All Mac users have Safari pre-installed as their default browsing application. While you can switch to another browser for internet use should you wish to do so, some users actually prefer the user interface and functionalities that Safari provides.
What follows in this article are 6 Safari Tips that Mac users can keep in mind to enhance their browsing experience on the app.
Tip#1: Use the Autofill feature for quick and easy login times
You can find the Autofill feature by going to Preferences and selecting Autofill. Whenever you enter any kind of login information, you will be prompted to save that data for autofill purposes in the future.
You can also manually edit what kind of autofill data you would like to store—using information from contacts, credit cards, other forms, and the like.
Another way to make browsing more personalized and seamless is to enable cookies on your web browser. Cookies from websites that you’ve visited essentially include all data that show how you interacted with the website so that you have a more personalized and custom experience when you visit again.
Check out how to enable all cookies in Safari so you can utilize the feature to the fullest.
Tip#2: Resetting browser extensions on Safari for more browser speed
You can edit and reset all the extensions that you use within Safari by going to Safari → Safari Extensions. Go through the ones that you already have and only keep those that you feel are absolutely necessary.
Browser extensions usually eat up your computer’s processing power and, in turn, slow down your browser leading to a poor internet experience.
You can also choose to optimize your cache settings in order to speed up Safari. Delete cache from websites that you do not frequent, and you will notice that speeds usually go up.
If there are any other common computer problems that you might be facing—it is a good idea to think about fixing them first. These issues often affect computer performance overall and all computer applications you might be running—and not just browser apps like Safari.
Tip#3: Use the picture-in-picture feature on Safari
All Mac users who have macOS Sierra installed can make use of the picture-in-picture functionality. This feature supports all popular video streaming websites, and there are different ways to access the feature depending on the specific video streaming platform that you use.
Picture-in-picture allows you to move a video-streaming pop-up to any part of your screen as you browse through different websites. If you want to keep a note of what’s happening in videos whilst also being able to do other tasks within Safari—this is a great feature to use.
For Vimeo, you will be able to find the picture-in-picture button in the bottom toolbar. If your preferred video streaming platform is Youtube, simply right-click to find Shortcuts and then select picture-in-picture to access the feature.
Tip#4: Customise the toolbar to your liking
All Safari users have the option to customize their toolbar as and how they like it. The customization feature allows you to remove buttons that you do not use and only keep ones that you think you need.
In order to do this, you can right-click on the toolbar and simply click on Customise Toolbar. You can drag any buttons that you do not want from the toolbar into the window that pops up. For new buttons that you want to add, simply do this in reverse—drag buttons from the window to the toolbar.
Tip#5: Use reading view on Safari for a cleaner and minimal reading experience
Do you find website pop-ups and advertisements on websites that you frequent interfering with your ability to read? The reader view feature on the browser does just this—the feature will provide users with a simple layout that contains no ads or pop-ups.
You can access this feature by simply clicking on the Reader View button to the left of the address bar.
Tip#6: Use the Tab Overview feature to manage all your open tabs
If you’re someone who is prone to opening too many tabs on Safari as you browse through the internet—the Tab Overview feature might just be for you.
Safari will group related tabs together on your behalf, and you can also quickly search amongst all the tabs that you have open to quickly find the tab that you are looking for.
In order to do this, simply View → Tab Overview. You can then use the search shortcut (Cmd +F) to search the specific tab that you want to open.
So that’s about it—these are the 6 tips that you can keep in mind as a Mac user for a more optimal Safari browsing experience.