ActiveTab: A Simple Extension to Tell Which Safari 15 Tab is Active

Safari 15, which is already available for macOS Catalina and Big Sur, will be part of macOS Monterey too. One of the design changes to the updated browser is the separation of tab indicators from its web content. Apple has inexplicably interposed the Favorites bar in between the two, and even if you hide the bar, figuring out which tab is the active one can be difficult.

ActiveTab is a new Safari extension inspired by The Tragedy of Safari 15 for Mac’s ‘Tabs’ a story John Gruber wrote on Daring Fireball recently that you should read if you haven’t already. To make it easier to distinguish the active tab, ActiveTab draws a line underneath it along the top of the tab’s web content. There are eight colors to choose from, and the line can be anywhere from 1 to 7 pixels wide. Note that a page needs to be open for the line to appear because it’s being drawn on top of the content. As a result, you won’t see the line if a tab is empty.

I wish ActiveTab offered different colors for light and dark mode browsing.

I wish ActiveTab offered different colors for light and dark mode browsing.

The extension, which Stephen Hackett shared with me earlier today, undeniably makes it easier to spot the active tab in Safari. However, I found myself wishing almost immediately for light and dark mode versions of the color options that could switch between light and dark mode in sync with my system settings because the colors don’t all work equally well in both modes. The colors of the site you visit can affect the visibility of ActiveTab’s indicator too.

Of course, I’d prefer if Apple fixed the design of its tabs, but if you find yourself being tripped up by the new design, ActiveTab is worth considering.

ActiveTab is available on the Mac App Store for $1.99.

Apple Watch Series 7 Orders Begin October 8th and Will Be Available Beginning October 15th

When Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 7 last month, it didn’t give a date when orders and availability would begin. Today, the company issued a press release announcing that orders will begin this Friday, October 8th, with deliveries and in-store availability beginning the following Friday, October 15th.

As we covered after last month’s keynote event, the Apple Watch Series 7 has a bigger display than prior models. The Series 7’s UI has been updated to take advantage of the added space, and it will feature two new watch faces, the Contour and Modular Duo, as well as a QWERTY keyboard for text input. Apple also says that the Series 7’s front crystal is stronger and more crack-resistant than prior models.

The aluminum model of the new Watch comes in five colors too: midnight, starlight, green, a new blue, and (PRODUCT)RED, the steel version comes in silver, graphite, and gold, and there are titanium and space black titanium models available too.

As with last year’s Series 6, pricing for the aluminum model of the Series 7 starts at $399. Pre-orders begin at 5:00 AM Pacific time, Friday, October 8th.

FirstSeed Calendar: Best Calendar, Best Widgets [Sponsor]

FirstSeed Calendar is the highly customizable calendar app that works on every Apple platform, providing a seamless experience that anyone with a busy schedule will love. Available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, FirstSeed Calendar offers four different monthly calendars and seven types of weekly calendars, ensuring that you’ll be able to find one that suits your needs.

The app takes advantage of the unique features of each Apple platform, providing an unparalleled experience that anyone with a busy schedule will appreciate. For example, FirstSeed Calendar offers elegant one-handed operation of the app’s most frequently used features, like viewing, adding, editing, deleting, moving, and duplicating events, which is perfect for today’s big-screen iPhones.

FirstSeed Calendar never wastes your time either. Unlike most other calendar apps, event names are suggested after typing just a few characters, allowing you to auto-complete events quickly and efficiently. The app also features over 20 Home Screen widgets, so you can get precisely the calendar you want on your Home Screen.

FirstSeed Calendar is continuously updated with the latest technologies too. Most recently, the iPad version of the app added XL widgets. The app also supports time sensitive notifications, allowing you to set alerts that break through Focus modes.

FirstSeed Calendar has all the other advanced features you expect in a pro calendar app too:

  • Calendar sets
  • Shortcuts integration
  • Event templates
  • An excellent Apple Watch app
  • Support for conferencing services like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex
  • Pointer support on the iPad
  • Bulk event editing
  • Multiple default event alarms
  • Dark mode, themes, custom date colors

Managing your calendar doesn’t have to be complicated. Take control of your schedule today with FirstSeed Calendar.

Learn more here, or go straight to the App Stores and download FirstSeed Calendar for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac today.

Our thanks to FirstSeed Calendar for sponsoring MacStories this week.

