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Take Control of Safari 4
Make the most of Apple's Safari, a Mac Web browser with many hidden and under-appreciated talents!
Go beyond basic Web browsing in Safari 4 with this definitive guide from long-time Mac expert Sharon Zardetto! You'll find detailed coverage of new Safari 4 features like Top Sites and searching the page content of your bookmarks and history, along with essential advice on smart ways to keep track of where you've been, load multiple Web pages at once, search both the Web and the content of pages you're reading, fill out forms automatically, keep track of passwords, download files, use RSS to keep up with your favorite Web sites, and manage your Web-browsing history.
Safari 5? If you are running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, this "Safari 4" ebook is the right one for you. Safari 5 runs on 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard, and you can read all about it in Take Control of Safari 5.
- More Info
- Contents & Intro
- What’s New
- FAQ
- Reader Comments
- Blog
Read this book to learn answers to questions like these:
- How do I load six Web pages at once?
- Now that I've loaded six pages, how do I best work with them?
- What are all the keyboard shortcuts for working with tabs?
- How do I bookmark a page I want to return to?
- How do I import Firefox bookmarks?
- I have 1,042 bookmarks. Is there a sensible way to search or organize them?
- What are the default keyboard shortcuts for the bookmarks bar?
- Can I search for text on the currently active Web page?
- How do I erase my history to prevent someone snooping through it?
- Where does Safari store Web site user names and passwords?
- Help! However Safari stored my password, it doesn't work any more!
- How do I use Safari to read RSS headlines from different sites?
- How do I "snip" a Web page to make it into a Dashboard widget?
Safari 3? Though this book focuses on Safari 4, much of it applies to Safari 3 too.
Book Info
iPad & KindleAn EPUB is available to purchasers of this ebook; log in to your account to download it. More info... A Mobipocket file is available to purchasers of this ebook; log in to your account to download it. More info... |
About the AuthorSharon Zardetto has been writing about the Macintosh professionally since 1984, including nearly a thousand articles in Macintosh magazines and over 20 books. She's best known for writing several editions of The Macintosh Bible, along with The Mac Almanac. |
Book Reviews
Author Interviews
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Table of Contents
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Read Me FirstWelcome to Take Control of Safari 4, version 1.0. This book was written by Sharon Zardetto, edited by Tonya Engst, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc. This book shows you how to make the most of Safari, a deceptively powerful Web browser with features you may have never even tried. Although it focuses on Safari 4, well over 80 percent of its information applies to Safari 3, too. |
Introduction
Why do you need a book about Safari? You’ve been using Safari for seeming eons, and you’re doing just fine.
But you don’t have to settle for “fine.” In all likelihood, Safari does more than you’ve been asking it to, and those things you have been doing with it can be done more quickly, elegantly, and efficiently when you know Safari’s ins and outs. I can vouch for that because when Safari 4’s beta version was released, I vowed to finally, finally, explore Safari thoroughly, in order to find the best way to organize bookmarks, give it another chance as an RSS reader, learn about tab options instead of using them in the most obvious way—oh, and deal with the pesky issue of having dismissed the offer to save a password for a site and never again being asked to do so.
The fact that Safari 4 offered some new features was both the impetus for the exploration and the icing on the cake: the nifty Top Sites view, “smart” address and search fields, searching the content of history and other bookmarked pages—this time I planned to get ahead of the curve by learning how to make the most of Safari.
And, now that I’ve devoted all that time to it, you don’t have to! You won’t have to learn bits and pieces from various sources, experiment on your own, or click your way through the not-exceptionally-helpful Help system to put together disconnected tidbits of information.
Whether you have been using Safari 4 or are about to upgrade to it, this book is for you. If you plan to stay in Safari 3 for quite some time, this book is still for you: at least 80-85 percent of what’s covered here also exists in Safari 3. (Check What’s New in Safari 4 to find out what doesn’t apply its predecessor.)
No matter how you use Safari now—for lightweight general surfing, or middleweight targeted browsing with a pile (probably a disorganized pile) of bookmarks, this book will take you to the heavyweight division, with toned tabs, a buffed bookmarks bar, total control over RSS feeds, and more.
Safari 4 Quick Start
The material in this book is the least linear of any Mac book I've ever written: there are few interdependencies among the topics, so you can start with any one that piques your interest or is likely to answer the burning questions you have about using Safari—whether they're of longstanding duration or specifically about Safari 4. Luckily, ebook links lend themselves to just that sort of approach!
On the other hand, if you don't want to accidentally miss anything, just follow the advice given to Alice: "Just start at the beginning, and when you get to the end... stop."
Download and install Safari 4:
- If you haven't moved to Safari 4 yet, Appendix B: Update to Safari 4 shows you how easy it is to do so, and discusses the system requirements for the upgrade.
Check out Safari 4's new features:
- If you want to hit the highlights of new features, use the links in What's New in Safari 4.
