About those Safari 4 tabs

There is some lively discussion over at Macworld about the good and bad of placing tabs at the top in Safari 4. I’m thinking that even if you get used to it, and even if you came to prefer it, tabs at the top would still be a pain. Why? Because no other browser does it.

Let’s say you’re checking the news in NetNewsWire. You’ve got a bunch of tabs open — tabs in their traditional spot — and you decide to open one of them in Safari. It’ll work just fine, but along the way you’ll have to change your mindset to Safari’s way of handling tabs. And it could be that you’re actually more interested in the content of the article you’re reading than niggling details like the placement of tabs. It will be a minor nuisance every time.

It’s been said that part of good design is putting things where people expect to find them. Maybe Apple will convince every other browser maker to follow along, but it’s doubtful. In the end, Apple will have to relent and at least make tab placement a preference.

Posted Thursday, February 26, 2009 in

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  1. Safari are not the first. Google Chrome put the tabs at the top, not so obviously but still exactly the same. I think it’s a good use of screen real estate, and I hope my browser makers take opera in the same direction.

    Dave

  2. Doh…you beat me to it, yes chrome does it and I am glad that Safari chose to follow suit, it is one of my favorite features in chrome, chrome just doesn’t work as good as safari and chrome doesn’t run on os x yet.

    Chris

  3. Mac users could check it out by trying Chromium, which is much like Chrome — including the tabs on top. Judging by the screenshots, it looks like it might be a better implementation than Safari’s.

    Mark

  4. Maybe it is time we stop complaining about change and assess whether the app actual brings some new value if we swallow our immediate emotional reaction until the try nature of the change is known.

    Give it some time!

    This kind of attitude has killed more innovation than could ever be expressed and created little to no value to the future!

    Deep breath!

    Xaoc

  5. I disagree with Xaoc. I think it’s a poor move, and it will be even if I wait a few weeks.

    My biggest problem with it is that I can’t double-click anywhere on the “tab” bar to open a new tab.

    Tony

  6. Tabs at top are just fine, the thing I do not like about it is the dynamic sizing, this gets me wondering all the time.

    I just can’t find the reasoning behind that, and it’s diificult to get my wrist-movements spaced OK without constantly looking at it (sorry, I did have robot-like accuracy in switching tabs)

    Tony (an other one)





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