Google Search shortcut in Safari

To do a Google search in Firefox, you can simply press Command-K. I really like that. The default keyboard settings in Safari, on the other hand, are a bit more annoying. To do a Google search you must press Command-Option-F — quite a complicated keystroke for something you may commonly do. Pressing Command-K toggles popup blocking on and off — something I’d never want to do.

Here is how you can make Command-K the keystroke for doing a Google search in Safari, killing two birds with one stone:

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click on Keyboard & Mouse.
3. Click on Keyboard Shortcuts.
4. Click the “+” to add a new shortcut.
5. Choose “Safari” from the Application menu.
6. Type “Google Search…” (without the quotes) into the Menu Title field. Those three dots are an ellipses, formed by typing Option-semicolon (not three periods).
7. Press Command-K in the Keyboard Shortcut field.
8. Click “Add”.
9. Close and reopen Safari.

Pressing Command-K will now cause the cursor to move to the Google search box!

Force Safari to open all links in new tab

Firefox users have been able to open all links clicked within Firefox in a new tab for a while now, but what about us poor Safari users? Well, sure, you could always hold down command while clicking a link, but that's not fun, now is it? With this simple Terminal hack, you will be surfing like a pro!

Just open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/) and type in the following command:

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true

Once you restart Safari, all clicked links will open in a new tab. If you want to reverse the command for some reason, just replace "true" with "false."

Make Safari open targeted links in new tabs instead of new windows

One of the things I find most annoying when browsing the web is when a link opens a new window. It completely disrupts my workflow when a new window pops up, especially when it does so without warning.

If you’re using Firefox this isn’t such a big problem anymore since it will open targeted links in a new tab instead, which is much more manageable and less intrusive.

For Safari, however, there is no such setting to be found when you look through its preferences window. But the setting does exist (at least in the Mac OS X version), though you have to use Terminal.app to enable it:

1. Quit Safari
2. Open Terminal.app
3. Enter defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true and press enter
4. Open Safari
5. Notice that links that used to open in a new window will now open in a new tab

Much better.