15.11. Safari

Here’s everything you ever wanted to adjust in the Web browser but didn’t know how to ask.

• Search Engine. Your choice here determines who does your searching from the Search bar: Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

• AutoFill. Safari’s AutoFill feature (Section 8.4.6) saves you tedious typing by filling in your passwords, name, address, and phone numbers on Web forms automatically (just for the sites you want). Here’s the On/Off switch.

  
  

  

  
  

• Fraud Warning. Phishing is the latest scheme to separate you from your money. You get an email message that purports to be from your bank, or eBay, or PayPal. Apparently there’s a problem with your account! So you click the provided link for the account-verification Web page—which, behind the scenes, is a fake. The bad guy’s computers collect your name and password as you “log in.” This Safari feature is supposed to display a big warning box when you atempt to visit one of these phony sites.

• JavaScript. JavaScript is a programming language whose bits of code frequently liven up Web pages. If you suspect some bit of code is choking Safari, however, you can turn off its ability to decode JavaScript here.

• Block Pop-ups. In general, you want this turned on. You really don’t want pop-up ad windows ruining your surfing session. Now and again, though, pop-up windows are actually useful. When you’re buying concert tickets, for example, a pop-up window might show the location of the seats. In that situation, you can turn this option off.

• Accept Cookies. As described on Section 10.14.1, these options let you limit how many cookies (Web preference files) are deposited on your iPhone.

• Databases. Safari now recognizes HTML5, a Web technology that lets Web sites store data on your phone, for accessing even when you’re not online (like your Gmail stash). Here, you can see which Web apps have created these databases on your phone, and delete them if necessary.

• Clear History. Like any Web browser, Safari keeps a list of Web sites you’ve visited recently to make it easier for you to revisit them: the History list. And like any browser, Safari therefore exposes your tracks to any suspicious spouse or crackpot colleague who feels like investigating what you’ve been up to. If you’re nervous about that prospect, tap Clear History to erase your tracks.

• Clear Cookies, similarly, deletes all the cookies that Web sites have deposited on your “hard drive.”

• Clear Cache. See Section 10.14.3.

• Developer. This item lets you turn on the Debug Console, which is an information strip at the top of the Safari screen. It’s intended to display errors, warnings, tips, and logs for HTML, JavaScript, and CSS—solely for the benefit of people who are designing and debugging Web pages or Web apps for the iPhone.