Here's how to make Safari's tab navigation not suck!

With the release of Mac OS X Lion, I switched back to Safari as my main browser. Almost all the extensions I want are available for it, and it’s much less buggy than Google Chrome was beginning to be. But there are a few things that bother me about Safari, one of which is the way you navigate between open tabs.

With every other browser, you can navigate between open tabs by hitting Command + the tab number (#2 would open the second tab from the left, #3 the third, etc.). But with Safari, hitting Command + a number opens the link number of whatever is in your bookmark bar. Handy if you actually have bookmarks in your bookmark bar, but I have nothing but folders. Hitting Command + Shift + } four times to reach the fifth tab from the left is a pain because it requires both hands.

Thankfully, Olivier Poitrey offers SafariTabSwitching, a SIMBL plugin that brings the Command + number feature to Safari. I’ve been using it so long that I actually forgot where I got it from. It’s quite a nice add-on, and I’ve never had a problem using it. The only foreseeable issue is that it is a SIMBL plugin, which Apple doesn’t condone, and could cease to function at any OS update in the future if Apple so chooses – such as OS X Mountain Lion, due later this summer.

Illustrator's Snap to Units tab feature makes it easy to set precise tabs

Adobe Illustrator’s Tab panel offers a little-known feature that helps you set tabs at specific measurement units on the ruler called Snap to Unit. It’s particularly helpful if you want to set several tabs at exactly the same increments.

To use it, simply select your tabbed text and open the Tabs panel (Command + Shift + T). If the Tab panel isn’t located right above your text, simply click the little magnet icon in the panel to line it up. Now choose Snap to Unit under the flyout menu in the Tab panel. Now when you click in the ruler to set your tabs, the tab stops will automatically jump to the nearest tick mark on the ruler as you drag the tab stops around.

If you’re like me and you don’t want to go through the hassle of using the menu, you can simply hold the Shift key down while dragging your tab stops around on the ruler.

Perhaps someday soon Apple will finally get around to enhancing the Finder with the features mentioned above, but until then you can have them now via three fantastic add-ons; Default Folder X, HyperDock, and TotalFinder.

Default Folder X

Perhaps one of the longest tenured Mac OS utilities on the market is Default Folder X. I’ve been using it since the Mac OS 8/9 days. Default Folder X enhances Open, Save and Place/Import/Export dialog boxes in a number of ways.

If you’re constantly saving things inside the same folder, Default Folder X can remember that folder for you. You can even set a different default folder for each application you use. You also have the ability to open or save to any Finder window with a single click; a feature I use often.

Default Folder X offers a plethora of dialog box enhancements

It also lets you get info on, rename, and delete existing files, putting the Finder’s power in every Open and Save dialog. Default Folder X remembers recently used folders, and assign keyboard shortcuts to them which are available not only in dialog boxes, but the Finder as well. And finally, you can add tags to your files, view file info and file previews (great for images), change permissions and view the Finder’s invisible files with a simple keystroke.

Default Folder X costs $34.95 and is worth every penny (there are numerous other features it brings that I didn’t even mention). It’s the first thing I install on any new Mac I buy. A demo is also available, and it runs on Mac OS X 10.4 and above.

HyperDock

I reviewed HyperDock not to long ago, and it’s been updated a few times since then. HyperDock brings window previews to your OS X Dock icons, just like Windows 7. Hovering your cursor over an icon reveals a preview bubble of open windows for that application. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Window previews for iCal display events scheduled for that day, and you’re offered a bit of control over your music when hovering over your iTunes icon.

HyperDock offers window previews in your Dock, and a lot more!

If the features stopped there, I would have been disappointed. Thankfully they don’t. HyperDock also offers you a number of other features such as adding shortcuts to Finder windows and apps as well. While these are handy, they still aren’t the best features. HyperDock copies another Windows 7 feature in that it allows you to resize and dock a Finder window to the sides of the screen simply by moving the window to the screen edge. Nice! And if you don’t like having to travel down to the bottom right corner to resize a window, you don’t have to. Simply hold down a key combination and you can resize your window from ANYWHERE in the window. Oh, you can also move the window from anywhere (not just the title bar) with another key combo!

HyperDock is currently free, as it is still in beta, and runs on Mac OS X 10.6 only.

TotalFinder

People have been asking for a tabbed Finder since tabs were introduced in web browsers years ago. BinaryAge has finally brought that capability to Mac users with TotalFinder, which I reviewed earlier this year. If tabbed Finder windows weren’t enough, TotalFinder offers you dual-paned Finder windows with a quick keystroke; placing a Finder window sidebar on each side for easy navigation.

TotalFinder offers tabbed Finder windows and more

TotalFinder also offers a screen-wide Finder window, called the Visor, that slides up from the bottom of the screen with a quick keystroke. In addition, you can view invisible files in the Finder, and have folders displayed at the top of a file list, both with a keystroke. Finally, you can rid yourself of those annoying .DS_Store files if you wish. In the works is also the ability to cut and paste in the Finder, Terminal integration with the Finder and Safari-style tabs.

TotalFinder runs on Mac OS X 10.6 only, and costs $15.00. A demo is available.

Thankfully, a creative and persistent developer has finally figured out a way to add them into Mac OS X’s Finder without completely replacing the look, feel and functionality of the Finder in the process.

Tabs in Mac OS X's Finder windows

TotalFinder, a SIMBL application by BinaryAge adds elegant tabs, borrowed from Google Chrome, to Mac OS X’s Finder windows. The tabs look, feel and act like tabs in your Web browser for the most part. Along with the tabbed windows (seen above in the screenshot), TotalFinder also adds a few other really cool features.

Though you can drag and drop items between tabs, you can also hit Command + U or double-click a tab while holding the Option key down to merge two adjacent tabs into a sort of dual-pane window. As you can see in the screenshot below, the dual-pane window shows both tabs in the same window, including the sidebar on each side.

Dual-pane tabbed Finder windows

Another really handy feature is the ability to invoke, via a keyboard shortcut, a window that glides up from the bottom of your screen, called the Visor. The Finder window fills the entire width of your monitor and about one-third the height. You can quickly hide the window with the same shortcut (double tapping the option key, by default). BinaryAge borrowed this idea from Visor, their app which pops open a Terminal window with a keyboard shortcut.

I found the Visor window feature to be somewhat annoying for me, but other users may love it.

TotalFinder doesn’t stop there with the features. You can also set TotalFinder to place folders at the top in list view, stop creation of .DS_Store files, and show invisible files in the Finder. All of TotalFinder’s preferences can be accessed in the Finder Preferences window by hitting Command + , while in the Finder.

TotalFinder is still in Alpha stage, but I’ve found it perfectly usable – experiencing no adverse behavior at all. The developer plans on charging for the app eventually, but until it’s 1.0 release, TotalFinder is free of charge. Considering how long it took Apple to add virtual desktops (called Spaces in OS X), this may be the only way to add tabs to Finder windows for a very long time.