Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual

Chapter 20. Safari

The Internet has come a long way since its early days in the 1960s, when it was a communications network for universities and the military. Today, that little network has morphed into an international information hub, an entertainment provider, and the world’s biggest mall. For that, we can thank the development of the World Wide Web—the visual, point-and-click face of the Internet.

Apple is obviously intrigued by the possibilities of the Internet. With each new release of Mac OS X, more clever tendrils reach out from the Mac to the world’s biggest network: Dashboard, the Wikipedia link in the Dictionary program, Web clippings, Back to My Mac, and so on.

But Apple’s most obvious Internet-friendly creation is Safari, a smartly designed window to the Web (available for Mac OS X and, believe it or not, Windows). This chapter is all about Safari; its compass icon in the Dock points the way to your Internet adventure.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION: Where to Specify Your Preferred Mail and Browser Programs

Hey! Where the heck do I specify what browser I want to open when, say, I click a link in an email message? It used to be in the Internet panel of System Preferences, but that panel doesn’t exist anymore!

This is going to sound a little odd. But to indicate that you want some other browser to be your favorite, you start by opening Safari. Choose Safari→Preferences, click the General tab, and choose from the Default Web Browser pop-up menu.

You change email programs using the ...