macOS High Sierra: The Missing Manual

Chapter 19. Safari

Safari is the Mac’s web browser. It’s superfast and filled with great features—in macOS High Sierra, for example, you can even prevent videos from auto-playing, which is one of the most obnoxious annoyances of the web. Here and there, you’ll find certain sites or services that don’t work in Safari (grrrr), which is why many Mac fans keep another browser, like Chrome or Firefox, on board just in case. Overall, though, Safari makes a slick, responsive window to the web.

The Unified Address/Search Bar

There are all kinds of ways to begin your web surfing session. Perform a search. Click a bookmark. On the following pages: a rundown of these starting points.

Often, of course, you’ll want to type in a web address; that’s the purpose of the address/search bar identified in Figure 19-1. In macOS, a single, unified box serves as both the address bar and the search bar.

If you type a web address there, like amazon.com, then pressing Return takes you to that website; if you type anything else, like cashmere sweaters or just amazon, then pressing Return gives you the Google search results for that phrase, as described next.

Note

The address bar doesn’t show the full address of the page you’re on. You may be reading http://www.nytimes.com/2018/2/28/us/politics/house-vote-moves-budget-deal-closer-to-approval.html, but the address bar shows only nytimes.com. If you’d rather see the full address, then choose Safari→Preferences→ Advanced and turn on “Show full website address.” ...