Safari 5 - Disable "improved" URL Auto-complete

[mikes63737]

I upgraded to Safari 5 yesterday, and I am finding the new URL autocomplete to be the most obnoxious thing I have ever dealt with.

Is there any way to disable URL autocomplete all together, or revert it to its old behavior? It's driving me up a wall.

Thanks

[jdstoddard]

Agreed, someone PLEASE find a solution for this! Its either awful or I'm missing the point.

[bobsaget611]

please somebody!! safari 4 url typing was much better as it wasn't as "smart."

[miknos]

From Nicholas Tam

I’m finding the new address bar auto-complete to be a bit of a mess. In theory it’s great, but the problem is that suggestions based on partial URLs assembled from disparate substrings are taking priority on the list over actual URLs that you are punching in from the beginning (if I’m making my meaning clear). It’s also causing problems for keyword search. I’ve reenabled Keywurl by editing the Info.plist file in the plug-in bundle, and other essential plug-ins like GlimmerBlocker and ClickToFlash are working as well as ever, but the new auto-complete is overriding keyword-based searches like “g ” (if I want to search for something on Google, for instance).

This is one browser feature that is absolutely a deal-breaker for me if it doesn’t work the way I want it to, because I’m so accustomed to using my address bar as a prompt for keyword searches. If there isn’t a workaround soon, I may have to retreat to Firefox for the time being. And I’d rather not, because the new Reader feature is very, very pretty.

[bobsaget611]

Originally Posted by miknos

From Nicholas Tam

In theory it’s great, but the problem is that suggestions based on partial URLs assembled from disparate substrings are taking priority on the list over actual URLs that you are punching in from the beginning

exactly.

Example: I want to go to youtube.com.

I start tying y-o-u.. and it wants to send me to macrumors.com because "you Care About" comes up as top hit!!!

to go to youtube.com i have to type until "yout" until it recommends youtube.com, while in the past I could punch in "y" and hit enter.

This is awful!

[dmcwally]

not only is that annoying the whole browser is slower !!!

[mikes63737]

Originally Posted by dmcwally

not only is that annoying the whole browser is slower !!!

AND links are less "sensitive"... I don't know how to explain it, but some links don't activate when you hover over them or click!

[ericob]

I'm pleased to see that I am not the only person who finds this new behavior extraordinarily infuriating. It seems to be an attempt to copy a feature that's in Firefox that a good number of Firefox users detest too!

Worse than showing me a messy list filled with items I have no interest in seeing, my favorite (and useful) add-on is now broken. That being "KEYWURL," which enabled keyword searches in Safari. For example, in the location bar, type "dict wombat" too look up the word "wombat" at dictionary.com. Or type "wiki captain cook" to open wikipedia to the page about Captain James Cook. Dead in Safari 5.

I don't see how this new behavior could be useful for any user. But for those who might like it... fine. But I have no way to disable it!

Grrrrr.

[PlaceofDis]

i don't know why they did this with it. its frustrating, but not a deal-breaker for me yet.


ideally i'd like the address bar to:

1. act the way it did under safari 4, but
2. also be a search bar as it is now in that typing or not choosing an auto complete (like the ones from safari 4) would lead to a search of history/bookmarks, etc.

or just a google search like chrome.

[atlanticza]

Why not just change the setting under General - Remove history items After one day? (It's not perfect I know.)

[appleguy123]

I hope someone can find a solution to this. I try to go to youtube and it takes me to MacRumors! So annoying!

[joelmacpro]

This is by all means the worst feature in any browser, what have apple done. This doesn't make things simpler it just makes it harder. Please fix it.

i know apple probably wont ever read this but anyway.

if anyone knows a fix, please let us know!!

[hirui]

I think the biggest problem is the redirect issue.

Let say you type "duckduckgo" through google search, then click on the link from the search result, now you know what?

next time you type "duckduckgo" from the location bar the url from the suggestion is the messy long url of the google redirect link rather than duckduckgo.com

the simplest solution for now is using bing.com etc, because the links from the search results are direct links, unlike google adding so much messy code.

what is your idea?

[mikes63737]

Originally Posted by hirui

what is your idea?

My idea is to not auto-select anything in the dropdown that appears when you start typing. If you want to access an item in the dropdown, press the down arrow or click it.

Hopefully someone from Apple sees this, as it's only gotten more annoying with time.

[WiLLGT09]

I'm throwing my hat into the ring here too. I hate this feature. It needs to be fixed.

[mabaker]

I am personally not bothered by it since I’m using Glims plugin.

It allows you to write “y steve apple” to look for “steve apple” on youtube automatically.

[MBX]

OK WTF, Apple once again knows what's better for the user instead of giving us an option to switch it off in preferences?

I sure hope somebody will fin a fix ASAP for this or an extension-add-on that disables this, as S5 now allows extensions.

Pretty please

[emt1]

I hate this also. Hopefully someone can figure out a fix

[psingh01]

I agree this feature is crap. Sometimes I want to type the first few letters of a URL only to edit the URL slightly, like if I've visited a forum so it's in my history but I want to alter it to visit another forum on the site that isn't in my history. The old way was perfect.

[studiox]

I have to agree that his is really annoying. First it took me about 3 posts in a few swedish forums to actually get people to understand the issue (dumb people) - I was so glad that i found this thread - I'm not alone

But, as we all have been saying - Can't we point apple to this thread? Has anyone posted our feedback on the issue on the apple forum's?

[victori]

I just want to post a "me too."

[snverhallen]

Originally Posted by bobsaget611

exactly.

Example: I want to go to youtube.com.

I start tying y-o-u.. and it wants to send me to macrumors.com because "you Care About" comes up as top hit!!!

to go to youtube.com i have to type until "yout" until it recommends youtube.com, while in the past I could punch in "y" and hit enter.

This is awful!

Exactly! This is so irritating! It happens with some other sites I visit as well.

[Qaanol]

I concur that the new URL autocomplete behavior is a downgrade. What is the appropriate channel through which to provide user feedback to Apple? So far I have found in the Safari menu the option “Report Bugs to Apple…”, which allows one to provide the URL of a problem website, and enter a description of the problem.

I can imagine that if this thread were the URL provided, perhaps some people at Apple might be led to view it. (Of course, I can also imagine that those people would have no input as to design decisions, so a better channel would be preferable.)

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by atlanticza

Why not just change the setting under General - Remove history items After one day? (It's not perfect I know.)

I'm not particularly bothered by it, but for those that are, this solution won't help, as it not only pulls suggestions from browsing history, but also from bookmarks.

[Sky Blue]

hate it, must be a way to get rid of it.