Customize your experience:
- From top (the toolbar) to bottom (the status bar), you can tweak Safari's looks and behavior. See Customize Your Safari Environment and Organize the Bookmarks Bar .
- Set your Safari preferences. Its various preference panes are covered in their topic areas, such as Know Your Link-Opening Options , Turn on AutoFill Sources , Set the Download Preferences , and Set Your RSS Preferences .
Learn key browsing techniques:
- You know the basics, but learn their details in Navigate to and within Web Sites , Track Your Downloads , Use AutoFill for Forms and Passwords , and Scan Site Highlights with RSS Feeds .
- Juggle multiple sites with finesse by learning how to Handle Multiple Pages with Window Tabs .
- Read about the differences in the ways your previously visited Web sites are stored automatically or manually in Go Back to Where You've Been . Explore the details for each of the methods in Manage Your Top Sites , Set Up and Use Bookmarks , and Retrace Your Steps through History .
- Protect your privacy: Store and Edit Your Passwords , and learn about Stealth Browsing and how to Erase All Your Tracks .
- Optimize your search techniques in various areas with Use the Google Search Field , Search within a Page , and Search Your History and Bookmarks .
What's New in Safari 4
Many of Safari 4's new features are background improvements—such as increased page-loading speed and support for the CSS Effects standard—that can enhance your browsing experience but don't require any action (or learning) on your part.
From a user's point of view, Safari 4 is so similar to its predecessor that you can transition to it with neither fuss nor muss. Yet it does offer new features that, if not revolutionary, are evolutionary in Safari's development.
The new features:
- The flashiest new feature, Top Sites—which turns out to be some steak as well as sizzle—is covered in Manage Your Top Sites . On the opposite end of the flash spectrum is the extremely useful new full-page zoom described in Supersize Me .
- "Smart...field" is a Safari 4 buzz phrase. Use the Address Field covers the smart address field, while Use the Google Search Field describes the smart search field and The Search Snapback .
- "Full...search" is another buzz phrase. The Finder's iTunes-inspired Cover Flow view has spread to Safari for reviewing your bookmarks and history (Figure 12, p. 36; Figure 18, p. 53). Both can now be searched not just by URLs or page titles, but also by the page content. Search Your History and Bookmarks covers this incredibly convenient improvement.
- Safari 4's tab bar has a few subtle changes, covered in Take the Tab Tour .
Is this ebook helpful if I'm still using Safari 3?
Although it focuses on Safari 4, well over 80 percent of its information applies to Safari 3, too.
Does this ebook cover the Windows version of Safari?
Although we think that a lot of the info in this ebook will apply to the Windows version of Safari, we've not tested it under Windows, and some of the content is Mac specific. If you were hoping for Windows coverage, please write in and let us know so that we can consider bringing Windows into the picture for a future version.
What are the system and hardware requirements for running Safari 4?
In addition to Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger or Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard, Safari 4 requires:
Processor: Apple’s requirements state: Mac with an Intel processor or a PowerPC G5, G4, or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. This led to a spate of “But the 13-inch MacBook doesn’t have FireWire! How can a browser ‘need’ FireWire?” wails, but that’s due to a misreading (or Apple’s miswriting) of the text. Any Intel-based Mac is fine; the FireWire component modifies the list of PowerPC models. FireWire itself is not the issue; the phrase “built-in FireWire” is simply the way Apple describes its later G3 desktop and laptop models. Any G4 or G5 model will run Safari 4, and only the early non-FireWire G3 models cannot.
Memory: The minimum RAM requirement is 256 MB. These days, you can hardly work with less than a gigabyte of RAM (four times the 256 MB minimum), so the vast majority of users can meet this requirement; those who can’t will find that memory upgrades are exceedingly cheap. Find out how much memory your Mac has by choosing About This Mac from the Apple menu.
Video capability: If you’re using Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, you won’t be able to use Top Sites or Cover Flow views unless you have the proper video card. Check here for more information on compatible video cards, how to check which one you have, and how to, in some cases, update the video-card driver. (This link describes the beta release of Safari 4. If it doesn’t work, go to the Safari 4 download page and click the More Details link under the Macintosh Requirements list.)
The above entry was last updated on June 18, 2009
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From AUSOM News, published by The Apple Users' Society of Melbourne
My entire mess was due to the fact that I had not bothered to learn how to open new tabs where I wanted them, how to move tabs between windows, and how to move between tabs. Even my bookmarks were a mess... Sharon has obviously put a great deal of time into making the best use of Safari’s tab and/or window features. The description of the various options is clear and often in a table form, so different approaches are obvious at a glance. All I had to do was read a few pages of the book and I had a positive feeling that at last I understood this concept. —Pam
Update Plans
We do not plan to update this ebook with additional content about Safari 4. A new edition about Safari 5, however, is available.
