Apple Reverses iOS 15 Safari Changes with New Toggle for Top Address Bar

nick_ 2021-08-17 18:56:45 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Touchable UI elements should always be closer to the user's typical hand placement. It is frustrating that virtually all mobile UI designers opt for placing controls away from fingers.

phillipseamore 2021-08-17 18:30:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Finally. I use a browser to view and use websites so the browser UI shouldn't be obscuring it. I would have been fine with it being fixed to the bottom, just not floating over the actual content I want to view.

swiley 2021-08-17 18:19:00 +0000 UTC [ - ]

They had to cave on something after all the crap they pulled this year I guess.

WesSouza 2021-08-17 20:38:06 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Love the approach, let the user switch and gradually introduce them to the new designs.

And even the bottom option became much better with the return of the toolbar.

Zelphyr 2021-08-17 20:37:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I personally think they should take the hint and not even have this be configurable. If beta testers hate having the address bar at the top so badly that Apple felt the need to introduce a toggle, then they should just permanently move the address bar back to the top.

As Joel Spolsky said in User Interface Design For Developers: "Don't break user expectations" We've had browser address bars at the top of the screen for nearly 30 years. That's what users are used to and expect.

spiderice 2021-08-17 22:12:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Beta tester here. I LOVE having the address bar at the bottom. It's so obviously better to me. You are only hearing the people who disagree complain because.. why would I complain when it is currently how I like it?

Plus, I think you're missing what people are actually complaining about. Most aren't complaining about having it at the bottom. Most are complaining about having it floating at the bottom where it blocks page content instead of docked the bottom edge.

Having a toggle is the perfect compromise.

Zelphyr 2021-08-18 01:56:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]

As is so often the case for reasons I have yet to fathom, people appear to be reading between the lines of my original comment. I never said _I_ dislike the address bar at the bottom. I'm not a beta tester, I haven't used it, so I indifferent about the utility of it at this stage.

I'm only saying that obviously Apple is getting a lot of negative feedback on this or they wouldn't be changing it so much in the beta program. I'm saying that maybe now isn't the right time for such a change because if they're getting that kind of feedback from beta testers then they're going to be getting even more from the general public when they deploy it.

That said; I also agree that a toggle is a good compromise and maybe it's a way of easing people into a new UI paradigm.

LeoNatan25 2021-08-18 00:02:20 +0000 UTC [ - ]

The problem isn’t/wasn’t with the address bar being on the bottom, it’s the terrible floating monstrosity they came up with and finally removed. Everyone praised Microsoft when they put the address bar at the bottom in Windows Phone 7, and there was absolutely no backlash. Apple should have just copied that. Instead they decided to make Safari into a joke. At least now they give the option to go back to normalcy, and also walked back on the floating bar, obscuring the content.

melling 2021-08-17 18:17:47 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I’m just getting used to the bottom.

People don’t like change. Even if something is better, most won’t accept it

arthurcolle 2021-08-17 18:20:03 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Can't they just make it optional? I don't really care either way, but it's amazing Apple always needs everything to be homogeneous instead of just a little configurable. I'm sure heads were spinning before they decided to allow dark mode.

eyelidlessness 2021-08-17 19:39:16 +0000 UTC [ - ]

As with macOS Safari, they did make it optional and the headlines announcing the reversal are misleading/confusing.

arthurcolle 2021-08-17 23:39:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]

who cares what the headlines are saying? If Apple does, then that's just unfortunate.

eyelidlessness 2021-08-18 02:55:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Huh?? I’m saying that Apple did what you said they should do, and it’s understandable you didn’t know that because the headline of the article you responded to didn’t communicate that.

arthurcolle 2021-08-19 00:20:03 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I see, misread the content. My bad

miohtama 2021-08-17 18:37:37 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Apple, making a setting? Is this the same Apple I know?