Tune up Safari

DISCOVER TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN APPLE’S BROWSER

EVERYONE KNOWS HOW to use a web browser, but do you know about the special settings and techniques that make your browsing experience better? Safari is packed with them.

One of Safari 11’s most useful additions is the ability to apply per-site settings to zoom in on pages’ contents, define whether media plays automatically, and set whether the Reader feature is invoked automatically to help you read lengthy articles. However, it’s easy to forget these options exist, and that’s exacerbated by access to them being tucked away: they’re accessed either from Safari’s eponymous menu, or by Ctrl-clicking a page’s address and choosing ‘Settings for This Website’.

You may have spotted the speaker icons that appear on tabs and in the search field when one or more tabs is playing audio. Interactions you can perform using those icons are described at bit.ly/mutesafari. These actions require you to move the pointer, and audio coming from your Mac in the meantime may be embarrassing — but you can quickly mute all tabs with a couple of custom keyboard shortcuts — see Step 6 opposite, and the sidebar just on the right.

Did you know there’s a way to search your open pages by name? How about quickly tidying up your workspace if you’ve managed to open superfluous windows? And what about the risk of unintentionally leaking personal info through the AutoFill feature or even a third-party password manager?

Here, you’ll learn about all these things and more, helping you to become a Safari power-user.

IT’S EASY TO FORGET THESE OPTIONS EXIST BECAUSE THEY’RE TUCKED AWAY