macosxhints.com web browser tips

10.7: HTML5 Video Display Sleep Workaround

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:30:00 -0800

The just released OS X 10.7.3 has a new Safari version but the old FDisplay Sleep Issue on HTML5 Video was still not fixed, so I started to look around for a solution and it seems that it is a WebKit Bug, and I made a workaround for this.

Go to the WebKit Project home page and download the latest Nightly Build; it has worked for me so far.

Put it into your Applications Folder and launch, and the browser launches as Safari containing all settings and features, so go to Settings and make WebKit your default browser.

Next download and install the RCDefaultApp PrefPane launch it and go under the application pane to WebKit and enable all file associations and actions.

Safari is no longer the default, now go to the Extensions Pane and search for the safariextz Extension, set it to open with WebKit as well, now you are done, Safari is still there a ...

Using an alternative search engine in Safari

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

Ever want to change your default search engine to something other than Google, Bing or Yahoo?

I've been very frustrated with the limited search options available in Safari. In addition, I am very concerned about how much information about me leaks out to Google especially now that they are tying in google plus information and the fact that most sites I go to seems to use Google analytics.

I've recently switch over to using DuckDuckGo which has a much more user friendly privacy policy. They provide detailed instructions here on how to set up your browser to use them so I won't repeat them.

I personally edited my /etc/hosts file pointing search.yahoo.com to 184.72.115.86 then selected Yahoo! from the search box drop-down menu. I really love the advanced features and seamless integration this provides. In addition Google ...

A Service for adding shortened URLs to Safari's Reading List

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

Recently, I was playing around with Safari's Reading List feature, and I was pleased to see that there is a Services menu item to add links to the list from other applications. Unfortunately, it didn't work for a bunch of the URLs that I tried to add.

The link detection scheme is overly strict and it seems to only work with well formed URLs that contain the scheme. This didn't help at all when trying to add links from Twitter where just about every one is shortened and does not contain the http:// cruft.

I have been wanting to learn more about Automator and Applescript so without further ado I present my lax version of the 'Add to Reading List' Service.

To setup the service:

Launch Automator.
Choose the Service document type.
Service receives selected text in any application (default).
Type apple in the search field to find the Run AppleScript action.
Drag Run AppleScript to your workflow.
Replace the ...

One click access in Safari to iCloud mail

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

In Safari when I want to check my iCloud mail, it's usually in two steps:

First: I open iCloud.com in Safari. Second: Click Mail icon in iCloud, and I have my e-mail messages.

Now I can do this in just one step:

If I instead bookmark https://www.icloud.com/#mail in Safari's Bookmarks bar, I can go straight to the Mail inbox in iCloud with just one click. Almost like accessing a Gmail account.

This is also valid for Contacts, Calendar and iWork:

https://www.icloud.com/#Contacts
https://www.icloud.com/#Calendar
https://www.icloud.com/#iWork

These shortcuts are great if you need fast access to you favorites iCloud apps.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. It seems pretty straightforward.]

Restore 'Open with Preview' while viewing PDFs in Safari

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

In previous versions of Safari, one could right click on a PDF being viewed in Safari and there was an option to 'Open with Preview.' In version 5.1, this functionality had seemingly disappeared.

I searched the web to see if I could find an answer to restoring the pre-5.1 behavior, but couldn't find anything. Fortunately, I stumbled upon the answer by accident: In the new version, to have that option enabled in the contextual menu, you have to have something selected. So if you're viewing a PDF and want it opened in Preview instead of Safari, just hit Cmd+A or 'Select All' from the Edit menu, now right-clicking shows you the 'Open with Preview' option again.

Why Apple changed this, I don't know, but I find it bizarre and arbitrary because this action that used to take a mouse click and movement to perform now takes a key combination plus a mouse click and movement.

But I find most of my time spent screwing around with computers these days is spent trying ...

Drag Safari Java Applets to their own window

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0700

In Safari, hold down Command+Shift and then drag a Java applet to its own window.

Here's a simple Rubik's Cube applet to try it with. You'll notice when you press the keys an enclosing window appears, which can then be moved off on its own.

[crarko adds: It's actually pretty slick, how that works. I'm in Safari 5.1.1; I couldn't say how long this has been available.]

In Safari 5.1.1 , Show Downloads is back

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Not really a hint as much as an observation, but 'Show Downloads' is back in Safari.

In the most recent Safari update, 5.1.1, the Show Downloads menu item is back with its original shortcut, Command+Option+L. The only strange behavior is that it will be unavailable if your download history is empty (and of course that it is stuck to the Safari window). Otherwise it works like in Snow Leopard.

