After widespread complaints, Apple has tweaked the design of Safari by making the tab bar more similar to the current tab bar in macOS Big Sur in the third developer beta of macOS Monterey, released on Wednesday.
The prior Safari design did away with the dedicated URL and search interface, instead allowing any individual tab to be used for navigation input. Tabs were also all arranged at the top of the display to minimize the space taken up at the top of a Safari window.
In macOS Monterey, Apple has walked this back. There’s a dedicated URL/search bar at the top of the Safari window, with the tabs arranged below it. Clicking on a tab makes it the active window and it’s easier to drag tabs for rearranging or opening in a new window.
It’s still quite far off from the current Safari design in macOS Big Sur, but it’s certainly an improvement over the initial macOS Monterey design.
macOS Monterey Beta 3 has done away with the unified tab bar in Safari.
Can't say this feels any better with the stacked rounded rectangles. pic.twitter.com/OWqfFOnncH
— Josh Pigford (@Shpigford) July 14, 2021
MacDailyNews Take: This is what betas, in part, are for; it’s a work in progress.
I wish I could assign colors to the sites in my Favorites bar in Safari. I have so many and the font is so small on my M1 MacBook Air that it would be a big help.
Apple: Please make this a choice. I really like the minimalist nature of the new tab-bar!
I will not be downgrading to Mac OS Monterey and iOS/iPadOS 15 this year.