The latest version of Safari , released earlier this summertime , introduced anew extensions featureto Apple ’s connection web browser app . Extensions allow you to alter the behavior of Safari through small , downloadable parcel fromby developer , created by using HTML , CSS and JavaScript .
Now that we ’ve logged a few calendar month of browsing with Safari 5 , it ’s sentence for a closer look at this feature : how to turn it on ( if it is n’t already ) , how to install and use reference , how to update extension , and how to troubleshoot consequence with misdemean denotation . Once you ’ve gotten a handle on Safari extensions , take a feel atsome of our favorite extensions .
Activating the extensions feature
Starting withSafari 5.0.1 , the Safari - extensions feature is enabled by default . found Safari 5.0.1 , and extension just work — you could skip to the next section to learn how to download and install them .
If , for whatever cause , you ’re still using Safari 5.0 and ca n’t update yet , turn on the lineament is n’t as obvious as you ’d think . In fact , Apple has conceal the feature in Safari ’s Develop fare … which isalsodisabled by nonpayment . So the physical process for twist on extensions requires a couple steps :
Once you ’ve used the Enable Extensions mastery , you could uncheck the Show Develop Menu In Menu Bar put to find that valuable menu - Browning automatic rifle blank space .
Safari’s Preferences window sports a new view when extensions are turned on.
Installing extensions
With the extensions feature activated , Safari ’s Preferences window sports a Modern Extensions window glass that lists all set up extensions and lets you custom-make the demeanour of each . This screen also lets you disable and enable individual extensions or turn off the extension have altogether — utilitarian when troubleshooting ( more on that below ) .
So how do you get extensions ? With the release of Safari 5.0.1 , Apple introduced theSafari Extensions Gallery , a curated collection of third - party extensions Apple has prefer to showcase — you’re able to even reach the Gallery decent from the Safari menu . Divided into class such as News , Social Networking , Security , and Productivity , the Gallery currently contains more than 100 extensions , each with a short description , a link to the developer ’s site , and an Install Now button . ( If you have n’t updated to Safari 5.0.1 , you wo n’t see these Install Now buttons . ) Click the Install Now button for an extension , and in a second or two the button will change to an Installed computer graphic indicate that the extension has been installed .
However , extensions you download outside of the official Gallery require a different installation procedure — they do n’t instal mechanically . The Website hosting the extension will provide a standard download link , and then Safari will download the extension service — a file ( actually a Mac OS go package ) ending in.safariextz . ( If , rather of downloading a .safariextz file , Safari displays a window of worthless code , click the Back clitoris and either Option - come home the download link or justly - penetrate — or Control - click — on the tie and take Download Linked File . ) Depending on how you ’ve configured Safari to address download files , Safari may immediately ask you if you want to set up the fresh extension . If not , find the newly downloaded data file package in the Finder and double - click it to view the same Do n’t put in / Install dialog . Read the prescribed warning textual matter , dawn Install , and the extension is installed .
( In case you ’re wondering why a third - party extension is n’t included in Apple ’s Gallery , there are a couple possible reasons . The first is only that the developer has n’t submit it to Apple for possible inclusion . The second is that the developerhassubmitted the annex and either Apple has n’t yet approved it or has reject it for some reasonableness . This does n’t mean you should n’t instal extensions that do n’t appear in Apple ’s Gallery , but you should be a minute more deliberate before doing so . )
Safari ’s Preferences windowpane sport a unexampled aspect when extensions are turn on .
Whichever method you expend to put in extensions — Apple ’s Gallery or manual download and install — installed extensions are stored in ~/Library / Safari / Extensions and look in the new Extensions screen of Safari ’s taste windowpane . For some extension , the new features they provide are immediately available — no restart or other action is required . In fact , if the annex uses a toolbar push , that button may mechanically be append to Safari ’s toolbar without any further action from you . ( If it is n’t , just choose View - > Customize Toolbar and then manually add the toolbar button . ) However , I ’ve find that most extension work only onnewtabs you open after instal the denotation — you wo n’t get the newfangled feature on existing tabs . ( This is often the typeface even if the extension has automatically added a toolbar push to Safari — the clitoris wo n’t do anything when viewing existing tabs . )
Using and managing extensions
As mentioned above , many Safari extension function as new buttons for Safari ’s toolbar . For deterrent example , Ars TechnicaandMacworldcontributor John Siracusa’sReload Buttonrestores the Reload button rule in Safari 3 and sooner , andClint Ecker ’s Short URLadds a fresh button that automatically shortens , using either is.gd or bit.ly , the current tab ’s URL . You use these toolbar buttons just like any other : click the clit to get to the simple feature article .
Other extension add new dictation to Safari ’s contextual fare : right - get across somewhere on a World Wide Web pageboy , and you ’ll see the young options . For example , Shortenz Linkzlets you right - press any URL connexion on a Web page to get a sawed-off uniform resource locator using the URL - shortening service of your choice . It also provides an choice to send out the uniform resource locator in a Twitter message .
But many Safari extensions ferment in the background , doing their matter without any effort on your part . For example , there are already extensions that mechanically reformat YouTube pages or Google Reader ’s user interface for well-situated viewing , that supply extra options to specific Web page , or that disable JavaScript elements hosted by particular server .
