OS X Yosemite: The Missing Manual

Chapter 19. Safari

You probably know the drill when it comes to Web browsers. When you click an underlined link (hyperlink) or a picture button, you’re transported from one Web page to another. One page might be the home page of General Motors; another might contain critical information about a bill in Congress; another might have baby pictures posted by a dad in Omaha.

Tip

Text links aren’t always blue and underlined. In fact, trendy Web designers sometimes make it very difficult to tell which text is clickable and which is just text. When in doubt, move your cursor over something; if the arrow changes to a pointing finger, you’ve found yourself a link.

In Safari, the Mac’s Web browser, all the essentials are here: an address bar, a search bar, bookmarks, a history list, and so on. But in Yosemite, all of it’s been moved around, compacted, streamlined, on the premise that most people would prefer to dedicate their Web browser to seeing Web pages, not staring at toolbars.

For example, the top of the window no longer displays the name of the Web site you’re on. And the address bar no longer displays the full address of the page you’re on. You may be reading http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/us/politics/ashton-carter-may-replace.html, but the address bar shows only nytimes.com.

(If you’d rather see the full address, choose Safari→Preferences→Advanced, and turn on “Show full website address.”)

The following pages walk you through the new structure of Safari. But if you’re an old hand, and ...