20 Excellent Plugins for Safari

We have great choices for Web browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome and the list goes on.

Each browser comes with its own set of advantages and features and one of the greatest benefits of Firefox has been the ability to fully customize it through the use of plugins and add-ons.

This feature is especially important for those of you using Mac OS X, when deciding whether to pick one of the two heavyweights: Firefox or Safari.

But Safari actually does support plugins. While the choice is nowhere near as extensive as that of Firefox, there is still a good variety of them to choose from.

Here’s a list of 20 useful plugins for Safari for OS X.

Please note that many plugins work through something called SIMBL (Simple InputManager Bundle Loader), which is basically a little tool that helps developers manage and run their code as plugins for the different applications on OS X.

You can grab SIMBL for free here. If any of the following need SIMBL to run, just install SIMBL and drop the plugin file into your “~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/” folder, though be sure to read the instructions that come with each plugin as well.

1. Xmarks

Firefox had a very popular plugin called Foxmarks. This plugin still exists but the name has changed to Xmarks, and with the name change also came the support for other browsers, namely Internet Explorer and Safari.

Xmarks provides a seamless solution for syncing your bookmarks across many computers, as well as the ability to view your bookmarks online.

If you use several computers and want to have the same set of bookmarks across all of them without any fuss, Xmarks is the solution for you. Plugin website

2. Pith Helmet

PithHelmet is a blocker, but it blocks more than just ads. PithHelmet allows you to block things like Flash movies, Shockwave apps and those annoying midi sound loops.

Customize the filter however you like. Currently doesn’t support Safari 4 beta. Plugin website

3. DeliciousSafari

del.icio.us is a bookmarking service that lets you store and share all your bookmarks in one place on the web.

You can also tag your bookmarks allowing for better methods of browsing through them. The DeliciousSafari plugin fully integrates with the service, allowing you to bookmark all your favorite sites without having to go to the site itself. Plugin website

4. Safari Tidy

This is a great plugin to help you validate your code. When running, it adds a little icon in the status bar together with the total number of warnings or errors that the current page has.

If you view page source using Safari, you’ll see any lines that were mentioned in the warnings and errors highlighted, and you’ll also see a summary of them at the bottom of the source view. Plugin website

5. SafariSource

The default Safari page source view leaves a lot to be desired. This simple plugin adds syntax coloring, which makes scanning source code a lot easier.

You can customize colors and fonts in the preferences pane that the plugin adds to the Safari preferences window. Plugin website