panel

Top sites or frequently visited pages in Safari on Mac (similar to the express panel in Chrome and Opera): how to add, change, pin

19/06/2020 by ALOK DAS

One of the elements of Safari browser on Mac, because of which users have remained for a long time on third-party browsers, is the appearance of frequently visited pages. Top Sites (analogue of the express panel in Google Chrome and Opera).

♥ BY TOPIC: How to minimize all “show desktop” windows on Mac (macOS): 3 ways.

The Safari Top Sites window has only gotten a modern look with the release of OS X Mavericks.

If you are just looking at the standard Internet page viewer on macOS, then you should pay attention to the features of the quick access page. Perhaps this argument will be decisive for you when choosing a browser on macOS.

♥ BY TOPIC: How to open the Development menu (developer console) in Safari on Mac and what it is for.

How to open the Top Sites with the most frequently visited websites in Safari page – 3 ways

Method 1: To view the page Top Sites press the corresponding button on the panel Favorite. If this panel is not available, go to the menu View and press “Show Favorite Line”.

Method 2: To page Top Sites displayed when opening new tabs and windows, go to the menu Safari → Settings and select the tab “Basic”. Next in the popup menu “Open in new windows” and “Open in new tabs” select option Top Sites.

Method 3: To view the page Top Sites go along the way Bookmarks → Show Top Sites.

To open a website from Top Sites just click on its thumbnail.

♥ BY TOPIC: Smart Folder Finder on Mac: How to Create, Customize, and Use.

How Top Sites works in Safari by default

Initially page Top sites Displays the sites you visit most often. Over time, this list is updated and changed. This approach is not always convenient. After all, if you have three or four favorite sites and they are visited at different intervals, then their labels will constantly move. Every time you have to focus your attention in search of the necessary window. To prevent this from happening, you can fix the most necessary sites.

♥ BY TOPIC: How to use emojis instead of Safari bookmark names on Mac, iPhone and iPad.

How to change the order and pin thumbnails of sites on the Top Sites page in Safari

In order to consolidate the site on the Top Sites page, just hold the cursor on the desired shortcut until the two buttons appear. One (pin) to fix the link, and the second (cross) – to remove from the list. In addition, by simply dragging and dropping, you can arrange the windows in the desired order. If you drag a thumbnail from one place to another, fixing the site in Top sites activated automatically.

To refuse to pin a site in order to free up space for other sites, click the pin icon again to make it inactive.

♥ BY TOPIC: How to disable or enable sound in Safari tabs on Mac (macOS).

How to add sites to the Top Sites page (frequently visited sites) in Safari – 3 ways

Method 1: To add sites to Top sites just open the necessary web page and press the key combination ⌘Cmd + D. In the drop down menu “Add this page to” choose choose Top sites.

Method 2: Hover over the search bar (field for entering the name of the site or its URL). A quick add button in the form of a “plus” will appear on the left side of this field. Press and hold it. In the menu that appears, select Top Sites.

Method 3: You can simply drag the URL or link directly to the button Top Siteslocated on the panel Favorite.

♥ BY TOPIC: Dynamic live wallpapers on Mac: where to download for free and how to install.

How to Change the Number of Thumbnails Displayed in Top Sites Safari on Mac

Initially, their number is twelve, but it is possible to choose an option with six or twenty-four icons.

To change the number of sites displayed per page Top Sites in the Safari browser, go to the menu along the path Safari → Settings → General. In the pop-up menu, click Show Top Sites, and then select the number of thumbnails to display.

♥ BY TOPIC: Mac Safari Hotkeys Everyone Should Know.

How to remove a website from the Top Sites page – 3 ways

Method 1: Hover over the thumbnail of the desired site on the page Top Sites. To delete a thumbnail, click the button that appears Delete in the form of a cross.

Method 2: Just drag the site icon from the window Top Sites beyond it.

Method 3: Right-click on the site thumbnail. In the context menu, select Delete.

See also:

How to open dock panel settings in macOS via hidden menu

01/05/2020 by ALOK DAS

Using the Mac Dock, you can quickly and easily open your favorite apps or browse your existing ones. You can customize this item to your personal preference through “System Settings”, as well as through a hidden menu, which many do not know about.

♥ BY TOPIC: 5 beautiful free animated screensavers (screensavers) for Mac.

