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View Full Version : Tabs in Titlebars Ruin People's Experience?


Vincent Ferrari
03-02-2009, 09:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/apples_safari_4_public_beta_is_a_ui_disaster/' target='_blank'>http://www.macdailynews.com/index.p..._a_ui_disaster/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"To me, it seems like Apple had heard that 'Chrome has tabs on top,' but instead of just being honest and admitting that Google got it right, they set a goal for themselves to make as many arbitrary and useless changes as possible so they could still claim they were innovating. All these changes resulted in this botched and confusing tabtitlebar abomination that not only looks horribly out of place on both Mac OS X and Windows, but is also a functional disaster," Holwerda writes. "I hope Apple's Safari engineers recover from this monumental design frak-up quickly, because if this stays the way it is, I won't be using Safari on my Mac anymore."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1235998249.usr18053.jpeg" /></p><p>I have to say I disagree wholeheartedly with the criticisms of the "Tabs on Top" change to Safari's UI.&nbsp; For me, Tabs on Top enables me to have more screen real estate on my 1440 x 900 laptop for browsing.&nbsp; I like that the tabs take up the same amount of space the window title does, and I think that's one of the things the Chrome team got right from day one.&nbsp; To call the Tab display a "UI disaster" is just patently ridiculous.&nbsp; It's one thing to not like something, but completely another to just shred it in such an overdramatic hyperbolic way.</p><p>People who didn't like the changes have come up with Terminal commands to hack up Safari 4.0 to look more like 3.0+, but I've never been happier with Safari than I am with it right now with no modifications.&nbsp; Of course, I didn't just see the new UI, freak out, and immediately figure out how to go back to the old one (yep, I actually tried it, used it, then judged it!).</p>

Bruce Anders
03-02-2009, 09:26 PM
Of course, I didn't just see the new UI, freak out, and immediately figure out how to go back to the old one (yep, I actually tried it, used it, then judged it!).


Well, you're clearly not getting the memos. You're supposed to take one look at it, proclaim it to be HIDEOUS and then start ranting about how Apple is messing things up without his Holiness Steve there to keep things in check.

And I'm partial to the new look myself. I just wish they'd do two things. First, make a fully-documented plugin system so we don't have to resort to SIMBL hacks to extend Safari, and second, PLEASE for the love of Bob let us disable image animations! It's the 21st century fer cryin' out loud. *EVERY* other browser can do this, why not Safari? And it's a usability issue for me. If there's animation on the screen, my eyes are locked on it. I can't ignore it the way everyone else can.

Also, why did the system cut my name off? I'm Bruce Anderson, not Anders. Oh well. If that's the worst thing that happens to me today I'll count myself lucky.

doogald
03-02-2009, 09:31 PM
For me, Tabs on Top enables me to have more screen real estate on my 1440 x 900 laptop for browsing.

Me too!

Some people simply like to grumble about things.

Islanti
03-02-2009, 09:51 PM
Agreed. So far I'm liking tabs-on-top for the screen real estate. Combined with the functional zoom support (from Firefox 3) I'm really liking Safari 4.

jdmichal
03-03-2009, 07:18 PM
Honestly... You're worried about maybe 30 pixels of screen real-estate on a 1440x900 resolution? ****, you must have been ready to kill yourself back when 1024x768 was a high resolution. As it is, I have Firefox blown up to 120% zoom on this 1280x1024 display.

Considering that my eyes and my cursor spend most of their time on the actual webpage, I'd rather minimize the travel distance to the tabs. That 100-pixel difference is used far more often than the 30 pixels I would otherwise gain.

doogald
03-03-2009, 07:39 PM
Considering that my eyes and my cursor spend most of their time on the actual webpage, I'd rather minimize the travel distance to the tabs. That 100-pixel difference is used far more often than the 30 pixels I would otherwise gain.

Personally, yes, I greatly prefer the extra real estate (I'm at 1280 x 800 myself on the MacBook). I'd far, far rather have content than navigational bars. And I navigate tabs with keyboard 95% of the time anyway.

encece
03-03-2009, 07:56 PM
+1 for liking the tabs.