3 Pixels
John Gruber has an seriously exhaustive UI critique of the Safari 4 Beta over at Daring Fireball. I agree with most of it. I’ve recently moved back to using Safari as my main Mac browser after about 6 months of Firefox (I was in a forensic mood and Firebug kicks the Safari web inspector’s ass for hot code-perusing action).
But, Safari (3, at least) just feels part of the OS in a way Firefox doesn’t, and I was getting enough Firebug action at work so back I went.
But the nice feelings have pretty much evaporated with version 4. Mac UI conventions have been abandoned left, right and centre, and I’m having to exert substantial mental effort just to re-orientate myself with the bloody thing every time I use it.
Here’s one thing. A tiny, little thing that is driving me nuts.
I, like most people, love my browser tabs. I don’t go crazy, but I generally have 3 or 4 open at a minimum. With version 4, Safari has combined the tabs with the normally sacrosanct window toolbar. Many of the reasons why this is knob-headed are detailed over at the Fireball, but my one tiny thing is this:
When I click to switch tabs I clearly make some kind of a minute downward motion with the mouse. Previously this had no effect on the window as a whole. But now about 50% of the time, because tab and toolbar are one, the window gets dragged down a few pixels instead of the tab being switched.
I like my windows right up against the menu bar. Just how much is becoming clear to me, because I am starting to make strange moaning noises when the 3 pixel drag occurs.
UI anxiety is a laughably crap thing to have, so please stop giving it to me, Safari 4.
UPDATE: I gave in and changed the tabs back to the v3 configuration using the hidden preferences. The downside to this is that Safari no longer asks you the “Close multiple tabs?” question if you click the “close window” button. One thing replaces another.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Looks like the “Close multiple tabs?” warning does appear, after all. Must have unchecked the option at some point. Huzzah!