Top 10 Mac Productivity Enhancements: Page 9

9) and 10) SafariStand and Saft

Prices: SafariStand: Free; Saft: $12

Try as I did to choose just one Safari enhancement, I couldn’t do it. Although SafariStand and Saft overlap in several features, each one adds some capabilities to Safari that make Web browsing much more convenient.

SafariStand can display a thumbnail of the page open in each tab in an optional sidebar (somewhat like the one OmniWeb uses), making navigation simpler. It can add multiple search engines to the Search field. And it not only enables you to view a page’s source with syntax coloring, but it even lets you make changes to the HTML and then immediately preview how the altered page will render.

I’ve found this extremely useful when designing Web sites, especially when I’m trying to figure out how another site does something. Saft lets you rearrange tabs using drag-and-drop, export Web pages as single-page PDFs, scroll through a window by holding the Control key and moving the mouse, and adjust dozens of other Safari behaviors. Both products can block certain kinds of ads, animations, plug-ins, and other annoyances, and can save and restore browser windows (and whatever tabs are open within them). With these two tools, you can turn Safari into a wonder browser that can perform almost any trick you need.

Runner-up: Safari Extender ($10)

Final Thoughts

You could spend almost $200 on all the software I’ve described here, or you could select some of the free or low-cost alternatives and spend almost nothing. But in my experience, these tools more than pay for themselves in time saved and aggravation spared.

The only downside: I’m spoiled now. Going back to a plain vanilla Mac without all these goodies is as awkward as computing with one hand tied behind my back.