294
  1. very basic, but id rather have something to distinguish between a tab and the rest of the toolbar
  2. also very basic, the borders are really nice, but a bit too much horizontal space wasted
  3. the focused tab floating above everything else feels very off and unnatural
  4. the shading here really helps distinguish between the tabs and the rest of the toolbar, and the grey isn't too much
  5. similar to 3, but its too much depth here. also, the left side when the leftmost tab is
  6. seems like the opposite of 1,seems to me that everything is selected except the focused tab

ranking (best to worst)
4 2 1 5 6 3

    eirk Ha, oops! I've never used that feature in Safari, so I didn't realize my idea was so similar 😄 After testing it out just now, my proposal was slightly different, as it would show the favicon and title by default, rather than the URL, but otherwise it's exactly the same as Safari's implementation, yes (and I'm not even very attached to the one thing that's different).

        2 gets my vote. Definitely the sleekest without being the most in your face. Still are able to differentiate tabs easily.

          Can someone summarize the votes? 🙂 Like 2 points for first choice and 1 points for second choice.

            Vlad Some people only selected one, or have ties for second place, so take these totals with a grain of salt. Each user's first and second choices given 2 and 1 votes respectively, as you said:

            1. 27 votes
            2. 21 votes
            3. 12 votes
            4. 5 votes
            5. 9 votes
            6. 3 votes

                tuesday Thanks for doing this! So the battles is between 1 and 2 it seems.

                    2 points for first choice, 1 point for second choice. On tossups or no clarification on which is first of their 2 choices they both get 2.

                    1. 28 votes
                    2. 29 votes
                    3. 13 votes
                    4. 4 votes
                    5. 10 votes
                    6. 3 votes

                    No matter how it's counted it seems 1 and 2 are both favorites. Maybe an option between the two?

                    2 for sure. It looks closest to Safari’s compact mode. In dark mode, I'd like the active tab to be brighter rather than darker.

                    1 is my second choice.

                      1 would be my primary choice however I would like to see an option with the url bar integrated into the tab, like it is in safari.

                      Johnnyvm @Vlad I agree with this, I hate 1 & 2 because it feels too much like safari. I switched to Orion because I wanted something a bit different, not exactly the same. (otherwise there’s no point in switching)

                      #6 is less jarring and the tabs don’t jump around as much. It’s clear which tab is currently active. It’s beautiful, clean, predictable, I LOVE it.

                      FYI, The URL should update in the mockup upon switching tabs, but it currently doesn’t.

                      If I was forced to pick between 1 & 2, I’d pick 1.

                          ForumNinja404 I hate 1 & 2 because it feels too much like safari. I switched to Orion because I wanted something a bit different, not exactly the same. (otherwise there’s no point in switching)

                          So if the aesthetics are the same, there’s no point in switching? Despite the numerous changes that aren’t aesthetics? Lol

                              Longely I was talking about scrolling with colour mode in my last post the idea of colour mode is great and I am all for it but i think the scrolling could be tweaked.

                                  i prefer both 2 and 3 but i would prefer 2 it feels cleaner and more immersive

                                    I'm not going to contribute to the ranking of the variants as there are a lot of opinions. However, I currently have a hard time visually identifying that more tabs are open than shown. Thus, please add an indicator in case more tabs are open than displayed.

                                      Some comments:

                                      1. I wonder how it'll look like with more tabs. It may also be a bit hard to tell which tab is the current one, since the visual distinction isn't pronounced.
                                      2. (third choice) This reminds me of old semi-skeomorphism as this looks quite a lot like a radio group. The hanging tabs (similar to current design) in this case works well for me, since it has good contrast against the background unlike say #1
                                      3. Same comments as #2, except the background distinction is a bit more subtle. It feels like a middle ground between 1 and 2, since it doesn't have the visual distinction issue of the first design but doesn't have a very pronounced indicator unlike #2
                                      4. I don't quite like this one, as floating things of this type don't feel native. It feels a lot like how arc does its vertical tabs with its odd non-native feeling native components.
                                      5. (first choice) I LOVE THIS. It has a lot of visual distinction between tabs, the current tab is extremely easy to see, and it feels most native and blending-in in my opinion.
                                      6. (second choice) Similar issues with #1, it lacks visual distinction between non-selected tabs and the lack of outline makes it less distinguishable as a tab bar. HOWEVER, the current tab selected is very easy to determine, and I think that this is the best for minimalists.

                                        TheOtherKai i think u have 1-6 backwards
                                        u mention 4 as "floating", but this is 4:

                                        but 3 is:

                                            Woo-hoo, a treat!
                                            My heart (and vote) is with #1. Second vote is #4. Let me comment on each design too:

                                            1. This is the best combination of design elements: no wasted space between tabs; no unnecessary noise. Everything in its right place :-)
                                            2. Many people seem to prefer this because it looks like Safari. For me, its a disadvantage: the borders around tabs do not really add any value; the gaps between tabs could go.
                                            3. There is nothing else in UI that supports shadow; it looks alien here.
                                            4. Similar to #1; I don't think tabs need to be separated by background; but it does not hurt much.
                                            5. Unique! Too much design, though.
                                            6. This is "wrong" design, in a sense that it groups things incorrectly. The first, active, tab looks like it does not belong to other tabs. There is nothing uniting all tabs as a group.