Thanks unnamed Apple hero!

[crarko adds: I guess I didn't notice it was missing, but it's good to have it back. Now Apple heroes, let's please have that modest iCloud support for Snow Leopard. :) ]

No live HTML links saved in PDFs from Safari in 10.5

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:30:00 -0700

If after upgrading from Safari 5.0.5 to 5.0.6 in (Snow) Leopard are you stuck with no live HTML links when printing with OS X internal PDF engine?

You can downgrade to 5.0.5 using Pacifist (you can search for it easily) and then use the following links to direct downloads of Safari's previous versions.

I tested this in 10.5, hence the title of the hint.

Download Safari 5.0.5 for Leopard.
Download Safari 5.0.5 for Snow Leopard.

These links were found at this Apple discussion thread.

Open the package with Pacifist, select 'Contents of�' file, click install, give your admin password and confirm ...

Peek at previous page in Safari 5.1

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:30:00 -0700

I usually find myself in need of hitting the back button to pick a word from the previously visited page. That's easier now using Safari in Lion.

To peek at the previously visited page just slide back the current page using two fingers and hold your fingers right at where you desire. The sliding threshold is very sensitive, so you just have to get used to it. The finger gesture is easily done when Safari is in full screen mode.

[crarko adds: I eventually got this to work with the Magic Trackpad, but it's really touchy and takes practice. I didn't look to see if this could be made available in Safari 5.1 in Snow Leopard. If you make that work let us know in the comments.]

Automatically add links from Emails, Twitter or Google Reader to Reading List

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 07:30:00 -0700

This is kind of a stripped down version of Read It Later or Instapaper, but functions perfectly for my workflow. It allows me to star/favorite/email links in several web applications or on my iPhone and have them added to Safari's Reading List automatically once my laptop is on and checks e-mail.

I've set up actions in ifttt that forward Links I favorite in Twitter or Google Reader, to my personal e-mail account and prepend the subject with the keyword #ReadLater.

Next I constructed a Mail Rule that acts on all messages who's subjects begin with said keyword. The Mail Rule will invoke an Applescript, mark the message as read and move it to the trash.

Here's the script:

using terms from application "Mail"
  on perform mail action with mes ...

Another use for the Safari Reading List

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:30:00 -0700

When Apple added the Reading List feature to Safari I wasn't too impressed as I didn't use any of the applications such as Instapaper before and I still don't. Then I realized their was another use for Reading Lists.

Instead of just using Reading Lists to save, lets say a news article you were reading and couldn't finish, you can use Reading Lists as a way to temporarily bookmark a page without making a true bookmark. Since the Reading List feature just saves the link to the page it can be very useful.

An example is doing research and instead of making bookmarks and folders and what not holding the links to the research and then later having to delete it from your bookmarks just add the links to the Reading List. Since the links will remain in the reading list until you clear it out they won't be added to your bookmarks and when you're finish using them just clicking the 'x' on each one or clicking clear all will remove them, make it easier to manage links to page ...

Improved restoration of History in Safari 5.1

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Safari 5.1 is now more thorough in maintaining your browsing history when re-opening tabs or windows. In the past, restoring previous tabs or windows did not include the browsing history in the Back/Forward buttons. Now, when you restore tabs or windows that had been closed, Safari maintains your earlier tab/window history. This applies in at least two areas:

When you restore windows following a quit/relaunch of Safari, whether using the Lion feature that automatically restores windows or History » Reopen All Windows From Last Session, or if you close a tab and use Command+Z (or Edit » Undo Close Tab) to re-open it.

This feature is available to all users of Safari 5.1, so people running Lion or 10.6.8 can use it.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. Very nice. It appears enabling Private Browsing prevents this from happening, as you would expect.]

Change the appearance of Safari Reader in Safari 5.1

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Safari Reader is a useful feature for making many websites more readable, but Apple doesn't provide any preference settings for Reader. Fortunately, it is easy to customize by editing the file Reader.html.

In Safari 5.0 it was easy to edit a file in the Safari.app package to set the preferences. In Safari 5.1, the file was moved to a non-obvious place:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Safari.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Reader.html

You can simply edit the stylesheet in this file to change the appearance of Reader. Any changes will apply to tabs that Safari Reader has not yet been used in, just open a new tab to see the new style. As always, be careful when editing system files, and make a backup of Reader.html first. Be aware that some of the styles appear to be overwritten before you see them. For example, changing the size of the body font has no ef ...

