Innovation by breaking established platform conventions
Friday, 27. February 2009, 08:28:52
So, now Safari 4 beta is out. I have only tested it on MacOS X, but I have seen it running on Windows too, and it is not as ugly on Windows as it used to be.
It is interesting to see the top features in Safari 4 beta, things like tabs on top (it has always been that way in Opera), or Full page zoom (in Opera since at least 1998). I found one ui feature on the top list that is not already in Opera, Cover Flow.
In Safari 4 beta, Apple is breaking a very important platform convention on the MacOS X platform, the title bar is replaced by tabs. If a non-Apple application was doing that, they would be blamed for not following the style guide, and be sent to the this is not a real MacOS X application prison by the most vocal users. But, the company that controls the platform can do that, since they can change the conventions. But, I must say that adding the tabs to the title bar works well, and Safari 4 beta is the first useful Safari version. I have just one problem, how do I switch between tabs with the keyboard? It will be fun to try out all the experimental implementations of upcoming web standards in Safari 4 beta.
Opera has done a lot of innovations that breaks platform conventions too, like mouse gestures in a browser. Mouse gestures are one of the most popular features in Opera, I seldom use it myself, they are not that useful on a laptop, and I stick with the features that work well on all the computers that I use.
It is interesting to see the top features in Safari 4 beta, things like tabs on top (it has always been that way in Opera), or Full page zoom (in Opera since at least 1998). I found one ui feature on the top list that is not already in Opera, Cover Flow.
In Safari 4 beta, Apple is breaking a very important platform convention on the MacOS X platform, the title bar is replaced by tabs. If a non-Apple application was doing that, they would be blamed for not following the style guide, and be sent to the this is not a real MacOS X application prison by the most vocal users. But, the company that controls the platform can do that, since they can change the conventions. But, I must say that adding the tabs to the title bar works well, and Safari 4 beta is the first useful Safari version. I have just one problem, how do I switch between tabs with the keyboard? It will be fun to try out all the experimental implementations of upcoming web standards in Safari 4 beta.
Opera has done a lot of innovations that breaks platform conventions too, like mouse gestures in a browser. Mouse gestures are one of the most popular features in Opera, I seldom use it myself, they are not that useful on a laptop, and I stick with the features that work well on all the computers that I use.
WIDGETIZE
kilsmo # 27. February 2009, 09:02
Morghus # 27. February 2009, 09:49
Then I tried the rest, and I realized that it was just a really boring browser with some eyecandy, and I promptly fired up Opera again. I need my mouse gestures, damnit!
Oh, I do love the Tabs instead of title bar though, as I've said before, Opera needs to do that. Screen estate is win.
Cyro # 27. February 2009, 11:22
Chas4 # 27. February 2009, 16:40
http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/2008/11/11/opera-ui-feedback
I also seldom use the mouse gestures, but what I do use is the (a window with multiply tabs open) I right click and start scrolling with the scroll bar to scroll thru the tabs.