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General discussion

Trying out Safari 4 public beta version...

May 26, 2009 5:28AM PDT

Pro... Right up front I can say that my old G4 iBook runs Safari 4 on Tiger, a lot faster, with fewer hangs caused by slow javascript files. Bravo for this big improvement.

Con... I don't like the placement of the new tabs bar across the very top of the browser window. No sir... I don't like it at all. It makes me feel as if there are a bunch of open windows sticking up behind the window at the front. Now I'm sure that this is a very logical layout since each tab is (in reality) another open browser window waiting for its' turn to be on top of the stack. Problem is... I usually have several browser windows with tabs open on each of them, and several program windows (dreamweaver, fireworks, etc) opened on my desktop, too. I juggle these open windows on my 3x4 proportioned laptop screen by pulling a window's edge off to one side, and another a bit lower, and one a bit higher so I can click on each window's edge as my workflow demands. The multiple tabs across the top of the new Safari browser screen just makes my desktop feel more cluttered. Sure, there are work around solutions for my particular style of working, but I prefer the older style of placing the tabs below the tool bar because that is what I am used to. Obviously it comes down to personal preference.

When apple releases osx 10.6 later this year, I will get a new machine and see if this tab positioning works better for me, on a wide screen mac.

Discussion is locked

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You know you can change that Tabs setting?
May 26, 2009 10:37AM PDT

Make it look like Safari 3?


P

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Well, OK, but only because you asked,
May 26, 2009 10:39AM PDT

Open Terminal and type the following:

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO

That makes the tabs go back to where they were in 3

If you change you mind and decide to go back, just change the NO to YES and all will be restored


P

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(NT) You know you can change that Tabs setting?
May 26, 2009 10:42AM PDT
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OK, but only because you asked
May 26, 2009 10:44AM PDT

Open Terminal and type the following:

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO

restart Safari and you have the tabs back where they used to be.

If you change your mind, just change the NO to a YES and you are done

P

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Thanks Peter...
May 26, 2009 1:39PM PDT

I applied your terminal tip and it took the tabs bar back to where I am used to seeing it. Unfortunately it also took away the new added features the tab bar at the top possessed...

sigh... is it too much to ask for it all ?

Grin

I will have to play around with this.

Cheers and thanks again Peter !

Out of curiosity (since I don't play around with terminal very often), is the capitalization in that bit of code for the terminal command crucial or can you do it all lower case and get the same results?

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link to other Terminal mods for Safari 4
May 26, 2009 1:55PM PDT
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Safari 4 beta
May 29, 2009 10:00PM PDT

"The best way I've found is to use a free program called "Safari4Buddy"
I believe I found this on http://macupdate.com