain on the address bar. While this gives the browser a cleaner look, it hides other useful information like your exact location on a webpage.
To bring back the full URL, navigate to Safari =>Preferences. Then, switch to the Advanced tab. Check the box for Show full website address. Safari will then display the complete URL on the address bar, similar to other browsers.
3. Utilize Automatic Reader Mode for All Websites
Whenever faced with a cluttered webpage on Safari, simply click the Reader view icon to rearrange it for easier reading. But what if you want to use Reader view automatically on all websites?
Just open Safari =>Preferences, then navigate to the Websites tab. Choose General from the left sidebar. Here, you can configure websites currently open to use Reader view automatically. For other websites, select On from the drop-down menu next to When visiting other websites.
Once activated, all supported websites will automatically load in Reader view mode.
4. Disable Plugins to Conserve Battery
Browser plugins like Flash and Java offer richer multimedia experiences, but they also consume more battery and impact browser security. However, with Safari, you can activate and use these plugins as needed.
To do this, open Safari =>Preferences, then navigate to the Advanced tab. Check the box for Stop plugins to save power.
5. Block All Auto-Playing Videos
If you find yourself annoyed by auto-playing videos while browsing the web, the traditional method of muting each video can be time-consuming.
Safari allows users to block all auto-playing videos. To do this, open Safari =>Preferences, then go to the Websites tab and click on Auto-Play. Here, you can configure websites to stop auto-playing videos or mute video sound.
Additionally, to learn how to disable auto-playing videos on the Safari browser, readers can refer to Mytour's article How to Disable Auto-Playing Videos on Safari for Mac.
6. Disable Website Push Notifications
Browser notifications can sometimes be useful. For example, when using Gmail, it can send you push notifications to alert you of new emails. However, some publishers and advertisers may misuse this feature to distribute ads. If you feel bothered by unnecessary notifications from websites, Safari provides users with a solution to remove these notifications.
Open Safari =>Preferences, then go to the Websites tab. Click on Notifications. Here, you can view all websites requesting permission to display alerts in the Notification Center.
You can choose to Allow or Deny these websites. If you don't want all websites to send push notifications, uncheck the box Allow websites to ask for permission to send push notifications.
7. Picture-in-Picture Mode for YouTube, Netflix, ...
Safari on macOS Sierra and higher versions allows users to open and watch videos while multitasking. The only drawback is that this feature doesn't work with online video services. While YouTube offers Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode easily, Netflix and Hulu require a bit more effort.
PiPifier is a Safari extension that enables users to use PiP mode on most HTML5 videos. Download PiPifier from the App Store, then open Safari =>Preferences =>Extensions. Find and check the PiPifier button. If you can't find PiPifier, you need to allow unsigned extensions in Safari.
To do this, open Safari =>Preferences =>Advanced. Check the box for Show develop menu in menu bar. Find the Developer item in the menu bar. Click on Develop => Allow Unsigned extensions. Then go back to the Extensions tab, and you'll find the PiPifier button.
Once activated, you'll see the extension button displayed on the toolbar. Whenever playing an HTML5 video, simply click this button to play the video in PiP mode.
This extension works well with Netflix, although it's not as smooth with Hulu.
8. Enable Favicons on the Tab Bar
Identifying graphical tabs with favicons is easier than identifying them by page titles, especially when you have multiple tabs open. However, for some reason, Safari doesn't support favicons, making tab navigation somewhat challenging.
Fortunately, Faviconographer can help you with this. This third-party app displays favicons for all open tabs. The developer says the app is a smart combination of Accessibility API and AppleScript to identify and draw favicons on open tabs.
After downloading, open the application and follow the on-screen instructions to grant access. Once activated, you'll see the favicon icon displayed on all open Safari tabs.
9. Use Quick Website Search
By employing this trick, you can directly search various websites from the Safari address bar. For example, you can search Wikipedia directly by typing “Wikipedia.com xyz” into the address bar. This trick supports almost all the websites you visit.
To check the list of all supported websites, open Safari =>Preferences =>Search. Click on Manage Websites.
Other Safari Tricks
- Safari Shortcuts: Utilize keyboard shortcuts for faster web browsing and improved productivity.
- Safari Extensions: Safari extensions can enhance and significantly improve browser functionality while adding new features to provide Mac users with a better browsing experience.
Are you using Safari browser on Mac? With the 9 tips to enhance Safari browsing experience introduced by Mytour above, hopefully, they can provide you with a better browsing experience. Any feedback for Mytour, please leave it in the comment section below the article.
