Favicons + text for wide tabs, just text for narrow tabs

safaritabs

Safari 14 recently launched and started putting favicon back in the tabs, alongside the webpage's name. When you open too many tabs (as I may be wont to do…) the page name is dropped and the tab only shows the favicon.

Safari preferences has the option of showing the favicon or not. While deselecting this option does mean narrow tabs retain the webpage name, it also removes the favicon from the tab.

Is there any behind the scenes way to either

    a) show both the favicon and webpage name when the tab is wide, but show only the name when it is narrow or

    b) change the width at which only the favicon is shown (currently the tab has plenty of room for a word or two if the favicon wasn't centered)?

Best Answer

Yes, you can enable the old horizontal tab scrolling with both favicons and titles always visible by disabling the new "Narrow Tabs" feature.

First you need to give Terminal full disk access:

Go to System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access then click the + button and select Terminal.app to give it full disk access.

After giving Terminal full disk access, you can use Terminal to set user defaults in Safari allowing you to disable the new "Narrow Tabs" feature.

Method #1:

  1. Close Safari
  2. Run Terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugDisableNarrowTabs -bool YES

  1. Run Safari, it should now use the old tab behavior (horizontal tab scrolling with both favicons and titles always visible)

Method #2:

  1. Close Safari
  2. Run Terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu -bool YES

  1. Run Safari
  2. Open the new Debug menu in Safari
  3. Safari > Debug > Tab Features > Narrow Tabs (uncheck for the old behavior)
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