—Tonya Engst
MobileMe Going Away, Fate of MobileMe Syncing of Safari Bookmarks Unknown
June 8, 2011 --
On June 6, 2011, Apple announced a new service called iCloud that will appear at some point later in 2011 ("fall" in the northern hemisphere), and will replace MobileMe from Apple's perspective. Until then, MobileMe continues unchanged, except that Apple is no longer selling subscriptions or charging for renewals; all current members automatically have their accounts extended through the end of June 2012.
When iCloud becomes available, existing MobileMe members will be able to migrate to the new service, which will be free (albeit with optional paid features, such as iTunes Match and additional storage). So far, Apple hasn't released any details about the fate of Mac-to-Mac syncing of things like bookmarks and keychains.
In the meantime, you can learn more about iCloud and what it might mean for MobileMe users in the following places:
- iCloud Rolls In, Extended Forecast Calls for Disruption by Jeff Carlson (TidBITS)
- WWDC: Apple Introduces iCloud by Jonathan Seff (Macworld)
- iCloud: What You Need to Know (Macworld)
- What Does iCloud Mean for MobileMe Subscribers? by Jonathan Seff (Macworld)
—Tonya Engst
Optional Search Engines in Safari 4.1
October 27, 2010 --
One of Safari 4.1's improvements is the choice of search engines for its search field, which you can specify from two different places.
—Sharon Zardetto
Enhanced Features in Safari 4.1.x
October 26, 2010 --
Many of Safari 5's enhanced features trickled down to the 4.1 update of Safari 4. So, if you're still in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, that doesn't mean you can't have a taste of Safari 5.
—Sharon Zardetto
What to Do If A New Email Message Is Completely Black
July 1, 2010 --
Apple has posted a Knowledge Base article detailing a problem with generating Mail messages after installing Safari 5 on a system running the latest version of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or 10.6 Snow Leopard. When you start an email message in Mail using some other program to get the ball rolling, the new message may have black text on a black background, rendering it unreadable.
[This problem was fixed in Safari 5.1. —Tonya 27-Oct-2010]
For full information see Apple's article about the problem.
—Doug McLean
Safari 5 Features and First Reactions
June 9, 2010 --
Apple has quietly released Safari 5, without so much as a “by the way” during the keynote speech at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this week. Safari 5 deserved at least a “by the way,” since it has under-the-hood as well as upfront improvements.
—Tonya Engst
Safari 5 Update Compatibility
June 9, 2010 --
For the Macintosh, the free Safari update requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or Snow Leopard 10.6.2 or 10.6.3. If you're still using 10.4 Tiger, you can take advantage of many of Safari 5's features other than Safari Reader by upgrading to Safari 4.1 for Tiger, which is also available via Software Update.
The Windows versions of Safari 5 run under Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7; they seem to be available from Apple's Safari 5 download page.
To learn more about what's new in Safari 5.1 for Tiger, look at later entries in this blog, especially Enhanced Features in Safari 4.1.
—Tonya Engst
New Shortcut for Adding Something to Top Sites
October 7, 2009 --
In Safari 4.0.3 (it might have crept in for 4.0.2—these minor updates came quickly), there’s another way to add an item to your Top Sites view: when you press Command-D to make a bookmark for the current page, the top choice in the pop-up menu is Top Sites. (Frankly, I use this so seldom—in fact, never–that I’m annoyed that it’s sitting at the top of the menu, making everything else a little farther away from my cursor.)
—Sharon Zardetto
What to Do if a Safari Pop-Up Wants You to Download Antivirus Software
September 15, 2009 --
Over the weekend, numerous visitors to the New York Times Web site saw pop-ups masquerading as antivirus alerts and advertising Windows software that was itself malware. Learn more about this—and potentially other similar scenarios that could occur when you browse the Web using Safari—in the TidBITS article New York Times Web Site Compromised; How to Stay Safe.
—Doug McLean
Cookies in Safari Taste Better after GarageBand 5.1 Update
August 4, 2009 --
If your Safari cookie preferences don't "stick," GarageBand could be the culprit...
—Tonya Engst
Listen to Sharon Talk about Safari 4 on the MacVoices Podcast
June 18, 2009 --
Sharon Zardetto, author of Take Control of Safari 4, talks about why she wrote the ebook, the new features in Safari 4 (both end-user features and under-the-hood techie features), and covers a wide range of related topics in MacVoices #978. (After listening to the podcast, if you're looking for the "What Is a Browser" Google video, you can find it here.)
—Tonya Engst
“Take Control of Safari 4” Guides Readers Beyond Basic Browsing
June 18, 2009 --
Safari 4 is a deceptively powerful program, with numerous subtle features and optional ways of working more efficiently, and Sharon Zardetto's new "Take Control of Safari 4" book takes beginning and intermediate users through a wide-ranging tour of Safari's new and most useful features.
—Adam Engst
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