Show HN: TapTab – Tab switching web extension for Safari

Show HN: TapTab – Tab switching web extension for Safari(taptab.dev)

45 points by manibatra 3 years ago | 20 comments

I like the tab-switching behaviour in Chrome/Firefox and wanted Safari to have something similar. Another wish of mine was for it to be a web extension that feels native to the browser vs an app extension that looks out of place.

I posted a while back on HN to see if other people feel the same and the response was very positive : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33811253

Say hello to TapTab : https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1659363738?pt=66324...

TapTab feels right at home in Safari and is loaded with features to improve how you interact with tabs. You no longer have to miss the native tab-switching functionality that you love in Chrome/Firefox.

I launched the app a few days ago, and the response has been great. Some of the features that users have been loving :

- Keep your hands at the keyboard: navigate all tabs without your hands leaving the keyboard.

- Fuzzy Search: Search through your tab titles and URLs at lightning speed.

- Switch to previous tab: Comes with a handy shortcut to go back to the previous tab. Finally!

- Dark Mode: The extension feels right at home in Safari.

- Multi-Window support

- Pin/Mute/Close tabs right from the extension.

The app is written in ReactJS (apart from the very minuscule bit of Swift you have to write for using it as an extension in Safari) and uses Tailwind for design.

If you are one of the dozen people like me who use Safari, let me know how you find it. I would love to hear if there are any features that would make it a better fit for you. I have a few things on my radar gathered from talking to users like an iPad version, custom shortcuts, etc.

If you find the extension useful I would love it if you vote for it on Product Hunt to get this in front of a few more eyeballs : https://www.producthunt.com/posts/taptab

Thank you!

MollyRealized 3 years ago |

On the very off-chance that a visitor here doesn't know, one can search Firefox tabs by starting with a "%" and a space, and then starting to type a value within the tab you wish to switch to.

manibatra 3 years ago | |

Did not know that! Handy

SebastianKra 3 years ago |

Similar searching behaviour is supported in all major browsers including Safari:

Press CMD + L and enter the name of a Tab. One of the results will be an option to switch to an open tab.

In Safari, CMD + UP/Down jumps between sections, so that usually selects the "Switch to Tab" option.

manibatra 3 years ago | |

It does but I needed something a little more focussed and featured. Safari surfaces a lot of information from Google suggestions to bookmarks. My brain really wants the focus to be just tabs. I like the idea of visually seeing a list. And on top of that really focussing the keyboard shortcuts.Also

- I can't switch between two tabs really fast. My workflow often involves alternating between two tabs.

- I can't quit, pin, mute a bunch of tabs using the Tab Overview with just keyboard shortcuts.

bobbylarrybobby 3 years ago | |

Can also press either cmd backslash or cmd shift backslash (Idr which and I'm not at my computer rn) to get a more or less useless tab overview, and then cmd F for your tab.

manibatra 3 years ago | | |

I wish Apple developed this more and made it completely driven by shortcuts.

ancienthope 3 years ago | |

In chrome, you can also do cmd+shift+a. Perhaps Ctrl+shift+a in windows.

manibatra 3 years ago | | |

Yup the cmd+shift+a in Chrome was something I wanted in Safari and was the inspiration behind this.

kwkelly 3 years ago |

This works well and makes finding my many tabs so much easier. One issue I've encountered is that inertial scrolling is partially broken. Sometimes it works, sometimes the scroll stops immediately when I lift my hand from the trackpad. I haven't been able to identify a pattern for when it works and when it doesn't.

manibatra 3 years ago | |

Is that the inertial scrolling in the extension? I agree the scrolling could be smoother and is on my list to fix. I don't use scrolling much as I rely on fuzzy search hence it's not made the top of the list. Thanks a bunch for the feedback. Appreciate it!

cpressland 3 years ago |

Safari is slowly getting there as something I can tolerate. I currently use Edge on my Mac, I tried switching to Firefox but multi-account containers just don’t feel the same as Edge/Chrome profiles.

Safari has a nice feel to it, but without profiles it’s a non-starter for me.

On topic - these kind of extensions make Safari so much better, thank you for your hard work.

Whatarethese 3 years ago | |

I just want proper extension support again. I miss Ublock Origin. I've been running Orion browser which allows you to use Firefox and Chrome extensions but its a litte buggy.

manibatra 3 years ago | |

Yea it’s definitely a long way to go but I am hopeful with recent changes that they are trending in the right direction.

Appreciate it! I wish I could make more extensions but the API is locked down!

jonas-w 3 years ago | |

Sorry maybe i'm misinterpreting your comment but you know that firefox also has profiles?

thewebcount 3 years ago |

In case others didn’t know, you can already switch tabs from the keyboard in Safari without an extension. Cntl-Tab switches to the next tab and Cntl-Shift-Tab switches to the previous tab. The rest of this looks really interesting, though!

manibatra 3 years ago | |

Yup I used to use this all the time. Tedious when you have a bunch of tabs open but useful nonetheless.

And thanks! I am glad you find it interesting!

angelamariani 3 years ago |

I've been using it and really liking it, thanks for building it.

manibatra 3 years ago | |

Thanks a bunch! I am glad you like it!

marcopolo 3 years ago |

This looks great. Meta question, does Safari enforce the privacy policy of extensions in anyway? Besides trusting that this doesn’t leak any data, is there another mechanism that guarantees this?

manibatra 3 years ago | |

Nope I couldn’t go more granular with the permissions!

I would have loved to. I would like the Web extension API to be less locked down with more fine grained permissions.

I can and will put more details into the privacy policy after the Christmas celebrations!