As I have mentioned before it really does feel like I'm the only person who actually likes the new tab design for Safari on Mac.
John Gruber has written a particularly scathing piece articulating how he despises the new tabs and my RSS reader this morning had numerous others linking to it. I have yet to see anyone else say they like it.
I have supported the theme-color meta tag on the blog for years as I like the way it extends the site's colour scheme to the browser, especially on mobile. I have gotten so used to seeing this effect that it feels strange when a browser hasn't supported it. I know it's personal preference but I'm glad Apple have included the option to use it. As Gruber says, it can be turned off, along with the compact, single line layout.
Even beyond that, I like the new rounded tab design which Gruber says looks like buttons rather than tabs that "do not work as a metaphor for multiple documents within a single window." Yes, it is quite a radical change and, if you are thinking purely from a visual metaphor perspective, they don't look like tabs but since installing the first MacOS Monterey beta I have not had to "think, continuously" about which tab is active.
Maybe I'm lucky, maybe my brain is just able to accept the new design and move on, instantly grasping the new style and method of operation. Maybe I just don't work with as many tabs open as other people and don't suffer as much impact from the change.
Maybe my years of flipping between platforms (Windows & Mac, iOS and Android) have meant that I'm used to adjusting to different display paradigms and display languages such that I'm never really set in my ways.
@colinwalker I agree with you. I like the new design and have had no issues getting used to it. I have the compact view turned on, but not the coloured top bar.
@colinwalker @purisubzi It's funny to see Gruber get so worked up about it. I really don't care: I don't use tabs unless forced to. I've always preferred separate windows, which is one reason I stick with Safari on the Mac. I'm really astonished to be reminded that Safari has had tabs for so long.
@colinwalker reads like you've got a flexibility in “affordances” that's not the same as @gruber's, And while am in alignment with you, there's probably an aspect of “ability to accept change” which isn't so easy to accept on the side of audiences whose opinions often shape the meaning/acceptance of change. Comparing Gruber's take on this vs (for example) the USBC take... there's flexibility and nuance not always equally felt/shared.
@colinwalker I also like the new design, though it feels like it is not finished yet. Some of the problems put forward by John Gruber are definitely an issue, such as the difficulty telling which is the current ”˜tab'.
@colinwalker Personally, I rarely open a lot of tabs in my browser, so this furore is a non-issue for me. As it is, I prefer Vivaldi for my day-to-day browsing, and its tab management and keyboard shortcuts make my life much easier when I do have multiple tabs open.
@colinwalker I like the new design too, and I also have been enjoying the coloured background in the top bar. It's something different and unique, and I find it makes the bar disappear and puts the focus on the content. Honestly, the only thing that took me longer to get used to was changing my muscle memory to reach for the top of Safari in iOS for the address bar. After a couple of days I was good, and I love the new placement to be honest.