Is there an easy way to get my bookmarks from Firefox into Safari?
Whilst I am in love with the extensibility of Firefox (oh, my beloved spellchecker plugin for one!), I was curious when I read this article. So I nuked the offending icon database (it was 6.8mb :O !), fired up Safari, and am just a little bit shocked by how snappy it feels compared to Firefox.
I’m doing a trial of Safari again (I wish I could remember my reasons for going over to Firefox in the first place) and, whilst I don’t use bookmarks that much any more thanks to RSS, I would like to have those I do use handy in Safari.
So yes, the quick and easy way please. None of this manual faffing around.
And while you’re at it, is there a way I can get the funcionality similar to Spellbound. Other plugins I can live without… With my scattershot approach to typing and spelling, that’s kind of a deal breaker.
Nice to see it helped you.
I just love Safari, but it lacks some features & the bookmark manager is not very good to my opinion. I’ve been giving a try to Camino for several weeks now & it seems I like it. On Windows/Linux I’m obviousely using Firefox, but I like so much the way the WebKit renders forms that I can’t use FF on the Mac ;}
Hey Cas. The short answer is I can’t help much because I don’t know. The longer answer is you could probably use Camino as a middle man. I think Camino will gobble up HTML bookmarks and export plist bookmarks which is what you want. So you’d export your Firefox bookmarks, import them into Camino and then export them from Camino as Safari bookmarks. This could be a ridiculously inane way of doing it but I’m not exactly a wizard on the ‘puter. They’re may even be third party software that’ll do it and make you a drink in the process.
If you don’t have Camino it’s probably worth downloading just to give it a spin. See if it sticks. Anyway, that’s the best I can do. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will drop in and save the day.
Also, I’m being terribly unhelpful, but give me an A for effort, with Safari you have Mac’s built in spell check. So control-click on a laptop will bring up the contextual menu with spell check, check as you spell and all that giddy stuff. Cheers 🙂
Hi fabien and Amos 🙂
If I hadn’t been in such a tiz when I wrote this entry I would have taken the time to go through the Safari options. In file >> import bookmarks, surprisingly enough you can import bookmarks. Firefox it turns out regularly spews out HTML versions of it’s bookmarks (found in library >> application support >> firefox >> profiles >> bizarrely named sub-folder). One click and I’m done.
So it’s going to take a few more clicks to tidy it all up, but basically Safari is back up and running as my main browser (for now). I think the Firefox extensions are going to lure me back. I’ve got used to the control over how my tabs work (damn having to cmd+click everything to get it opening in a new tab – I want TabMixPlus to do it automatically for me). I’ve got used to my little tab previews. And, oh, lots of little bits I had tweaked for ease of browsing.
Safari definitely is quicker though.
And thanks for the spelling tip! I keep forgetting about the built in spell-check. Mainly because no matter how many times I select “check spelling as I type”, it never seems to check my spelling as I type…
I just taught an OS X class and stressed this tip: The Help Menu. It’s actually helpful. Learn it. Use it. Love it. 🙂
😛
I did say I shouldn’t post when I’m in a tiz. I forget the most obvious things.
I’d miss Adblock, Filterset.G, Greasemonkey – and when the alternative is Safari, very little else! Safari’s implementation of bookmark management and history is FAR superior to FireFox’s. Compare the two when you want to find a URL you’ve visited in the middle past but have closed – Safari displays the URL and title. What are you missing from FF?
I’m laughing at myself because offering advice when you don’t know what you’re talking about is always good for a few. And I’m with Dan, Safari’s a damn fine browser. I never got into Firefox, except to play around with it, so I never got hooked on the extensions. Suppose it’d be hard to give them up if you’ve come to rely on them. It feels clunky to me also. Web browser speed is a bit over emphasized, we’re talking a few blinks here and there, but Safari and Camino, Shira for that matter, give me a crisper, snappier web browsing expereince on the Mac… Glad you got it all worked out though. Love to hear what you eventually settle on as the main browser.
I found out when I switched, but not why I switched. I think it was probably because I spent that summer having a blast with firefox in the lab (I made them install it, tee hee hee) so I figured I’d try it at home as well. Or I was bored that day. Either reason is likely.
What extensions do I miss? TabMixPlus because I had my browsing experience tweaked to perfection with that. TabPreview. And the CoComment firefox extension. That last one is going to be missed most – I am never going to remember to keep hitting that damn bookmarklet. I think what I enjoyed most was that if you could think of a way to make your browsing better/easier, someone was more or less guaranteed to have written an extension.
Other than that, I’m missing the sidebar-bookmarks option. Cmd + B meant I could get to bookmarks without having to go to either the drop-down menu, or flip to a different screen. Then again, I remember it took me a while to get used to the sidebar when I switched last time, so I guess it’s mainly a case of what you get used to.
I have just downloaded Camino to play with, so watch this space for more grumbles/questions. They are bound to occur!
And welcome to Bright Meadow Dan 🙂 Definitely time there were more archaeologists from my old stomping ground around and about. I hope you found more than we did at Rushen Abbey – lots of polystyrene.