Since I use the Safari and Chromium web browsers on OS X, my first impulse was to write a GlimmerBlocker script to remove the target from links. This would fix the problem on all sites I visit with any browser. I had already written a GlimmerBlocker filter to remove target="_blank" from some websites, so I just needed modify it into a cleaner general version. Since my brother does much more JavaScript programming than I do, I asked him if he knew a more efficient way to do this. He mentioned one, and also suggested writing a Safari Extension instead of a GlimmerBlocker script.

Before starting a new Extension, I searched for an existing one. It wasn’t on the official Extension list, but someone had already written one:

BlockTarget is an extension for Safari 5. It removes the ‘target’ attribute from links to prevent a new window being opened.

After skimming the source (how open a Safari Extension) for this Extension, I decided to give it a try. I’ve been using BlockTarget for two weeks, and it seems to work well. If you use Safari, this Extension will make the internet a more pleasant place.

BlockTarget is a good solution to part of the problem of new windows, but it can’t fix all instances. It is still possible to open a new window using JavaScript. Developing a universal solution for the alternate methods of opening new windows is a problem for another time. There is also a disturbing trend to generate websites completely through the use of JavaScript. Even if these sites use the target attribute to open new windows, they do it after BlockTarget has run, so it misses these targets. I eventually need to find an efficient way to write a script to watch a page and remove all window opening code, but I won’t have time to work on that in the near future. So please, write a clean solution!

cd ~/Libary/PDF\ Services
ln -s ~/path/ "descriptive_alias"

You may have to create the directory ~/Libary/PDF Services. Some people recommend using the directory /Libary/PDF Services, but this is bad style unless you really want the change to be universal. Even if you are the only user on the computer, it is safer to use the Library folder under your user account.

When looking in the /Libary/PDF Services directory, I noticed that the contents are just Automator workflows. This means it is easy for non-programmers to customize the behavior. One option that I somehow hadn’t noticed before today is Save PDF to Web Receipts Folder.pdfworkflow. With online billing this is incredibly useful. I typically use the “Save PDF as” option, saving the PDF in this year’s receipts directory, with the date as a prefix. This makes receipts for monthly bills easy to find. I looked at “Save PDF to Web Receipts Folder” to see how easy it would be to alter to my preferred style. Instead of being an Automator workflow, this is actually a Python script and a few property lists. Great! Python is my favorite language. I copied the files to ~/Libary/PDF Services and edited them. The Python script is in a file named tool. This script is well written, making it easy to modify. Here are the basic changes:

• Because I want to use timestamps, I added import time after the other import statements.
• I changed the destDirectory to my preferred directory. The script already creates the destination directory if it doesn’t exist, so altering the directory by date is easy, I added destDirectory = os.path.join(destDirectory, time.strftime("%Y")) to automatically append the subdirectory for the year.
• The file uses the title of the webpage as the filename. To add the date as a prefix, add the line title = "%s-%s" % (time.strftime( "%Y%m%d"), title) to the build path section. You can easily customize the date format.
• I prefer lowercase filenames, so I added filename = filename.lower() to the safeFilename function.
• If a file with this name already exists, the script appends a number to the name. I prefer different character than the default, so I changed it.

The final step was to I update the property list files so that the PDF menu shows the name I gave the command, instead of the original name from Apple.

I now have an even quicker way to save my receipts. Because the program is automatically generating the filenames using my preferences, I don’t have to change the name every time, and can avoid some typos and incorrect dates.

[Update 2009-08-11] Anti-glare is back on the 15 inch MacBook Pro! Now for the 13 inch…

[Clarification 2009-08-24] By anti-glare, I don’t mean a matte display. Keep the glass covering, but use anti-reflection coating. The glass is nice, but reflections make the displays unusable.

P.S. For those less informed on the ethics of technology: DRM is an acronym for Digital Rights Management. It is used as a euphemism for copy-control. Some companies try to control the ethical–and legal–fair use of music, video, and text. A common method is encryption designed to only allow files to be accessed on approved devices. Good examples are Blu-ray disks and some PDF files. These encryption systems are superfluous and unethical. This is why the euphemism DRM commonly makes lists of technology terms to avoid: Some Confusing or Loaded Words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding, and Tech Terms to Avoid. We settled on the term CRAP: Controlled Reading and Playing.