If an extension put up setting to customize its behaviour , you ’ll get those preferences in the Extensions dot of Safari ’s Preferences window . Select the extension in the list on the left , and that extension ’s options appear to the right .
If you decide you do n’t like a particular university extension ’s feature(s ) , you could handicap it . Just choose it in the listing of install extensions and then uncheck the Enable [ extension name ] box . or else , you could uninstall it , as explicate below .
Updating extensions
Like other software , Safari extensions are updated to fix bugs and add newfangled features . This is especially dependable right now , as developers are still learning how to create and staring extension service . Thankfully , Safari provides a built - in mechanism for checking for , and updating to , Modern versions of extension .
open up the Extensions pane of Safari Preferences , and click the Updates item in the lower - left corner . To the rightfield , you ’ll see a list of any denotation for which newer interpretation are available . snap an case-by-case Update button to update that extension — the new variation is download and installed . Alternatively , click Update All to establish all pending update with a individual click .
To avoid have to manually stop for available updates , you may check the boxful to Install Updates Automatically . This configures Safari to mechanically download and install updates whenever they ’re useable . Given how frequently extensions are being updated these day , this is a welcome option , although it ’s not yet clear how often Safari stop for new versions of installed extension .
Troubleshooting extensions
bet on which extension phone you select to install , the great features you put on may come with a price : Safari crashes . Between the release of Safari 4 a class ago and the release of Safari 5 in June , I had very few problem with Safari ; in the first duo weeks after installing Safari 5.0 and examination reference , I had literally dozens of crashes , and I was able to trace nearly all of them back to issue with reference . ( unluckily , unlike the Safari 4 - and - by and by feature that lets Safari plug - IN crash without taking down the entire web browser , an lengthiness job often ram Safari instantaneously . )
I ’ve in person had the worst luck with extension that train to block specific JavaScript hosts that falsify the behavior of sites . For example , several wing block JavaScript from intellitxt.com to let you avoid those nettlesome ads that protrude up on Web Sir Frederick Handley Page when you creep over word of honor . Unfortunately , whenever I ’ve had one of these extensions installed and active , Safari would break up regularly .
I also now and again live a problem where merely disabling a particular extension , by turn off that university extension in the Extensions screen of Safari Preferences , crash Safari . This seems to be specially common when disabling an reference that use a toolbar push . In many cases , I ’ve been capable to keep off such clang by manually remove the extension phone ’s toolbar release ( using Safari ’s Customize Toolbar screen door ) andthendisabling the lengthiness .
gratefully , over the past distich months , I ’ve plant that Safari ’s stability has improved dramatically when using lengthiness . I suspect the biggest reasonableness is that extensions developer have been improve their telephone extension - coding accomplishment , but it ’s also possible that Safari 5.0.1 included some extension - deal betterment of its own . Whatever the combination , using extension seems to be notably safe — in terms of web browser constancy — these days than when the feature first debuted . That being say , extension can still get problems with Safari , so it ’s good to know some canonical troubleshooting procedures .
If you know which extension is causing a problem , you ’ve acquire two selection : The first is to simply disable that annexe ( as explained above ) and then wait for an update to see if a Modern version jam the problem . The 2nd is to remove the extension completely . To do this , select the extension in Safari Preferences and then click the Uninstall button that appear to the right .
What if you do n’t know which file name extension is causing a problem ? recall the “ Greco-Roman ” Mac OS prolongation fight ? Welcome back , old friend . It ’s clock time to do some conflict testing .
The first measure is to move around off Safari extensions completely : open up the Extensions screen of Safari Preferences and move the chief luger to the Off position . Then browse the sites that were launch the last prison term Safari ram or exhibited otherwise troublesome behaviour — Safari ’s Reopen All Windows From Last Session command ( in the chronicle bill of fare ) is great for this . If the problem still occurs , you cognise extensions are n’t the cause .
If the problem is gone , at least one of your extension is to blame . Turn the primary extension slider back to On , then scroll through the list of set up extensions in Safari Preferences , note which one are presently enable . Then disable one and recharge your last academic session . If the trouble occurs again , the reference you disabled is likely not the movement . turn off the next suspect and reload the last session again . Is the problem gone ? You ’ll desire to recapitulate this process until disabling an extension fixes the problem — that extension is likely the cause .
Of of course , just as with classical Mac O extension difference of opinion , it ’s possible that acombinationof Safari extensions is the real way out , but I have n’t yet derive across such an issue ( and uncover such combination is the topic for another clause … ) .
Use it wisely
As you browse Apple ’s Gallery and the Web for useful extensions , keep in idea that the more extensions you install , the more you increase the chance of problems . But just as authoritative is that you increase the complexness of the internet browser itself — more toolbar button , more keyboard shortcut , more contextual - menu commands , and more ways in which the subject matter on Websites is fine-tune or otherwise affected . So use extension judiciously . Despite downloading and testing scores of elongation , I ’ve kept only a couple dozen installed , and only a few of those are currently dynamic . Nevertheless , Extensions has become one of my favorite Modern Safari features in long time .
Dan Frakes is a aged editor in chief at Macworld .
