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For those of us unlucky enough to be forced into Windows (there really should be an organization against such cruelty, but I digress), Apple has been routinely throwing a lifeline: ported applications. We got iTunes and Bonjour, then some great cross-platform MobileMe action along with an awesome port of Safari 3. I have been using the Safari 4 beta for a little over 24 hours now on both Windows XP/Vista and OS X Tiger/Leopard.  Apart from the slight learning curve (where’d my Tab bar go?!), I have to say, I love the OS X version. The Windows side of things is, decidedly, a mixed bag. Apple appears to have answered several major criticisms, though I’m not sure this is entirely a good thing.

Major changes include:

Fitting in:

Safari now looks more like a standard Windows app.  Previous versions stuck with the iTunes/OS X brushed metal interface, which stood out for several reasons: the buttons and scroll bars were standard OS X Aqua elements, rather than standard Windows items.  Sheets, a concept carried over from OS X, were used in place of modal dialog boxes.  About the only Windows interface element Apple did use was attaching the menu bar to each window, rather than docking it at the top.  In Safari 4, all this has changed…and I don’t think for the better.  In the screenshot below, the Safari window looks out of place with the modified Royale theme from Windows XP:

The Certificate inspector, previously a slide-out sheet, has now been converted into a modal window…meaning it’s possible to have it open on top of a window with which it is not associated.  To me, this is a step back in functionality, although the program does look more like a Windows app now.  Notice also that all buttons and scroll bars are Windows standard - no more Aqua UI here!  With all these changes, Safari just looks mildly adolescent, and sorta gawky to boot.  Like it doesn’t quite fit in, even though it’s wearing the right clothes.

Function didn’t follow:

In the Extreme Makeover, Apple seems to have made some OS X specific changes, and then slapped them on the Windows version.  For example, the new tab bar is supposed to have nothing to the right of it (so the new tab “+” button is always the rightmost window element).  But on Windows, the Minimize/Maximize/Close buttons are always to the right, so that little plus sign gets lost in the shuffle.  The Safari icon up in the new Title/Tab bar also clutters things up—again a Windows convention that seems to just get in the way. 

Other Windows conventions have made it slightly more difficult to use the program, without major user UI modifications.  The loss of the menu bar echoes changes Microsoft made to IE 7, as does the addition of the new settings/tools button (that little gear shaped icon).  In OS X, there is no menu bar loss; it is always at the top of the screen.  By default, however, Safari 4 removes the familiar File-Edit-View (etc.) across the top of the window.  Granted, most functions are accessible through keyboard shortcuts or popup menus, but it is a big loss for any commands that have no alternate means of execution (the Merge All Windows command, for example).

Tabbin’ the day away:

One interface tweak that really kicks the Windows version up a notch is the way that tabs are handled.  In this, Apple has managed to leapfrog all other browsers in terms of user interface; tabs are now much easier to work with.  Exhibit A is the way that the active tab is more clearly highlighted.  Google’s Chrome introduced a great visual paradigm for active tabs, but Apple really upped the ante (the red box was added for emphasis):

Working with multiple tabs is now even easier, since the new “hidden tabs” menu employs some clever shading to let you know which tabs are currently visible, and which are not.  In addition, choosing a hidden tab will advance the entire tab bar, meaning that some tabs are now hidden on both the left and right sides of the tab bar - I am just waiting to see a cool Cover Flow style tab management system (totally eye candy, completely unnecessary…Apple, when you gonna give it to us?):

And finally, Apple has somehow managed to make pop-up and pop-under windows enjoyable (okay, the Netflix and Screensaver ads are not really enjoyable, but their windowing paradigm is).  All windows can be made to display standard UI elements, such as the status bar, tab bar, and address bar.  This is a huge problem on Internet Explorer, which frequently will open a popup that can not be resized, or the address can not be copied because the address and menu bars are hidden.  In Safari, you can have everything:

Final thoughts:

First off, it is great to see that the browser wars really aren’t dead…they just took a strange 10 year hiatus (thanks, IE, you bully).  The internet has evolved, but for so long the browser was stuck in the late 90s.  As for this new version of Safari, remember it’s a beta.  Feedback to Apple regarding the UI changes (improvements?) will probably be considered, and the final release may look a lot different.  So, sound off liberally with your thoughts, and let’s hope the Safari dev team is reading!