The dock panel does not have many settings, but there are additional options. For example, you can place this interface element on the left or right side of the screen, adjust the size of the panel and increase it if necessary. These and other settings can be controlled directly through the hidden menu in macOS (OS X).

♥ BY TOPIC: 2 ways to leave the right applications in Dock on Mac (macOS).

How to open dock panel settings in macOS via hidden menu

In the dock, you can easily find one or more dividers. To your left are your favorites and open apps. On the right, you can find the latest applications, folders, files and trash. The hidden menu is located “behind” one of the dividing lines.

Using a right-click on the separator in the dock, you can quickly activate the hidden menu of the dock. You can also do this by pressing Control and clicking on the dividing line.

♥ BY TOPIC: Overview PopClip – a convenient action menu “like iOS” on macOS with the ability to customize.

Work with options in the hidden menu of the dock

In this menu, you can adjust the position of the panel on the screen (Location Dock on screen), enable or disable the increase in the icons when you hover over them (Enable Zoom or Turn off magnification) and change the effect that will accompany minimizing the window (Tidy up Dock using effect) In addition, directly from this menu you can directly open the Dock settings, which are accessed in the “System Preferences”.

And if you just want to adjust the size of the dock, you can simply click on the divider and drag it up and down. This will automatically resize the entire icon strip.

See also:

How to remove Dock panel display delay on macOS

08/04/2020 by ALOK DAS

Constantly “hanging” at the bottom (left, right) of the Dock screen is not pleasant to many users Mac. It takes up too much space, multi-colored icons and annoying notifications distract from work … Yes, the Dock can be configured so that it will be displayed only when you mouse over the place where this panel is usually located. But there is a minus here – with this option, the Dock panel appears with a delay …

♥ BY TOPIC: Active angles on macOS: what it is, how to configure and use it.

How to set up automatic show / hide of the Dock

1. Open System settings macOS and go to section Dock.

3. Check the box next to Show or hide Dock automatically.

Now the Dock will be displayed only when you move the mouse cursor to the part of the screen where it is located.

♥ BY TOPIC: How to create your own hot keys for any program on macOS.

How to fix the delay when opening the Dock automatically

The instructions below will give you the opportunity to get close to the ideal option for working with the Dock. After setting up, the panel will be hidden most of the time – and if you need one or another icon, it will be displayed instantly, without an annoying delay.

1. Open the standard Terminal application on the computer.

2. Copy and paste the following command into the line of the Terminal and press the key Return (Enter):

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool true && defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0 && defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0 && killall Dock

3. Wait 5-10 seconds.

Now the dock panel will open instantly.

If you didn’t like the result, you can return “everything as it was” using the following Terminal command:

defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide && defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay && defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier && killall Dock

If everything suits you, congratulations – you just made the perfect Dock setup in a hidden position!

If desired, using this instruction, you can change the speed of hiding and displaying the Dock panel (Dock). You will find some more useful tips on working with this panel below.

See also:

Why it is not necessary to close (unload) applications on iPhone and iPad from the multitasking panel

07/01/2020 by ALOK DAS

Until brands take up the issue of drastically increasing the active time of smartphones, ordinary gadget owners will be interested in all kinds of popular tips. One of them says that the application is not enough to close, it is also necessary to unload it from the iOS memory. That’s what we’ll talk about.

♥ BY TOPIC: How to get Yandex.Disk unlimited cloud for storing photos and videos from iPhone and iPad.

Interpretation of the common “life hack”

Having finished working with the application, we tap twice with the usual gesture on the Home button or use the corresponding gesture on the iPhone with Face ID, minimizing the program window. However, it still continues to hang in memory, starts processes and brazenly consumes system resources. In order to save the latter, it is recommended that you manually remove the “dependent” and close it – at our command, iOS forcibly unloads from the RAM all data packets associated with this software. The load on the system will decrease, and the amount of energy consumed by it will be proportionally reduced. Logically, isn’t it? Only partially wrong.

ON THIS TOPIC: The battery on the iPhone runs out quickly, why and what to do? 30 ways to solve.

IOS multitasking algorithm

Lecturer and educator Fraser Speirs offers the following explanation from the Dummies category (officially confirmed by Apple). Any application in the apple mobile OS at a particular point in time is in one of five states.

