This Hidden Safari Feature Makes Browsing Much Faster – Knowligent
This Hidden Safari Feature Makes Browsing Much Faster

This Hidden Safari Feature Makes Browsing Much Faster

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Using a computer is a lot faster if you become a keyboard shortcut ninja instead of doing everything with your mouse or trackpad. The problem: Browsing the web is extremely mouse-centric. A hidden Safari option can help.

The Apple browser is terrible until you learn how to use it

Open Safari’s Settings, go to the Advanced tab, and check Press Tab to highlight each item on a web page . You can now use the Tab key on your keyboard to highlight the top link on the current page. You’ll see a blue box around the link. Keep pressing Tab to move between links, then press Enter to open the current link. It’s quick, provided there aren’t too many links on the page. You can also press CMD+Enter to open the current link in a new tab in the background.

I like to use this when reading the news. I open the homepage of a publication, use Tab to switch between articles, and open the articles that look interesting in a new background tab. Then I can use the shortcut CMD+W to switch to that tab and jump to the next one. This way I can read every article on a site that interests me without ever touching my mouse.

Now, there are dedicated apps for doing this, including Shortcat, which offers more functionality for controlling the web (and other apps) using just keyboard shortcuts. That app is particularly good if you want to jump straight to a specific link, rather than having to repeatedly press tab to get there. It’s worth looking into, but you might not need it—Safari’s feature works well enough for me and doesn’t require me to install anything, which is nice.