Latest Safari Technology Preview contains updated tab bar design
Apple on Wednesday released a fresh version of Safari Technology Preview with a handful of tweaks including an updated tab bar that iterates on a divisive design first revealed with macOS Monterey.

Issued to developers and interested end users through Apple's developer portal, the latest version 128 of Safari Technology Preview features a modified tab bar that sits below the address and search text entry field.
In initial versions of the next-generation browser included with early macOS Monterey beta releases, tabs were relocated to sit in line with the address bar and navigation controls. Apple put an emphasis on a space-saving GUI, moving page refresh and sharing buttons into a drop-down menu nestled within each tab.
The changes were confusing for some testers, leading Apple to revert some of the more drastic graphical modifications back to something closer to Safari's current design. Those adjustments were incorporated into last week's macOS Monterey beta release and are also offered in today's Safari Technology Preview. Tab Groups, a feature that helps users organize open tabs, is also included.
Those who prefer the condensed Safari interface can enable it in the app's settings menu.
Also included in today's Safari Technology Preview are new features like Live Text, passkeys in iCloud Keychain, and support for WebGL 2.
Safari Technology Preview 128 can be downloaded from Apple's developer webpage.
Read on AppleInsider

Issued to developers and interested end users through Apple's developer portal, the latest version 128 of Safari Technology Preview features a modified tab bar that sits below the address and search text entry field.
In initial versions of the next-generation browser included with early macOS Monterey beta releases, tabs were relocated to sit in line with the address bar and navigation controls. Apple put an emphasis on a space-saving GUI, moving page refresh and sharing buttons into a drop-down menu nestled within each tab.
The changes were confusing for some testers, leading Apple to revert some of the more drastic graphical modifications back to something closer to Safari's current design. Those adjustments were incorporated into last week's macOS Monterey beta release and are also offered in today's Safari Technology Preview. Tab Groups, a feature that helps users organize open tabs, is also included.
Those who prefer the condensed Safari interface can enable it in the app's settings menu.
Also included in today's Safari Technology Preview are new features like Live Text, passkeys in iCloud Keychain, and support for WebGL 2.
Safari Technology Preview 128 can be downloaded from Apple's developer webpage.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Apple has always made big changes in the early developer betas and depending on the pushback they get, they usually tone them down a bit; but not always. If someone at Apple is being extra stubborn on something the change will stay until the next major version of i/mac/iPadOS.
It was a half-baked decision to bring it over to macOS, because in macOS there’s also the toolbar. So unless you essentially disable the toolbar by removing all buttons, you can’t properly work with the unified tab bar under macOS.
Similarly “tab groups”: great feature for i(Pad)OS, but for macOS it would need to be “tab AND window groups”, because e.g. shopping for vacuum cleaners on a mac you’d not necessarily have a tab for each vacuum cleaner you research but a window for each of them, so you can compare them side by side, a possibility that under i(Pad)OS is impossible/severely limited, which is one of many reasons iPadOS isn’t a very productive environment to work in, unless you do very specialized, one-track-minded work. But Apple neglects to reflect the different work modes, and limits macOS by designing around the limitations of i(Pad)OS
What is alarming is that Apple let’s i(Pad)OS drive all features. Whatever happened with separate operating systems and UIs for different modes of working? macOS essentially turns into iPadOS with Windows and a real file system, instead of being an environment optimized for mouse; and yet one can’t install it on a iPad Pro 12” with MagicKeyboard, which in essence is the better MacBook Air than the MacBook Air.
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