While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the Safari UI on iOS is outdated, the overall look and feel of mobile Safari hasn’t changed all that much over the past few years. Sure, Apple has added any number of tweaks and features in recent memory (the speed improvements in particular have been most welcome), but there haven’t been any sweeping changes similar to the UI overhaul ushered in by iOS 7 a few years back.
That being the case, Julius Sohn recently put together a concept video which completely re-imagines Safari on iOS. Alongside the video, Sohn also compiled a detailed list of the features introduced by the video as well as the line of thinking that went into their design. One particularly intriguing feature is dubbed Spaces and enables users to organize their browsing history and tabs around a specific category.
The write-up reads in part:
Space is a collection of open tabs and pages you saved for later centered around a topic or a part of your life. Bookmarks, favorites, and the reading list are reduced to one simple way to save pages for later. Saved pages are connected to each Space and are previewed visually below your open tabs. They are automatically grouped by categories with the option to create your own groups if you want to.
Another interesting idea involves a timeline-themed view for reviewing one’s browsing history.
The concept video can be seen below. Incidentally, some of the design ideas here certainly look compelling, but may not be ideal for relatively small smartphone displays. It does look rather sleek on an iPad, though.
