Damned annoying Top Sites

[LV426]

I updated Safari today, and it now insists on showing Top Sites, which I find very annoying.

If I open a new tab, I get a nice list of my favourite site (icons) as before. But if I click Bookmarks | Show Favourites, it actually shows the Top Sites page, which I definitely don't want to happen.

Edit: it's hit snd miss. Sometimes it shows the Favourites page. Sometimes it shows the Top Sites page.

 

[HenryAZ]

Set your Preferences thus. As you can see, you can have just new tabs open with about:blank. I prefer all windows/tabs to open that way, as it eliminates any connection problems interfering with the browser actually opening a URL. Then, if there is a later problem opening a URL in a new tab, I can simply close the tab and move on to the next site.

 

[LV426]

Thanks. Unfortunately that doesn’t give me what I’d like. I prefer when Safari starts to give me a list of (favourite) website icons rather than a blank page (or top sites). Previously there used to be a toggle selector on Top Sites to change the display behaviour of Top Sites to show Favourites or vice versa. This option now appears to have gone. Apple took it away without providing a toolbar button to open Favourites.

Previously, I had Safari set to open with Favourite (icons) showing. Opening a new tab would show Favourite (icons). I set the Top Sites Page to show Favourite (icons), so a click of the Too Sites toolbar button would also show the same thing.

This does not appear to be possible any more. It’s beyond me why anyone would really want to see a list of Top Sites routinely. For one thing the content of those sites can change radically, so they’re not so easy to identify as Favourites icons.

 

[Fishrrman]

Since I first booted up OS X years ago, I turn of the "home page" and ALWAYS open Safari to "an empty page".

When an artist is ready to work on a new picture, does he put an already-painted canvas onto his easel?
Or.. a blank canvas?

 

[LV426]

Since I first booted up OS X years ago, I turn of the "home page" and ALWAYS open Safari to "an empty page".

When an artist is ready to work on a new picture, does he put an already-painted canvas onto his easel?
Or.. a blank canvas?

It's a browser, not an unfinished painting.

When a list of favourites is on show, I can go clearly and quickly to one of my regular websites in less than a second. With a blank page you cannot.

 

[tarsins]

If you set your Homepage to Favorites: (colon is essential) then clicking Home will show your Favourites. Does that help?

 

[LV426]

If you set your Homepage to Favorites: (colon is essential) then clicking Home will show your Favourites. Does that help?

Many thanks, that does help a lot. The following settings are good for me.

Safari opens with: A new window
New windows open with: Homepage
New tabs open with: Favorites
Homepage: Favourites

And... ditch the Favourites button on the toolbar and replace it with the Home button.

It's quite a bit of monkeying about to get rid of the top sites, including the hidden feature that you highlighted. It beats me why anyone ever uses the Top Sites feature.