AppleChronicles

Safari the best overall browser for the Mac. You can make it even better by taking advantage of browser extensions, plug-ins that can add functionality to the browser. Some of my favorite Safari extensions are:

• AdBlock blocks ads from downloading on all websites. It works without any configuration, while advanced users can create custom filters and subscribe to filter lists.
• BetterSource shows the page source in a new tab, with line numbers and color syntax highlighting.
• Resizer adds a single button to your Safari toolbar that will resize the current browser window. The extension has 10 user configurable window settings.

Safari provides limited cookie management functionality. Jar is an OS X Preference Pane that makes sure the only cookies kept on your Mac are from sites in your history, bookmarks or top sites. No sites to block or unblock, “Remove” buttons to click or maintenance to perform. Jar costs $10.

If you wish to validate the HTML and/or CSS code in webpages that you visit, create two bookmarks using the following code as the addresses:
javascript:window.location="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri="+window.location
javascript:window.location="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?uri="+window.location
Then when you are viewing a webpage you wish to validate, go to the either of the above bookmarks.

The Safari browser has an optional Develop menu which includes a web inspector, the ability to control scripting, and other things. You may want to activate the Develop menu in Preferences on the Advanced tab. It can be useful for looking at more details behind a website.

Although Safari is a fine browser, it does have a few irritating omissions. Safari is missing:

• A master password to control/use saved passwords
• A separator for links in a bookmarks bar folder

Maybe Apple will address these issues in a future release.