whatbrentsay

It felt like right after I listened to Renee Ritchie and John Gruber break down the peculiarities of Apple's redesigned Safari I spotted this tweet from Mark Gurman. It appears Apple is partially walking back the most drastic changes they made to it?

For context, I didn't hate the new Safari as much as the rest of the internet but I did find it odd. It felt more like an exploratory design concept than an actual product meant for regular usage. It introduced new problems without solving any existing ones. The most egregious changes were the combo URL bar/browser tabs, the color matching browser chrome, and hiding a large amount of functionality behind extra clicks/taps. The URL bar/browser tab combo removed consistent placement for URL entry, the color matching chrome created poor (and not accessible) contrast scenarios, and hiding features is always a gamble.

The only redeeming change was moving the URL bar to the bottom of the screen in mobile Safari. The cost of that was a supremely odd jump-to-the-top-of-the-screen transition when users tap to type something in it. If I'm keeping score, that's four new problems and only one solution.

And now, Apple pushed out a frankensteined update to desktop that looks part existing Safari and part new Safari (images from MacRumors below).

The only ray of sunshine is that mobile Safari no longer moves the URL bar to the top of the screen when users tap into it. I don't understand why this wasn't the case from the beginning; it's an obvious design decision.

This is unusual behavior coming from Apple. Big changes are almost always offered on a take it or leave it basis. If I had to describe what I'm seeing with one word, it'd be "scrambling." These adjustments look rushed and the nature of the changes lack Apple's typical confidence.

I have no idea where Safari is going to end up—there's at least two full months until iOS 15 and macOS Monterey ship. What I do know is that something out of the ordinary is happening and I can't look away. There's enough smoke here for me to expect a well sourced breakdown of The Safari Situation in the future—assuming from Mark Gurman. I truly can't wait to read about how and why this happened. Until then, let's see where this goes.