Getting the Most From Safari

In another step towards dominating the desktop browser market, Apple released Safari 5 in June which now has an official support base for browser extensions. Extensions (or ‘widgets’) can be added to a browser in order to enhance a users online experience.

Although the extension’s feature in Safari is nothing ground breaking Apple are ecstatic with its reception so far:

“Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response has been fantastic,” said Brian Croll, a vice president of product marketing at Apple. “We’re thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customise Safari.”

So in order to help you get the most out of the latest version of Safari we have compiled a list of the best Safari extensions available.

Tablinks

TabLinks is an extension that creates a listing of the URLs for every tab open in your browser. You can then paste this list into an e-mail or text editor which is why writers in particular will appreciate this extension.

Google Reader Snow Leopard

Google Reader has a completely overhauled look with this extension. There are a number of custom stylesheets for Google Reader which keeps all of Google Reader's features intact while improving the look.

AutoPagerizer

If you have ever moaned about having to click "next page" when reading an online article, then this is one extension for you. It presents the full text on one page, without the pagination links.

Coda Notes

This is one for web developers. The coda notes extension makes it easy to make annotations to a website. You can add or edit the text on the site, add highlights or other hand drawn notes and make adjustments to the page structure if necessary.

FastestTube

Have you seen a YouTube video and wanted it on your desktop? FastestTube makes it easy to download YouTube videos in whatever formats are available directly from the YouTube page.

Google Apps

This extension provides one-click access to your Google Apps accounts and tools. This means you can go straight to your Mail, Docs or Calendar from the toolbar. The real killer feature is that it supports multiple Google Apps accounts, which will make those of us who use Google to manage various domains much more productive. The extension also includes the option to access non-Google Apps, mail, Google Reader or Google Voice accounts.

Gmail Counter

Gmail Counter makes it easy to see how many unread messages are in your Gmail inbox directly from a toolbar button. Clicking on the button takes you straight to your inbox.

Although Apple has released its own official gallery for Safari extensions there are many other sites to visit such as http://safariextensions.tumblr.com/ where you can download some great extensions which are updated daily.