MacOnMacs: Saft-enhancing Safari

I recently got the chance to use Apple's Safari web browser with the fantastic Saft extension. Saft brings a host of new functions seamlessly into Safari, much as the extensions for Firefox do. You can see a more robust list on the Saft website above, but my favourite extensions are: sorting, searching, and otherwise manipulating bookmarks; full screen browsing; it can disable scripts from bringing a tab to the front; customized search tab with additional search engines/tools; dragable tabs; and much, much more. I'm not that big on skinning, but I do actually prefer the new Aqua interface setting here, which transforms all the brushed metal to an iPod-like white.

One setting that I didn't like (though some people might) was the saving and reloading of browser tabs and windows after a Safari restart - I thought this would be great, and it would be good to turn it on from time to time if you're doing research or something where you have to come back to a lot of tabs, but it's very annoying to have all the old windows and tabs pop up on each launch for most of my use. Oh, and and Focus Last Selected Tab drove me crazy! ;-) The Saft extension cost $12, which really isn't much considering the amount of functionality it adds to Safari and how it can make your surfing pass more quickly and pleasantly. A small annoyance is that Saft needs to be upgraded when Safari is upgraded - this isn't annoying in terms of cost, but it might be a little laborious for some.

All in all Saft is well worth its small price and makes me feel not as compelled to switch to Firefox for my main browser (though the plugins and extensions are pretty tempting, and I definitely use Firefox at times). Safari is a solid browser and is well integrated into the OS, but it is nice to see some great extensions like Saft making it even better.