Filed under: Software, Internet, Apple
Terminal Tip: Safari 3.1 brings true one-window mode
Are you a browser fiend? The sort of person who loves Safari, yet can't quite live with some of its peculiarities? If you hadn't guessed, I certainly am one of those people. I love the speed and simplicity of Safari, but it never worked as well as (say) Camino, particularly when it came to persuading links from the likes of Gmail to open in the same window. No number of SIMBL hacks (yes, hacks) seemed to persuade Safari to open links in the existing window - driving me away from Safari, and instead swear by Camino.But that's about to change, as Apple has added a hidden preference to Safari 3.1 that allows you to tell Safari to stick to one window. Even in Gmail. Tipster Dennis Stevense, explains in a blog post that through a simple Terminal command, true one-window mode is finally, finally, here for Safari. All you need to enter is the command below into Terminal, hit enter, and you're sorted.
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true
Thanks Dennis!
Update: If you want to reverse the change, it's a simple matter of entering the following into Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool false
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Xtopher Robin said 1:54PM on 3-21-2008
Yes! I loath multiple windows; isn't that what tabbed browsing was made for? Now I can finally run without the fear of other windows popping up, getting hidden or lost, or zombie hoards tearing my face off and eating my brains! Okay, 2 outta 3 ain't bad, right? ;)
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loukas said 2:24PM on 3-21-2008
can you help how to do this?
iGadget said 1:57PM on 3-21-2008
That was the one feature that had me installing SAFT for.
See if I can do without now...
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egordin said 2:26PM on 3-21-2008
Exactly. I was doing the same thing! Thanks TUAW!
Dan said 8:33PM on 3-21-2008
Same here! this was the only thing I ever wanted SAFT for. The biggest problem with SAFT was that you needed to repurchase it after every update.
enas said 10:56AM on 3-22-2008
"The biggest problem with SAFT was that you needed to repurchase it after every update."
Either you paid way too many times, either you're dishonest. The only paid upgrades (at half price) were for Panther to Tiger and for Tiger to Leopard. Can you clarify?
Robert said 1:59PM on 3-21-2008
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
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Vinod Ponmanadiyil said 2:02PM on 3-21-2008
Really nice. Is there a way to have a 'new tab' button on the toolbar in safari too?
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Atariboy said 2:30PM on 3-21-2008
You can double click the tab bar and it will make one now I think
j0nkatz said 2:04PM on 3-21-2008
Now if I could just get Safari to do a multi-row bookmark bar I'd be set.
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mattyohe said 2:47PM on 3-21-2008
@Vinod Ponmanadiyil: To create a new tab, simply double click on some empty space in the tab bar area, it will make a new one.
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Taylor said 2:08PM on 3-21-2008
FINALLY.
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Red said 2:08PM on 3-21-2008
Excellent! Now if only one could block flash...
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SushiPillow said 2:09PM on 3-21-2008
Finally! Now is there a way to have middle-click on a mouse open a link in a new tab?
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S said 2:36PM on 3-21-2008
It already does, has since Safari 2. What is your middle button mapped to? It needs to be set either as Button 3, or you can set it to be a command click button.
Bender Bending Rodriguez said 2:14PM on 3-21-2008
Is there a setting to make all windows that are supposed to open in a new window to instead open to a new tab (preferably in the background)?
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Jason Martin said 2:27PM on 3-21-2008
THIS is exactly what I need. The above Terminal Tip is helpful, but I'm really looking to automatically open what would be new windows in new tabs, without using any keyboard tricks, like cmd-click.
Jason Martin said 2:34PM on 3-21-2008
Hold the phone. This seems to be EXACTLY what the above terminal tip does. I guess I should have tried it out before judging it. Excellent! Now, if we can just get some kind of Google toolbar-like feature...
Bender Bending Rodriguez said 2:40PM on 3-21-2008
Thanks for the reply, Jason. While technically in the same Window, the article doesn't specify that the links open up in new Tabs despite the terminal command specifying it.
David said 2:23PM on 3-21-2008
This is a nice step, but it should be a visible option, along with a way to completely disable browsing history and cache (Develop-> Disable Cache in 3.1 is nice but you have to re-check it everytime you start up, which is pretty annoying)
Because other than these few things, I've been quite pleased with Safari 3.1 (and WebKit nightly builds).
*opens Terminal*
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