How to make Safari work like Chrome
Recently, I switched from using Google Chrome as my primary web browser to using Safari, mainly due to the fact that Safari is faster on my Mac and is more energy efficient because it uses less resources. However, there were a few Chrome features that I missed, such as having favicons of each website showing in the tab bar, the minimalist status bar, and Cmd+Shift+T to reopen any number of previously closed tabs.
After some searching around, I managed to find extensions to replicate the functions that I missed the most. I’ve compiled the list below:
1) Minimal Status Bar – http://visnup.github.io/Minimal-Status-Bar/
This extension provides a minimalist status bar for Safari, similar to what Chrome has. It auto-hides when not needed and expands shortened links. True to its name, there are no other settings or customisations.
2) Retab – https://github.com/bucaran/retab
Re-open as many as the last 20 closed tabs, with a setting to change the shortcut key to the Chrome-style Cmd+Shift+T. Very helpful as it takes advantage of muscle memory from my Chrome days.
3) SafariStand – http://hetima.com/safari/stand-e.html
Allows favicons to be shown for each tab in the tab bar. This greatly reduces the time it takes to identify the tab I’m looking for. However, it requires the installation of EasySIMBL, which is an extension manager for Mac OS X apps.