The home/end key hint updated for Mozilla 5

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

I submitted hint this hint way back when.

Recently, the Mozilla folks decided to change the organization of their apps reducing the (large?) number of jar files to just one. I've updated my page at http://bloodnok.net/MacOS/ with additional instructions plus a new version of the 'here' script.

My experience on two machines is Thunderbird 5 is totally busted on Lion, so your mileage may vary.

[crarko adds: Given the new release model for Firefox, it's difficult to forecast how quickly things will change. But if you used that older hint, you could try updating to the newer XML file from the hint author's site.]

10.7: Gestures for back/forward in the Firefox

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Just like the Option-3 (or 4) finger swipe brings back back/forward navigation in the Finder history, it also brings back back/forward navigation in Firefox (at least for version 5 -- the one I have).

For those who like the Magic Trackpad 2-finger back/forward navigation swipe in Safari and wish this would be implemented in Firefox, this is the next best thing.

[crarko adds: It's a good bet that over time many applications will incorporate gesture support, beyond the kind of generic type described here.]

ClickToFlash for Safari 5.1

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

As most of us have discovered, Safari 5.1 drops support for WebKit Plugins, which unfortunately includes the very useful ClickToFlash.

Per Apple, as of 10.7 the legacy WebKit plug-in architecture is no longer supported. Going forward, WebKit plug-ins have to be converted to Netscape-style plug-ins or Safari Extensions.

Fortunately, someone has converted ClickToFlash to a Safari 5.1 extension: ClickToPlugin, with the support of the original author. This extension will actually block any plug-in, with the ability to create an exclusion list like the older version. There is also a ClickToFlash-only version available.

When I grabbed this, the only difficulty I had was in accessing the preferences. I found there was ...

Sorting the list of installed Safari extensions

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

I have read many posts and complaints online about how difficult it is to sort the list of installed extensions in the Safari preferences, and that they cannot be sorted by other ways than the enforced sort-by-install-date. It has been suggested that removing and reinstalling the extensions in the desired order is the only way to do it.

There is a better, simpler and quicker solution that does not force you to reinstall the extensions and lose configuration data.

The sort order is determined by the order of items in an array in the Extensions.plist file located at ~/Library/Safari/Extensions/Extensions.plist.

With the free trial version of PlistEdit Pro you can sort the list in the plist file with just a few clicks. Here is how:

Quit Safari and make a backup copy of Extensions.plist in case you need to revert any changes.
Open Extensions.plist with PlistEdit Pro. ...

10.7: Zoom on Safari window with Magic Mouse

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

If you are a Magic Mouse user, just double tap while on Safari to zoom on the section pointed by cursor.

Double tap again to restore the zoom at normal level.

Another feature inherited from iOS.

[crarko adds: It's probably worth trying any UI gesture from iOS in Lion to see what effect it has.]

10.7: A work-around for Safari's odd full-screen behaviour

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Like many others, I'm still getting used to Lion's and Safari's new features, particularly full-screen mode -- which is something I'd like to use more.

One rather uncomfortable feature of the latter's implementation results from the fact that, when closing the last tab of a window, the window itself closes and takes full-screen mode with it. Not only does this mean that the next time one later goes to a web site, Safari is now in 'windowed mode', but there's some disconcerting Spaces-swapping going on in the background, and Safari loses its dedicated space to switch to quickly when using Mission Control.

Safari really needs an 'always keep the window open' option, but until that's done we need a work-around. I don't want always to leave the last web page I read open, so I came up with this idea instead.

In Safari's General preferences, type 'about:blank' into the 'Homepage' field. Back in the main window, right- (or control-) click on the Toolbar, click C ...

10.7: Remove Safari session auto-restore

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

This hint describes how to not restore your previous browsing session after force-quitting Safari in Lion.

I disabled System Preferences » General » Restore windows... almost immediately after I discovered that Lion wants to automatically restore reopened applications to their previous state. Today while browsing with Safari I encountered one of those 'YOU WIN' sites that had a popup where the popup window lacks any controls except an 'Okay' button. That window held exclusive focus for Safari. Oh, and no red 'Close this window' button at the top-left either. The only intended way past this window was to click the Okay button. Very annoying, and I refuse to trust these sites since you don't really know what JavaScript or other code lurks beneath that Okay button. Note that you can't even view the page source since the popup has exclusive focus for the application.

So I did a force-quit on Safari as I've always done pre-Lion. When I res ...