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Safari 15’s controversial new design on Mac has sparked complaints about how the browser indicates which tab is active.
As illustrated by Bold Fireballby John Gruber, there was never any ambiguity about the active tab in previous versions of Safari, because an active tab is displayed with lighter shading that matches the browser toolbar.
In Safari 15, however, the tabs get a new button-like design with a rounder and more defined appearance. Apple also reversed tab shading, with an active tab now having darker shading and inactive tabs lighter shading. The change annoyed Gruber and other users, as evidenced by this Reddit thread with nearly 1,000 upvotes.
“The design is counterintuitive,” Gruber wrote. “What makes sense that regardless of your settings, the active tab is rendered with less contrast between the tab title and the background than the background tabs ? The active tab should be the one that appears. “
In a Safari 15 window with two tabs open, especially from the same website, Gruber said figuring out which tab is active is essentially a guessing game. Gruber acknowledged that it’s easier to discern the active tab when more than two tabs are open, but said the confusion with exactly two tabs should have been reason enough to abandon the design change.
“I can’t tell you how many times I closed the tab I needed because of this,” one Reddit user expressed in frustration.
Unfortunately for users who don’t like the new design, Apple hasn’t made any tab shading changes in either the Safari 15.1 beta or the latest version of the experimental Safari Technology Preview browser.
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