Tabs in Mobile Safari
One feature I miss on the iPhone version of Safari is tabs; on my desktop computer, I’m lost without the ability to open multiple Web sites in the same window. If you’re in the same boat, check out Inventive Labs’s Tabulate. Rather than a native application requiring you to hack your iPhone, Tabulate is a JavaScript bookmarklet; just drag the Tabulate bookmarklet on the Inventive Web site (sorry, MovableType has a bug that won’t let us include the link here) to your Safari bookmarks bar and then sync your iPhone with your computer. (This procedure assumes, of course, that you sync Safari bookmarks between your iPhone and your computer.)
Once you’ve got the bookmarklet on your iPhone, just visit any Web site and then choose the bookmarklet from Mobile Safari’s bookmarks; a small, orange flag button in the upper-left corner of the screen lets you know Tabulate is working. After that, whenever you tap on any link on the current Web page, a three-button overlay (shown above) appears on the screen. Tapping the blue circle opens the link in the current window. Tapping the green circle opens the link in a new “tab”–actually just another Safari window. Tapping the orange circle saves the link so you can visit it later.
I especially like the third option. As you click on links and save them for later browsing, the flag button in the upper-left displays the number of saved links. When you’re ready to view those links, just tap on the button and each saved link opens in a new Safari window. (The Tabulate Web site provides a good demonstration video.)
Of course, Tabulate isn’t as good as a real tabs feature; for example, links open in new windows rather than true tabs; you have to re-activate Tabulate for every new page you visit; and some sites, such as Google’s new iPhone site, don’t work with Tabulate. But it’s better than no tabs at all, and I’ve been using it quite a bit.
[Hat tip: TUAW.]
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