Filed under: Utilities, Features, Windows, Macintosh, Browsers
10 Safari plugins that could make you drop Firefox
by Jay Hathaway Jul 20th 2009 at 12:00PM
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.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MacroPheliac said 12:54PM on 7-20-2009
You forgot something very key, all of these plugs are for Safari on OSX, and most of your readers are Windows users, and the Windows version of Safari is a train-wreck!
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rickr said 7:28PM on 7-20-2009
Then accept modernity and switch to the Mac. You will kick yourself for not doing it a long time ago.
MacroPheliac said 10:06PM on 7-21-2009
No thanks, I've mastered windows it's practically flawless for me, security and performance are excellent, faster than OSX in every case, and the work I've tried doing on OSX, it's not nearly as efficient as Windows for the work I do or really any multitasking, and I won't get into explaining why. Also, the OS really doesn't look very nice at all.
phex said 1:14PM on 7-20-2009
is any of these plugins works in windows?
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cjborodin said 9:37PM on 7-31-2009
no. none of them. that's why i'm still using firefox and google chrome. besides, safari is wayy to buggy in vista. you should really try google chrome. i'm quite impressed.
ianmassey said 1:13PM on 7-20-2009
no firebug, no deal. love the speed of the new version though.
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Max said 1:21PM on 7-20-2009
There's a web inspector built-in that does the same exact thing.
Sergio Pereira said 2:04PM on 7-20-2009
Saying that what comes in safari is the same as firebug is almost a crime. The developer tools in safari may help you with the trivial stuff, but make no mistake, it's not of firebug caliber.
lakiolen said 1:23PM on 7-20-2009
Actually, no. Safari does not have plugins. It has dirty hacks that inject code into the safari binary that act like plugins. Safari, in fact, has no plugin API.
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lakiolen said 1:24PM on 7-20-2009
By 'it' I mean Mac OS X.
SerpicoLugNut said 1:24PM on 7-20-2009
Ian - have you tried using the WebInspector in Safari 4? Go to Preferences > Advanced > Shop Develop in Menu bar. After that, you can right click on an element, and get the "Inspect Element" option on the menu, giving you a very Firebug-esque inspector that lets you make changes to code on the fly, see bandwidth profiling, and more. Very very handy.
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tayker said 1:41PM on 7-20-2009
Also, some of these plug-ins aren't free like they are for Firefox.
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-=Ben=- said 2:06PM on 7-20-2009
Highly unlikely that any of these features would make anyone give up the amazing Firefox.
Firefox is by far the best web browser out there.
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Evenio said 6:21PM on 7-20-2009
On Windows, I'm sure it is. It's utter trash on OS X. I guess it must be the Mac parallel to the Windows version of Safari. Awesome on its home turf, a tragic misfit anywhere else.
joem said 3:16PM on 7-20-2009
After I switched the main browser on my mac from Firefox to Safari (for speed and for more OS X-ness), I installed a bunch of these plugins. Honestly, a lot of them don't come close to their Firefox counterparts. That, coupled with the fact that they're not technically supported, coupled with the fact that there are so few choices, drove me to rethink my use of plugins...
A few smaller plugins I still desired were easily replaced by bookmarklets or applescripts. And everything else I've done without. (Well, except for Safari AdBlock and Keywurl. I NEED those.) I'm glad I stopped relying on plugins, as keeping an almost-stock version of Safari feels more "right," and allows me to use someone else's Safari without feeling lost.
That said, I wish Safari was even more controllable via applescript. And I wish applescript wasn't so natural language-y as it is.
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billcantfart said 3:42PM on 7-20-2009
What's the point of the PDF plugin? Safari has that built in...
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Generic said 5:03PM on 7-20-2009
I hate to suck the fun out of this little party but Download Squad staff ought to know what they are talking about and are seriously not excused at advertising something that is not part of Safari.
Of this day Safari has no plugins [PERIOD]
http://www.macjournals.com/news/inputmanagerhacks.html
Long live Firefox.
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rickr said 7:29PM on 7-20-2009
Why does anyone need PDF Browser Plugin? Safari does the same thing natively.
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blaszta said 10:01PM on 7-20-2009
This is a misleading article:
- Safari is not supporting plugin. Period. At least till now.
- What appears here is more like a hack, and it's OS specific (unlike Safari).
- You file this under Windows (see the category above title). If you do it by mistake, please do research first before publishing your article.
I like DownloadSquad, but these kind of articles (along with Lee's article on bogus FF security hole), makes me wonder how you create your articles.. This is IT blog, not some gossip/hype publications.. Please do a little bit research first..
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archpope said 12:25AM on 7-21-2009
The first browser (besides Firefox) to support Rikaichan will get my business. Until then, Firefox を使用しなければなりません。
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