Internet browsers long have featured favicons, small-sized site icons adjacent to the tab description. In fact, some still do. They are certainly great as visual cues and aids to speed up navigation. Nevertheless every so often, what’s handy can be at odds with what looks aesthetically pleasing, which is why Apple – on their perpetual crusade against clutter – have no such default setting for Safari.
That being said for every stone left unturned by Apple, there is a canny developer out there seizing upon the opportunity. And the same holds true for the site icon situation: courtesy of Daniel Alm’s Faviconographer, you can bypass Apple’s rule and supplement your Safari tabs with the feature.
Post download, the app requires permission to your Mac’s Accessibility settings, an unfortunate but unavoidable concession to make in order to see the hack come to life on your screen. Sticklers for privacy might be put off by this fact, albeit Faviconographer sustains this is solely means to an end and there is no indication to question that.
As far as implementation goes, the concept is put into practice dutifully, although the limitations of the code do show at times. By way of example, dragging your Safari window with the site icons enabled induces a glitch whereby the little icons themselves start hovering out of position until Safari comes to a halt again. The window also has to be active for the icons to appear.
For all that, if you like the visual enhancement and don’t entirely hold a sole developer to the same lofty standards as Apple’s billion dollar software mill, Faviconographer could be up your alley. You’ve read the lowdown and disclaimers, so if you’re curious head over to Faviconographer.com and hit the free download button at your own discretion!
As always, share your thoughts on the add-on in the comments!