Abstract
The tau listings in the 1996
Review of Particle Physics have significantly changed from the previous edition. The changes have been motivated by measurements of many new tau branching fractions and precise new measurements of many other tau branching fractions. This paper reviews some recent trends in measurements of tau lepton properties and changes in the tau listings including decay mode notation and the constrained fit to branching fractions. The new data have significantly reduced several inconsistencies in tau branching fraction data that have existed for a number of years.