Can't close tabs online!

The X should appear only when you hover the cursor on the tab.

Command-W will also close the frontmost (active) tab.

I can confirm this issue.

Running Safari 5.1 on Lion 10.7.1.

The only way I can close the new tabs is by clicking on another tab, then clicking on the original tab, and suddenly the tab's X shows up for clicking.

Any solutions?

Same problem here. Couldn't close Safari and couldn't find the X's. Force Quit (Option+Command+Escape) worked for me. All is back to normal. Hope that helps.

I too, thought clicking on the X's would be more efficient. But when I bounced this idea off my computer guru son, he replied, "Keyboard shortcuts are always more efficient than moving your hand from the keyboard to the mouse, moving the mouse to locate it, then aiming the arrow over 0.25" x 0.25" 'X' icon, and clicking, FYI" 🙂

Now that makes sense!

altitudemama wrote:

Now that makes sense!

Only if you're using the keyboard.

Most of the time I'm using a browser, I'm using the mouse - my hand is already there.

I fixed the issue for myself.

I had to delete my com.apple.safari.plist preference file from ~/Library/Preferences

After restarting Safari, a new .plist file was created and since then I haven't had any issues.

The biggest difference between the old .plist and the new .plist is that that old .plist had a bunch of settings specifically for plugins and extensions that I had installed, and I think those extra items may have affected Safari is some unknown way. It could be related to updating to Lion while having plugins installed in Safari, as Safari was upgraded with Lion as well...

this doesn't work for me.... ?

I too can confirm this problem and it is really frustrating. How many opdates does Apple need to push out before this fixed? Sooo irritating. I am running OS X 10.7.1 and Safari 5.1

I was suffering the same issue, and Safari refused to quit. After Force Quit (as suggested by altitudemama), the problem seems to be resolved.

Snow Leopard 10.6.8, Safari 5.1.1

Thank you Altitudemama, force quit fixed it. Was very weird. So far not a fan of Lion.

I have had no other problems with safari. only that the "x" was missing. After a force quit everything has went back to normal.

Thanks Altitudemamma !

(Mac OS X 10.6.8 & Safari 5.1.2)

i had that issue, as well, ever since i downloaded the new OS X Lion. Found the solution, though. Lion comes with a bunch of new trackpad gestures. One of these being the 'two-finger' press on track pad = right click. Example, anywhere on your screen, if you gently presstwo fingers on your track pad, then the same options would appear, as if you right-clicked.

Now, move the cursor to the tap that you'd like to close. Simply press two fingers (index & pointer, i believe) on your track pad. Options appear: New tab. Close Tab. Close OTHER tabs (in case you have multiple tabs open). And a few others. Select the one you'd like to do.

the two-finger press is unique, to what your cursor is currently on/pointing at. So your options (just like the right-click options) will be different, dependign where on the screen your curor is. If it's above a tab...then tab options will pop up. If it's above a particular word...then different options appear.

kinda neat, if you ask me. BUT...i admit, not seeign that little 'x' there, had me scramblng for a bit. [screen shot attached]

Hope this helps.

Force quitting worked for me.

Thanks heaps for the tip.

FORCE QUIT SAFARI AND RESTART. This worked for me. Sorry for yelling, I just didn't see this until the end, and it works. Since iOS 8 was installed on my machine, I couldn't quit with command-q and couldn't close the tabs of safari with the x. Once I force quit, this all came back.