Apple Releases Safari 15.1 for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina

[MacRumors]

Apple today released Safari 15.1 for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina, giving Mac users who do not have macOS Monterey installed access to the latest Safari features.

Safari 15.1 reintroduces the previous tab design that was available prior to Safari 15. With Monterey and Safari 15, Apple introduced a new "Compact" look that changed the design of the tabs and unified them with the URL bar, but many people were not fond of that design.

In Safari 15.1, Apple undid those design changes and returned Safari to its pre-Monterey look, doing away with the updated design and the feature that blended the top bar in Safari with the background color of websites. Those who liked the new design can still enable it in Safari preferences, but the old design is the default.

Safari can be downloaded on machines running macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina by going to System Preferences > Updates. If you have macOS Monterey 12.0.1 installed, you already have Safari 15.1.

Article Link: Apple Releases Safari 15.1 for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina

 

[DesertDrummer]

Thank you, Apple. This was the right call from a UX perspective. People who love Compact Layout can still use it, and those of us who prefer Separate Layout can keep the previous version of it, which was more usable in that format.

 

[riptidewahoo]

no more confusion!!

 

[dannys1]

I want the old tabs with the colour matched title bar though!

 

[andreagrandi]

Same as iPadOS 15.1 too

 

[DesertDrummer]

I want the old tabs with the colour matched title bar though!

I do sorta wish they had kept that option. I think it might have worked with the "connected" tab look that they reverted to. Maybe there was some kind of internal codebase reason that they couldn't do that. It might be coming later, once they've had time to settle into this new commitment.

 

[thingstoponder]

I want the old tabs with the colour matched title bar though!

Me too. It’s not like it’s mandatory. No use taking it away. Maybe it was harder to read text with the old tabs.

 

[Daytona 360]

So Safari 15.1 just looks like Safari 14.2 this time, right?

 

[DogHouseDub]

How do I get the tabs back in Monterey?

Never mind, they just came back - freakin weird...

 

[winexprt]

Thank god. Couldn't stand that design.

 

[WaffleBoi_15]

Rip

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Woo hoo! design has been changed.

 

[chucker23n1]

It's minor and doesn't really matter, but…

Why is "Show color in Compact Tab Bar" in "Advanced"? You already have the Compact/Separate radio buttons in "Tabs". Why not simply show the checkbox when "Compact" is selected.

(Also, that blue border is really slim. It's barely noticeable that "Separate" is selected.)

 

[8CoreWhore]

Yayyyyy....... It may have been Gruber got them to switch back.

 

[Sasparilla]

Nice, no more push buttons. Thank you to listening to your user base Apple - as a big tech company they're really pretty good about doing this (for certain things of course) and I salute them for it. Good call from the UI perspective.

That said, I liked the color and wish I could use it with the real tab design. 4 Security issues fixed too. Privacy focused Vivaldi does a good job integrating website color into the current tab for those wanting color back.

 

[johnscully]

Great!

 

[Analog Kid]

Now fix the sidebar in iOS.

 

[BWhaler]

Haleuleia.

I accidently installed Safari 15, and it’s been a usability and visual nightmare. Happy Apple finally saw the error of their way—partially credit of course because they didn’t kill it, they just added it as yet another preference. (which are getting out of control as Apple gets worse and worse at editting.)

What was Apple thinking in the first place? This solves zero problems.

My guess is the designers behind the Apple battery and iWork icons did this.

 

[nvmls]

It's minor and doesn't really matter, but…

View attachment 1881187
View attachment 1881188

Why is "Show color in Compact Tab Bar" in "Advanced"? You already have the Compact/Separate radio buttons in "Tabs". Why not simply show the checkbox when "Compact" is selected.

(Also, that blue border is really slim. It's barely noticeable that "Separate" is selected.)

That's Apple today in a nutshell.

BTW, compact view's url field title keeps dissappearing, since beta 1. Maybe a fix before 2028?

searching through it cuts text sometimes as well ?

 

[Jamie0003]

Any chance this adds hide my email for big sur? Seems silly I have to update my Mac for this

 

[Kylo83]

Why don’t you fix the safari on the new MacBooks to handle promotion and not stuck at 60hz

 

[Kylo83]

iOS 16 won’t have any design changes as apple will be scared to change anything; I miss the days apple told up what we like and we get used to it

 

[macsplusmacs]

iOS 16 won’t have any design changes as apple will be scared to change anything; I miss the days apple told up what we like and we get used to it

It's Social media.

The Whiney get moved to the front of the line.

 

[TheSynchronizer]

My main browser of choice is Edge, but I also often use Safari alongside it. Very unpopular opinion, but I’m actually enjoying the compact design and don’t see any issues with it.

I’m curious - what are the main reasons for people hating the compact tabs?

 

[ACHD]

Wait.. They Actually listen to feedback? Holly ****... This is proof.