Launch: ActiveTab for Safari
If you’re wondering why I made this, read this article by John Gruber.
ActiveTab makes it easier to spot the active tab in Safari on Mac by drawing a line below it. It works by predicting the position of the active tab based on the size of your browser window and the number of tabs.
“The extension [...] undeniably makes it easier to spot the active tab in Safari.” - MacStories
“It’s worth every penny.” - iMore
“ActiveTab simply makes it easier to spot the active tab in Safari.” - MacRumors
“It makes the tab instantly recognizable, even when you’re not looking directly at it.” - Cult of Mac
“It solves the problem of creating enough visual contrast between active and inactive tabs.” - iDownloadBlog
“It’s the latest must-have for Mac.” - Creative Bloq
Note
- It only works with the “Separate” tab layout.
- It works best if you hide the Favorite Bar and turn off “Show color in tab bar.”
- It will not work reliably if you have so many tabs in a window that the tab bar becomes scrollable.
- It also won’t work if you change the zoom level of web pages.
- Turn on “Automatically collapse tab titles into icons” so the tab bar won’t become scrollable with less than 10 tabs.
There’s a bug in Safari that causes web extensions to disappear:
If you’re just looking for a solution to the issue, here it is: quit Safari, copy the following command to the clipboard, open the Terminal app (located in the Utilities subfolder of the Applications folder), and paste the command.
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -f -R /Applications/Safari.app
Pricing
ActiveTab is available for $1.99 on the Mac App Store, with no in-app purchases, no ads, and no tracking. I hope you find it useful.
ActiveTab Privacy Policy
ActiveTab does not collect, store, or transmit any personal information.
ActiveTab Support
If you have any questions, email me or contact me on Mastodon.
By the way, let me know if you’re interested in ActiveTab for iPad.