Whats the point of pinned tabs if it doesnt refresh?

[yalag]

I have sites that I visit all the time. Why would I pin it versus just putting it on my fav bar? Its actually worst off because pinned tabs I have to go to the tab and then refresh. For a button on fav bar, I just click it and it's there.

What were they thinking?

 

[w0lf]

They were thinking that not everyone has the same workflow as you.

 

[yalag]

They were thinking that not everyone has the same workflow as you.

Can you give a workflow where pinned tab is superior than fav bar?

 

[w0lf]

Can you give a workflow where pinned tab is superior than fav bar?

Anyone that has the favbar hidden by default.
Having tabs that you would like to keep open that don't need to be refreshed frequently.
Having tabs pinned that automatically push content without refreshing such as Facebook or Twitter.
Someone who prefers a visual indicator for a tab vs text.
Being able to CMD + 1-9 to a pinned tab vs having to move mouse and click on a favbar item.
Many users who don't even know what a bookmark is but might understand the concept of pinning their favorite site like Facebook, YouTube, etc.
Probably a ton of other reasons as well because when millions of people are using something they're bound to find great, and sometimes pointless, ways to use it that you'd never think of.


I dunno though I don't really use pinned tabs, or Safari for that matter, and you don't have to either. It's a option not a forced march.

 

[dsemf]

Can you give a workflow where pinned tab is superior than fav bar?

I use both.

I currently have 3 tabs pinned: Pandora, FastMail web client, Gmail web client. In Yosemite I used multiple full screen Safari windows that I swiped between. Now I just to CMD-#. These update while not active, but don't interfere with my current browsing.

The favorites bar is used for sites that are visited less frequently.

Even when I have dozens of tabs open, I know that my primary email will always be CMD-2.

Everyone has their favorite workflow and it is the best in world.

DS

 

[yalag]

I use both.

I currently have 3 tabs pinned: Pandora, FastMail web client, Gmail web client. In Yosemite I used multiple full screen Safari windows that I swiped between. Now I just to CMD-#. These update while not active, but don't interfere with my current browsing.

The favorites bar is used for sites that are visited less frequently.

Even when I have dozens of tabs open, I know that my primary email will always be CMD-2.

Everyone has their favorite workflow and it is the best in world.

DS

Basically, its only used for sites that automatically updates itself....

 

[dsemf]

Basically, its only used for sites that automatically updates itself....

Not always. For me, it depends on how frequently I need to access the site. CMD-# followed by CMD-R is faster for me then finding the bookmark or a regular tab in a sea of tabs.

Also, sometimes pinned pages are temporary. Whenever a new public beta release of El Capitan was announced, I would pin the MacRumors thread that was on the MacRumors front page. Then periodically I would CMD-4 to the topic, CMD-R to refresh it, and review the latest postings. Once it appeared safe, I would install the beta and unpin the topic. This way I did not have to remember where I was in a multipage topic over the 24 to 36 hours that I watched for issues. I also did not have find the topic itself again.

I have selected MacRumors forums, such as Yosemite and El Capitan, in a bookmarks folder that I launch periodically using Open in New Tabs.

DS

 

[leman]

What were they thinking?

They were probably thinking that it is technically impossible to do seamless refreshing in a sane way, that would not kill your battery. If you work with websites that you want to refresh in the background, contact the website maintainer and ask them to implement continuous updates, just like gmail or FB do. Its 2015 outside after all

 

[bmac89]

According to the Apple website:

Pinned Sites keep your favorite websites handy.
Keep websites you visit often — like your webmail, Facebook page, or Twitter feed — open, up to date, and easily accessible by pinning them. They 'll stay active in the background, and they 'll stay put on the left side of your tab bar.

 

[leman]

According to the Apple website:

Pinned Sites keep your favorite websites handy.
Keep websites you visit often — like your webmail, Facebook page, or Twitter feed — open, up to date, and easily accessible by pinning them. They 'll stay active in the background, and they 'll stay put on the left side of your tab bar.

Exactly. Any modern webpage that implements push or intelligent pull updates will stay up to date. But Safari will certainly not continuously update a legacy website for you, nor does Apple claim to do it.

 

[KALLT]

Exactly. Any modern webpage that implements push or intelligent pull updates will stay up to date. But Safari will certainly not continuously update a legacy website for you, nor does Apple claim to do it.

It is a bit weird what they are claiming though. If pinned tabs don’t do anything in particular regarding keeping content up to date then why mention it? Every regular tab will update like this.

 

[leman]

It is a bit weird what they are claiming though. If pinned tabs don’t do anything in particular regarding keeping content up to date then why mention it? Every regular tab will update like this.

I guess what they mean is that they are applying a different throttling strategy to the pinned tabs. Safari would usually reduce power usage of invisible tabs by using techniques very similar to App Nap. I think pinned tabs may be throttled less aggressively.

 

[KALLT]

I guess what they mean is that they are applying a different throttling strategy to the pinned tabs. Safari would usually reduce power usage of invisible tabs by using techniques very similar to App Nap. I think pinned tabs may be throttled less aggressively.

