Safari 1.0 Isn't Perfect Yet, But Some Fixes Are Available [updated]

by , 11:00 AM EDT, June 24th, 2003

[Update: When originally published, the information on modifying the tags around the text to be inserted into the .plist file was incomplete (it was an HTML error that went unnoticed). The article has been once again corrected to fix this. - Editor]

Just yesterday, Apple released Safari 1.0. A lot of you out there are probably using it to view this very page. If so, you may have noticed that the fonts on a lot of sites have gotten smaller and harder to read. According to a post to Dave Hyatt's weblog, this is because while previous Safari betas implemented a minimum font size, Safari 1.0 does not. For those of you who think Times 16 is better suited for billboards, you can restore the old 9 point minimum by tweaking an older, but still relevant tip from Mac OS X Hints:

As someone with very bad eyes, I was quite angry that Safari did not include a minimum font size option, meaning that many fonts appeared too small for me to see.

Taking a wild guess, I added the following lines to the com.apple.Safari.plist file located in the User preferences folder:

<key>WebKitMinimumFixedFontSize</key>
<integer>13</integer>
<key>WebKitMinimumFontSize</key>
<integer>14>/integer>

To my surprise, it worked, and Safari will no longer display fonts at any sizes lower than those specified.

After you have added those lines, just change the "13" and "14" values to "9" and "9" to restore the Safari betas' minimum font size, or you can choose some other point size that fits your needs.

Brush that metal away

While there are some out there who absolutely love the brushed metal interface that Apple tends to use on a lot of apps lately, not everyone feels that way. This is where ScifienceStudios' Safari Aquafier 3.0 comes in. The free 52KB application quickly and easily removes the brushed metal interface, leaving only the gleaming Aqua interface.

Where'd that bug go?

Last but not least, don't fret about the missing bug reporting button. It's still there, it's just disabled by default. You can turn it back on from the View menu, or select the "Report Bugs to Apple..." entry in the Safari menu.

Do you have more tips to customize or enhance Safari? Post a comment below!

Apple Safari