MacStories Unwind: Safari Extensions, a CARROT Weather Update, and iWork App Changes

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

Sponsored by: Daylite – The CRM with Apple Fans in Mind

This week on MacStories Unwind:

MacStories

Club MacStories

  • Monthly Log
    • Federico on Marvis Pro
    • John on setting up devices from scratch
  • John published the latest Macintosh Desktop Experience column all about his Loupedeck Live workflows
  • MacStories Weekly
    • Craft
    • Federico shares a Working Copy Shortcut for managing hidden folders on iOS and iPadOS
    • John has an iPhone drag and drop tip
    • Club Member JC shares their work setup

AppStories

Unwind

AppStories, Episode 242 – The iPad mini: Small Wonder→

This week on AppStories, we go beyond the specs to figure out what it is about the new iPad mini that makes it so special.

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Subscribe here.

On AppStories+, Federico explains how he has begun experimenting with his email setup again and shares a new feature of Working Copy that he’s testing. Also, John reports on the latest happenings in Epic’s litigation against Apple and what it means.

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Apple Updates Pages with Screen View, Numbers with Pivot Tables, Keynote with Live Video, and More

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Apple has updated its iWork suite of productivity apps consisting of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote with versions for iOS and iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey.

Pages

Quick View (center) focuses on the text of a document to make it easier to edit than the preview, which includes images (right).

Quick View (center) focuses on the text of a document to make it easier to edit than the preview, which includes images (right).

On the iPhone, Pages supports a new Screen View that makes editing on the smaller screen easier. As you can see from the screenshot of one of Apple’s built-in templates, Screen View dispenses with the images allowing the user to focus on the text. The iPhone also has a Quick Format bar that lets you change things like paragraph styles, text formatting, alignment, and list styles. The iPhone version of Pages supports dragging and dropping images and text from other apps into Pages, too, which is a new feature in iOS 15. Graph values can be played as audio tones for visually impaired iOS and iPadOS users too.

On all platforms, Pages has gained improved publishing with two-page spreads, optimized images, and versioning, which should fill some of the gaps left by the fact that iBooks Author has been discontinued. Selected text can be translated into 11 languages, participants in a shared Pages document can add new collaborators for the first time, and radar charts comparing multiple variables have all been added to Pages on all platforms too.

Exclusive to the Mac, Pages documents can now be created from the app’s Dock icon.

Numbers

Time to pivot. Source: Apple.

Time to pivot. Source: Apple.

One of the things I’ve heard many Excel users complain about over the years is that Numbers didn’t include pivot tables. Now it does on all platforms, which is great if you need that sort of thing. Numbers’ format is compatible with Excel so you can import and export your pivot tables between the two apps too.

Like Pages, Numbers has added support for radar charts for visualizing multiple variables. Quick Filters have been redesigned to simplify showing and hiding rows that match certain values. There’s also a filter for finding duplicate entries and unique values in your data. Like Pages, participants in a shared Numbers spreadsheet can add new collaborators, and selected text can be translated into 11 languages.

On the iPhone, Numbers has added audio graphs for the visually impaired. Also, on the Mac, a new Numbers document can be created from the app’s Dock icon.

Keynote

Keynote presentations can be combined with live video. Source: Apple

Keynote presentations can be combined with live video. Source: Apple

Keynote presentations can include live video across all of Apple’s platforms, using the camera in your Mac to display video of you alongside your slides. On the Mac, there’s also support for multiple cameras for different viewing angles and adding live feeds of iPhone and iPad screens. If you’re doing a presentation with someone else, the Keynote update lets each participant take turns controlling the presentation. There are also new slide controls for navigating slides, controlling video sources, and working with other presenters. Like the other iWork apps, Keynote also supports radar charts, translation of selected text into 11 languages, and the ability of participants of shared presentations to invite new collaborators.

On the iPhone, Keynote supports iOS 15’s ability to drag and drop text and images between apps as well as audio graphs for the visually impaired. On the Mac, you can create a new presentation from the app’s Dock icon too.

These are bigger updates to the iWork apps than we’ve seen in a while, and especially nice to see that most of the new features are available across all of Apple’s platforms. The live video and screen sharing features of Keynote are the sort of thing that I expect a lot of people will find useful, especially if presenting remotely. Pivot tables aren’t something I expect to use, but they add a new level of sophisticated data analysis that wasn’t possible with Numbers before. Also, with improved publishing tools and a better iPhone user experience, Pages is far more useful for creating eBooks.