Mac Firefox users to get tabs on top

Mozilla said it hopes to release its second beta version of Firefox 4 "on or about July 22," bringing Mac users a major new user interface that the first beta enabled by default only on Windows.

That feature, called tabs on top, follows the look of Google Chrome and Opera, in which tabs get top billing over the address bar. It's not revolutionary, but it's hard to change the habits of software used by hundreds of millions of people, so Mozilla has made it easy to switch off and has been taking pains to explain its tab rationale.

Not everybody sees things the same way. Apple tried a tabs-on-top approach with the Safari 4 beta more than a year ago, but moved them back to a subordinate position for the final release. It kept that design for Safari 5, too.

For more on this story, read Mac Firefox users: Tabs on top coming next week on CNET News.