Safari's user agent: How can I make it stick?

June 22, 2008 2:18 PM

How can I make safari open a certain page using a specific user agent, each time, without me having to choose the agent (on leopard)?
posted by senseigmg to computers & internet (6 comments total)

1. Retrieve the page to a file using curl, which allows you to spoof the user agent, add a <base> tag so the browser knows where to find the graphics and other embedded resources, then tell Safari to open that file. (Scriptable pretty easily in bash, python, perl...)

2. Use AppleScript or a program like Keyboard Maestro to actually choose the desired user agent from Safari's menu.
posted by kindall at 2:31 PM on June 22, 2008

It is probably worth checking out PithHelmet. From what i remember it offers the best customization for safari so it might have an option for this kind of thing. Failing that i would recommend setting up an applescript that switches safari's user agent to what you want and than opens the page, than use that to open the site every time.
posted by humanawho at 3:00 PM on June 22, 2008

You could use Fluid to build your own browser. I know you can set it's user agent. Then when you want that specific site (with safari/webkit) you just launch that browser.
posted by filmgeek at 4:34 PM on June 22, 2008

You may have luck if you install a copy of WebKit, and use it to for those sites.

http://nightly.webkit.org/
posted by bottlebrushtree at 7:29 PM on June 22, 2008

Woot! I just started using fluid a few days ago, but it totally skipped my mind. Thanks for the awesome answers.
posted by senseigmg at 10:04 PM on June 22, 2008

OmniWeb has site-specific preferences, but that's only if you're interested in paying for a browser.
posted by bbrown at 7:06 AM on June 24, 2008