I use Paparazzi a lot to take screenshots of full web pages. I was copying the URL from the browser and pasting into Paparazzi then grabbing screenshot, but I discovered today that I could create a Javascript bookmarklet and assign it a keyword in Firefox to quickly grab the current web page. The magic works because Paparazzi injects the paparazzi: URL type into the system. As a result, anything you enter into a web browser like paparazzi:http://google.com will grab the listed URL.
To take advantage of this behavior, I created a Javascript bookmarklet in Firefox then assigned it the keyword pz. Now every time I want to grab a web page in Paparazzi, I just load that page and then enter pz in the URL address bar. When I press Return, the page open in Paparazzi. Here's the Javascript; copy and paste it into a new Firefox bookmark and assign it a keyword of your choice:
[robg adds: This works as described, and is quite handy for capturing full web pages as images, if you occasionally need such a thing. The first time you use it, Firefox will display a dialog asking if it's OK to send the request to Paparazzi; say yes and check the box so Firefox doesn't ask you again.]
This is a fairly simple hint, and a variation on this previous hint, that gives you quick access to the contents of a Finder's folder (eg: Downloads) from Safari via a bookmark.
Simply add a new Bookmark entry (Bar or Menu, your choice), with the desired file:///-type folder path as described in the prior hint, but then append .DS_Store to the path like so:
file:///Users/your_username/Downloads/.DS_Store
Clicking this bookmark will open the linked folder in Finder, displaying its contents. The reason we've linked to .DS_Store file here and not the folder itself is to force Safari to open the destination folder. Without the hidden invisible file at the end, Safari will reveal the location of the specified folder within its containing folder. When you link to a file within the folder, Safari will actually open the folder.
The advantage of linking to the invisible .DS_Store file is that since Safari cannot open that file type, it simply opens the containing folder in its previous view state (being invisible, .DS_Store cannot be highlighted in Finder, as would be the case if you link to a visible file).
If we link to a file that Safari can open (html, jpg, pdf, etc.), Safari will of course display that file in a browser window. Also, most (all?) folders contain a hidden .DS_Store file, unless you've strippedthemout, so you can be reasonably certain one will exist.
Caveat: Unlike the previous hint, you will not get the folder's icon in your Bookmarks menu. Instead, the .DS_Store file's generic-file icon is shown. I'm not sure if you can give .DS_Store files a custom icon to remedy that.
[robg adds: This hint is mainly for those who use list or icon view. The previous hint merely selects the specified folder in Finder, but in column view mode, that means you get to see the contents of the folder in the next column. Icon and list view, though, need to point to a file within the folder to get it to open automatically.]
This follows up on an older hint about changing Safari's RSS appearance. If you find it hard to distinguish between unread and read articles in Safari's RSS feeds, or if you're just tired of looking at pastel shades of blue, you can change the appearance of RSS pages fairly easily. All you need to know is a little CSS. For example, if you want unread articles to be highlighted in an easy-to-spot sage green color, make a plain text file with the following text and save it with a .css extension:
Save that file somewhere convenient, open Safari preferences, choose the Advanced tab, and use the "Style Sheet" pull-down menu to select the new file as your style sheet. After you restart Safari you'll see the new colors.
There's a lot more you can do, if you want to experiment a bit. For instance, this code will change the highlight color of unread items, and also change the blue header bar to whatever image you have in path/to/an/image:
You can look through that to see what elements of the RSS pages you can modify. You could modify that file directly, as it suggests in the older hint, but it's easier and safer to make a separate file and set it as your style sheet.
Unlike most browsers, Safari doesn't have a setting to use WPAD (web proxy auto-discovery) in OS X. However, there is a way to ask Safari to automatically detect the network's proxy settings, but only if your network administrator has configured WPAD on your network.
This auto-detect feature works through DNS. The browser looks for a host named "wpad" and if it exists, loads its settings by accessing a file named "wpad.dat" via HTTP. To use DNS-based WPAD with Safari on OS X, follow these steps:
In Safari, choose Safari » Preferences
Click on the Advanced icon
Click on the Proxies » Change Settings button
In the Configure Proxies dropdown menu, select Using A PAC File
In the PAC File URL field, enter http://wpad/wpad.dat
Click on OK
Click on Apply
Again, this is only helpful if your network administrator has set up a proxy to be auto-configured. If you're on a network that doesn't have such a setup, Safari will still work but much, much slower. To find out if your network supports proxy auto-detection, visit http://wpad/wpad.dat in your web browser. If your network supports WPAD, then your browser will download the file "wpad.dat" (which you can just delete). If it's not supported, you'll get an error message.
