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10 Safari plugins that could make you drop Firefox
Glims
Glims is the pinnacle of Safari plugins, adding a whole Swiss Army knife of features to your browser. Glims does tabs really well, letting you open links in a new tab instead of a new window, and choose whether new tabs open on the left or the right. It restores tabs from previous sessions.
It adds thumbnails to Google and Yahoo! search results. It lets you change search engines, and adds configurable search suggestions. And, as if that weren't enough for one plugin, It also allows you to enable full screen mode. You can adjust all of these features in the preferences, so don't skip Glims just because it sounds like more than you need.
Saft
Saft is a direct Glims competitor, offering a slightly different (and a bit more extensive) set of features. The two plugins tend to conflict, so take a look at what both have to offer before you decide which one to install. It's also worth noting that the full version of Saft costs $12.
GreaseKit
If you've used Firefox, you might be familiar with Greasemonkey, a plugin that lets you run site-specific userscripts to add features to (or remove annoyances from) your favorite sites. Greasekit is the Safari equivalent, and most of the scripts you love in Greasemonkey will also work properly in Greasekit. Here are 10 of my favorites to get you started.
Safari AdBlock
With PithHelmet lingering and not yet updated for Safari 4, your best bet to block ads is Safari AdBlock. It's a simple install, and it works well with very little configuration.
PDF Browser Plugin
If you prefer to view PDFs within the browser, this is the plugin to grab. It works in Firefox, too, so this is one area where Safari gets equal plugin treatment. PDF Browser Plugin also makes it easy to download PDF files, in case you decide you want to view them offline after all.
DeliciousSafari
For serious Delicious users, a good plugin for the service is crucial. DeliciousSafari handles the complete Delicious experience, from creating bookmarks to tagging and organizing. It adds a "Delicious" menu to Safari, and you can manage everything about your Delicious account from there. The full version of DeliciousSafari comes with a $10 pricetag.
SafariStand
SafariStand is another multi-purpose plugin, and its best feature is a sidebar with thumbnails of all your open tabs. If you've seen the OmniWeb or Shiira browsers, you might recognize this feature. SafariStand also does other neat tricks like color labels for bookmarks, and saving and restoring your current tabs as "workspaces." One caveat: SafariStand is Mac-only.
ClickToFlash
ClickToFlash is billed as "your web browsing prophylactic," and that sounds about right. It hides Flash content until you click on it, which blocks out annoying advertisements, autoplaying videos, and other web hazards. If you regularly visit specific sites with Flash content you want to see, you can whitelist them to avoid any problems.
Inquisitor
Inquisitor adds instant search to Safari's search field, displaying a handful of results in just a second. It's a great time-saver, because it often allows you to skip over the Google results page entirely, and go directly to the site you're looking for.
Safari140
Twitter addicts take note: Safari140 is an extension that lets you tweet from any webpage. It auto-shortens URLs, and auto-fills with a link to the current site. Safari140 posts directly to Twitter, with no need to go through the Twitter web interface. It's also integrated into the Newsfire RSS reader, which is a project by the same developer.
While these are my 10 favorite plugins, there are plenty more out there. A good place to start looking is Pimp My Safari. It's not exactly the Firefox add-on repository, but it's worth a look.
Comments
33
Subscribe to commentsxplocvoJul 22nd 2009 10:19AM
Pretty much the only thing keeping me using Firefox instead of Safari (on OS X), is the Control+Enter keyboard shortcut, which appends the www.+.com to anything typed into the address bar. Does anyone know of a way to get this functionality in Safari? I have read other people say, "Just type in 'downloadsquad' and press Enter and it will go there automatically", but that doesn't work. When I do that it sits there for about 10 seconds and then brings up a Google search results page.
JDJul 29th 2009 12:10PM
You need to change your DNS servers. Are you on Verizon, by any chance? Verizon's default DNS servers hijack web requests and return search results instead of the DNS error that causes Safari to automatically add ".com" to the URL, as it normally does.
http://www.google.com/search?q=verizon+dns+change
xplocvoAug 2nd 2009 12:16PM
Sweet, that was it. I have Charter and they do the same thing. i set my DNS servers to OpenDNS and it works now.
Aloysius VampaJul 24th 2009 4:01PM
I was using Safari the other day on Vista. It was using nearly a gigabyte of my RAM.
I had three tabs open.
buttsJul 29th 2009 2:18PM
I read that one of these costs money, which immediately turned me off. In fact, I'm even less inclined to switch over to Safari more than ever.
Saint SeminoleAug 3rd 2009 8:29PM
I tried Safari, and was way underwhelmed. When I saw this headline, I thought, "Oh, I'll give it another try..."
But, from the comments I learned that none of these work in Safari? (Unless you pay hundreds of dollars for a Mac computer). I think that should have definitely been in the article somewhere.
iamtimmoAug 10th 2009 2:10PM
The link to Pimp My Safari at the end of the article is broken. There is a comma, rather than a period, in the domain name.
JeffAug 15th 2009 6:43PM
I like Safari, but rely too much on Firebug and Web Developer Toolbar to use anything but Firefox. I know Safari has similar features built in, but they pale in comparison. As far as I can see, people like myself who actually design and build web content for a living aren't going to regularly use a browser that falls so far short of meeting our needs.
That said, I do like Safari's rendering engine and blazing-fast speed. On the Mac, it easily beats Firefox in many areas. I think it's more geared toward pleasing the so-called "average user" than the hardcore web geeks, but the speed is something everyone can appreciate.
AmmonAug 16th 2009 9:14AM
I recently switched from Firefox to Safari because I felt that pages loaded faster in Safari and just plain looked better.
Giving up all my add-ins was rough, though. I've managed to get by with mostly bookmarklets and a handful of plugins.
Plugins I can't live without: 1Password for password managemnt, Pukka (http://codesorcery.net/pukka) for the hands-down best Delicious integration on the Mac or any platform, and Speed Download (http://yazsoft.com/products/speed-download/information/) for an extremely robust download manager.
Here are some bookmarklets I'm using: Bit.ly, Bugmenot, Press This, GmailThis, Get YouTube Video, and Google Translate.
AllynSep 2nd 2009 1:32PM
Your link to Safari140 is incorrect.
RobertSep 8th 2009 11:14AM
Web Developer's Toolbar, Firebug, FireFTP, Measureit, Colorzilla, Colorful Tabs as some of my most used, are so convenient and make my work so much easier it would take something more than some weak copycat pseudo plugins for any other browser to tear me from FireFox.
If there are any differences in speed, I sure don't notice them, a millisecond here or there is of no consequence to me.
No other browser can touch FF.
Casey ColeSep 18th 2009 6:04PM
While these are my 10 favorite plugins, there are plenty more out there. A good place to start looking is Pimp My Safari. It's not exactly the Firefox add-on repository, but it's worth a look.
The "Pimp My Safari" link has a typo that makes it not work - you've got a comma where you want a period.
It currently is: http://www,pimpmysafari.com/
It should be: http://www.pimpmysafari.com/
ThomasSep 28th 2009 2:26AM
Hey
the greasekit doesn't work
i installed it and the scripts still doesn't work