Maybe they do. Regardless, I don’t expect pinned tabs to be refreshed automatically if the websites don’t do it themselves. That’s just not how browsers are supposed to work. What if you don’t want a specific webpage to be refreshed while you’re gone? Safari’s behaviour is at it should be.

I think there are Safari extensions that can refresh tabs for you.

 

[TwoBytes]

Funnily enough, I loaded up a macrumors thread which i had pinned and it didn't refresh

LOVE pinned tabs but this wasn't thought out well.

 

[KALLT]

Funnily enough, I loaded up a macrumors thread which i had pinned and it didn't refresh

LOVE pinned tabs but this wasn't thought out well.

How is that even supposed to work? Should it be automatically refreshed whenever you leave the pinned tab? What about text you might have entered or a position on the page you want to keep? Pages don’t refresh themselves unless the website itself does it with JavaScript.

Pinning is simply a way to fixate a website. It is less strict than a bookmark but not as unrestricted as a regular tab (as it will not allow you to go to a different domain as long as the website is pinned). It is working beautifully like that.

 

[TwoBytes]

I'd expect it to refresh when I open my web browser from being closed

 

[KALLT]

I'd expect it to refresh when I open my web browser from being closed

Works fine for me.

 

[valdikor]

I agree with OP, I have been using the new Safari since the GM Candidate came out and, don't get me wrong, I tried hard, I couldn't find a reasonable use for pinned sites. They don't behave any differently than regular browser tabs - they are not persistent (if you browse to another page, you will stay on that page), they don't refresh automatically. They are just smaller and they are already there when you open Safari - but how often do you restart your Mac or even your browser?
True, everybody has a different workflow and some may find it super-useful. But my two cents is that they're super-useless. Or I just don't get it.

 

[KALLT]

I agree with OP, I have been using the new Safari since the GM Candidate came out and, don't get me wrong, I tried hard, I couldn't find a reasonable use for pinned sites. They don't behave any differently than regular browser tabs - they are not persistent (if you browse to another page, you will stay on that page), they don't refresh automatically. They are just smaller and they are already there when you open Safari - but how often do you restart your Mac or even your browser?
True, everybody has a different workflow and some may find it super-useful. But my two cents is that they're super-useless. Or I just don't get it.

Well, what is it that you want them to do? As I said above, automatic reloading of webpages is not a good user experience, because the browser doesn’t know when a website should be reloaded and you might lose your scroll position, the text you entered or even the page itself if the server happens to be down.

Apple has demonstrated the feature with Twitter, which refreshes its content dynamically. I use it for my email provider, WhatsApp Web, sometimes Facebook. These websites are always up to date when I get back and they don’t occupy a full tab width. When you have multiple windows then you can access the tabs from any window.

That they open links to other websites in new tabs is also by design: Chrome used to (don’t know if it still does) let you open any website from within a tab. As a result, you lose sight of the website you created the tab for and you still have to go back. That defeats the purpose of it. Apple’s implementation makes perfect sense and I don’t see what else there is you would want.

 

[RoboWarriorSr]

I agree with OP, I have been using the new Safari since the GM Candidate came out and, don't get me wrong, I tried hard, I couldn't find a reasonable use for pinned sites. They don't behave any differently than regular browser tabs - they are not persistent (if you browse to another page, you will stay on that page), they don't refresh automatically. They are just smaller and they are already there when you open Safari - but how often do you restart your Mac or even your browser?
True, everybody has a different workflow and some may find it super-useful. But my two cents is that they're super-useless. Or I just don't get it.

I can see them be used a lot when someone is researching papers. Rather than have a bookmark, one could pin several tabs that are relevant and will always be there regardless if quitting safari. Or if someone is following an online comic/book and wouldn't want the page to be constantly refreshing.

 

[KALLT]

I can see them be used a lot when someone is researching papers. Rather than have a bookmark, one could pin several tabs that are relevant and will always be there regardless if quitting safari. Or if someone is following an online comic/book and wouldn't want the page to be constantly refreshing.

It’s nice for search engines in general, because the links you click on will always be opened in new tabs. The pinned tab will stay intact completely, which I think is very useful.

 

[valdikor]

I can see them be used a lot when someone is researching papers. Rather than have a bookmark, one could pin several tabs that are relevant and will always be there regardless if quitting safari.

That's a good point actually, thanks for that. I'm just starting working on my diploma thesis for school and obviously I'll be doing tons of research in the next couple of months, so this may come in handy if I incorporate it into my workflow.
Good timing

 

[Frosties]

That's a good point actually, thanks for that. I'm just starting working on my diploma thesis for school and obviously I'll be doing tons of research in the next couple of months, so this may come in handy if I incorporate it into my workflow.
Good timing

For that I use the read list in Safari. It's very good and spread by iCloud. Just a tip not to forget old working functions.

 

[MacGizmo]

Odd. Pinned tabs are always updating for me. At least, Twitter, Facebook, and a few other sites that I know update frequently.

 

[nanogirl21]

I have sites that I visit all the time. Why would I pin it versus just putting it on my fav bar? Its actually worst off because pinned tabs I have to go to the tab and then refresh. For a button on fav bar, I just click it and it's there.

What were they thinking?

Im not sure what you have going on but, mine refreshes. I have my youtube subscription feed pinned.