I've written a tutorial (in Portuguese; English version via Google Translate) on how to enable the multi-touch gestures in Firefox 3.5 so that users of Apple's latest laptops can switch tabs via twisting.
[robg adds: In case the original ever vanishes, here's the condensed version of the how-to:
Enter about:config in the Firefox 3.5 URL bar. If you get a warning about voiding your warranty, click the "I'll be careful , I promise!" button to continue.
In the Filter box, enter browser.gesture.twist. You'll see a few entries, including the two you need to modify: browser.gesture.twist.left and browser.gesture.twist.right.
Double-click on browser.gesture.twist.left and enter Browser:PrevTab in the dialog that appears. Double-click on browser.gesture.twist.right and enter Browser:NextTab.
That's all you need to do; close the config window and you're done. I've tested this on my MacBook Pro, and it works as described.]
Most know about enabling the Develop menu in Safari, and how to pick a different user agent using its User Agent entry. However, Safari will revert to automatic mode between launches; it will not remember your setting. Here's how to improve it's memory and remember your setting between launches.
In order to make the User Agent setting stick between launches of Safari, one has to edit a plist file (just entering the User Agent string in the Custom option of the User Agent menu won't stick). To make the changes, quit Safari and open your user's com.apple.safari.plist file, which you'll find in your user's Library/Preferences folder in an editor capable of opening binary plist files. (Otherwise, you'll have to convert it between binary and ASCII first.)
In the plist file, find CustomUserAgent, and edit the value string. To determine the value string to use for your desired user agent, hover above the desired entry in the Develop » User Agent menu. Enter that value, save the file and relaunch Safari, and you should be good to go. Note that this was only tested on 10.5.7 with Safari 4.0.1.
A non-editing alternative is to use MacPilot, which will do the same thing for you.
So robg and I were discussing another hint submission of mine, one that robg couldn't understand because it referred to a menu he didn't have. After some back and forth, it turned out that the core of the suggestion for this new hint was actually on the site for a year, but buried at the bottom of a lengthy comment string.
The original hint covered how to enable the Debug menu in Safari, and dates back to 2003. With the advent of Safari 4, this command no longer worked. But somehow, I had a Debug menu and robg did not. The key is in a comment made by chleuasme, posted at the tail end of the comment thread on the original Enable the Safari debug menu hint. In the latest versions of Safari, the Debug menu is activated with a slightly different Terminal command:
As chleuasme also noted in their comment, this is publicly posted on the WebKit site.
[robg adds: I hadn't ever noticed the comment about how to enable the Debug menu in newer versions of Safari, and it's definitely worth sharing as a full hint. So thanks to chleuasme for finding it originally, and to Frederico for figuring out why I couldn't get the Debug menu to show up.]
I've been having troubles with Safari 4 and rendering issues on my Mac. Pages will load fine, but then any little thing, such as scrolling, can cause display issues, as seen in the image at right (click it for the full-size version).
Instead of reloading the entire page, which can be a slow process depending on connection speed and page complexity, I use Safari 4's Debug menu (Enable the Debug menu in Safari 4), which has a new Force Repaint command (Shift-Command-R). If the page can be rendered correctly, it will be done instantly, without waiting on a reload. This works to fix my rendering issues, at least until I can figure out the cause of my display issues.
If you'd like to remove your Safari history files when you log out, first create the following shell script:
#!/bin/bash
# Point this at your user folder.
useroot=/Users/your_user
# Clear Safari History (except for bookmarks).
rm -f $useroot/Library/Safari/Downloads.plist $useroot/Library/Safari/History.plist
rm -f $useroot/Library/Safari/HistoryIndex.sk $useroot/Library/Safari/TopSites.plist
rm -f $useroot/Library/Safari/WebpageIcons.db $useroot/Library/Safari/LastSession.plist
# Add any additional clean-up here.
Save the script somewhere, make it executable, and because it runs as root, make sure it is protected from modification. Then copy and paste this command into Terminal, modifying it to point to wherever you put the above script:
To be complete, you should also visit Safari's Preferences, open the AutoFill tab, and clear all of the checkmarks (Safari then won't remember passwords and forms).
