Dave Hyatt wants comments on UI improvements to Safari on his blog Surfin' Safari. i personally think he is nuts for asking for such comments fom the Safari usin' community. i was one of the first 100 to post tho :) it has grown to 679 posts and 32 trackback listings. so please go post your comments about the UI or even non-UI requests.
Comments (1)
First off, so my criticisms aren't taken out of context, let me just say thanks, and that Safari is a heck of a browser and I go out of my way to try and make it my primary browser. It is the word "try" in the last sentence that remains in effect for now, but I expect it will be there before too long.
Now onto the jabs...
While the current interface is a good start, some key things are missing in my opinion:
1) Visual indicator that the browser is actively doing something... i.e. loading a page. While the 30-second timeout message (another thing I find annoying) is an eventual notification that the browser has given up, it would be nice to know at a glance whether the browser is still trying to load/format content. Even the smallest little LED-looking throbber that just blinked/pulsed (Steve would demand the latter) would be sufficient and not clutter the current UI. Like that little dot that separates the URL box from the Google box... make a blue LED-type throbber that size and place it to the left of the URL box and it'd be great.
2) Tabbed browsing... too cool to leave out. I've gotten so used to it being there, it really pisses me off when I have to "Open in new window"
3) Get the Add Bookmark (+) button away from the navigation stuff and/or make it look like the other bookmark-related stuff (i.e. inset/engraved into the brushed metal and stylistically similar)... stuff needs to be consistent.
4) Font handling is inconsistent with the other major browsers, and stuff doesn't look the same. As a Web developer/designer, that definitely kills it as an all-the-time browser for me.
5) I know I can create my own "Home" bookmark and point it to wherever, but for many folks it would just be easier if it were already there in front (i.e. to the left) of the Apple bookmark link.
Non GUI gripes: that accursed 30-second timeout cost me great seats to David Copperfield, I want to turn it OFF; there should be more (i.e. some) control over cache settings, including disabling caching, if necessary/desired; I guess that's really it... anything else I pretty much acknowledge as normal for a work in progress.
Thanks again!
Posted by Todd Lockhart | February 7, 2003 2:56 PM
Posted on February 7, 2003 14:56