Does not work. The period between the complete shutdown of the program and until the next start, during which the system does not interact with it in any way. Of course, there is no battery charge.
Launched but Inactive. Occurs when the screen is locked without minimizing the current window. The software occupies the nth volume of RAM, but the processor is not active and no energy is spent on its operation.
Actively. Full-fledged work with the application, during which the maximum use of system resources is observed.
Background mode. The window closes, but a number of services continue to work, for example, searching for and downloading updates. The load on the gadget is full, but iOS gives such processes a minimum priority, redistributing resources in favor of applications that are active.
Closed. Data exchange between the program and the system is stopped, however, it remains in the RAM. This does not require any significant amount of energy, iOS just makes a “bookmark”, which allows you to significantly speed up the loading of the application when you access it again through the multitasking panel.

Having finished working with the program, we press the Home button or use the appropriate gesture on the iPhone with Face ID – from “Active state” she immediately moves to “Background mode”.

If there are existing services, it will hang until they finish completing their tasks, after which a forced transition to the “Closed state” will follow. It will happen in any case – iOS waits a few seconds and if there is no background activity, it automatically performs this procedure.

Now our application does not create a load on the system, but still takes up megabytes of RAM. When they become in demand, for example, when you start something heavy, iOS will automatically clear the required amount of memory. And the program will translate into a state “Does not work”, which completely eliminates her use of system resources, including precious electricity.

♥ BY TOPIC: “Calculator” on iPhone: hidden features of a standard iOS application.

What happens when a person decides to intervene

VisuallyBackground mode“From the state of”Closed“Cannot be distinguished in any way – this will require special utilities that analyze activity in iOS in detail. However, the icon, just a picture, continues to hang in the multitasking menu, confusing the user. From his subjective point of view, the application is still working, read, consumes system resources. This is required to stop – a person puts his finger on the screen, thereby forcing iOS to respond.

For an application that has long been “Closed” and does not actually interact with the processor, a separate session of forced unloading from memory is launched. It lasts for nothing, but this is a load on the system, entailing the consumption of a certain amount of resources. For a second, the work of other programs will slow down, the battery will part with a fraction of the charge, and when the user wants to start the same application again, everything will happen again – there is no more data in the memory, you need to load it.

As a result, it turns out that manual unloading of applications allows you to free up the memory they occupy, but it provokes additional battery consumption. That is, we get an effect that is completely opposite to what was expected. If we are talking about popular software, then the combination of constant “start + paranoid closure” provokes a completely meaningless overspending of a valuable resource without any tangible benefit. That’s right – iOS automatically redistributes memory according to the optimal scheme, without overloading the processor, but for interacting with the user, it is obliged to activate a more bulky and gluttonous window interface. One output image of the menu on the screen with the backlight of what it costs.

An example on the fingers: we go into the kitchen, pour juice from a decanter into a cup, put the container back in the refrigerator, and return to the living room ourselves. After taking a few sips, we can set aside the cup, but since right now it is not needed, then we again go to the kitchen and pour the unfinished liquid into the decanter. And then suddenly another hand gets tired of keeping the vessel on weight, again, forces will be wasted. But I want to drink something – after some time the procedure will have to be repeated, again and again. Not too smart, is it? So let a half-empty cup with juice stand on its own, without taking up either a place in the hand or thoughts, but then you don’t have to run back and forth. It is another matter if you want tea – then it makes sense to go to the kitchen and work to wash the cup, preparing it for a different purpose.

♥ BY TOPIC: 7 accessories for iPhone and iPad that you need to have in every car.

Effective method of saving system resources

Formally in “Background” the application does not have to stay long, but certain categories of software abuse their authority. Partly due to the negligence of the developers, but more often this is done deliberately. For example, a Mail app configured for instant push notifications never switches to “Closed state”. The lion’s share of software loves to monitor maternal sites in search of updates without any demand, and each empty communication session leads to the activation of a number of device modules and energy consumption.

ON THIS TOPIC: How do I find out which application consumes the most battery on my iPhone or iPad?

In order to stop this disgrace, iOS introduced a mechanism to limit the operation of the system by applications in the background. Allowing them to access the Internet only when installed in a dock is a great idea. In order to save resources, it is advisable to set the access to the Network in the inactive time of the day when the person is sleeping.

Energy will be saved indirectly, due to the fact that there is no need to use the screen and distract the processor to priority data processing in the active window. In this regard, iOS completely depends on a competent user – to go over the menu after installing the software and choose which application to give the green light to and which red, the system with the proper level of efficiency will fail.

And of course, don’t forget to set up notifications on your iPhone and iPad.

See also: