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Journal bethanie's Journal: Tabs (Unh! Good God, Y'all!) What Are They Good For? 62

Journal by bethanie
Absolutely Nothin'! (Say it again!!)

OK. So my last JE was about the glories of sitting down to use my own computer after 2 weeks of squatting with Hubby's. Of course, Hubby is a True Geek and eschews MS applications of all kinds, so I was stuck using Mozilla the whole time.

And having heard him sing the praises (OK, he didn't sing -- maybe he just hummed a few bars) of browsing using Tabs, I tried it myself. And I had problems with it, which I ennumerated in this post.

Then, somehow, the entire commentary thread degenerated into an echo chamber of how great Tabs are. What I want to know is WHY?!?! PLEASE, will someone tell me WHY!?
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Tabs (Unh! Good God, Y'all!) What Are They Good For? More

Tabs (Unh! Good God, Y'all!) What Are They Good For?

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  • I stayed away from them for a while after switching to Mozilla...but now it's nice to have several pages (sometimes a dozen or more) open in one window, with the ability to switch between them with the tabs (or, more often, Ctrl-Tab). It cuts down on screen clutter.
    • Also, it uses less system resources, and making middle click open in a new tab is a lot faster than "right click, open in new window"
      • oh, yeah, and tabs open faster than new windows, due to that less overhead thing. ...I am a fast cowboy, I don't want to slow down.
    • I'm generally pro-Tab, but it took a while to get there. Like bethanie I was used to closing a window with the X, and still having the rest of the app open. I had trouble with this as well when Lotus Notes removed the option of opening documents in their own windows, as well.

      I also was used to switching amongst all my apps using Alt-Tab so that was a lesson to be learned.

      • So what does "Alt-Tab" do when you browse using tabs? I like to use a lot of keyboard shortcuts, myself.

        ....Bethanie....
        • Alt-Tab switches sequentially through all open applications, including the separate browser windows that IE puts up. When tabbed browsing, it switches you away from your browser to another app.

        • Mozilla.. learn it, love it, live it :)

          CTRL-PgUp - previous tab
          CTRL-PgDn - next tab
          CTRL-T - open new tab
          CTRL-W - close current tab
          CTRL-L - cursor in address bar
          CTRL-Enter - prefix "http://www." and suffix ".com" to what's in the address bar
          Cursor down in address bar, then Enter - search
        • I've used Opera since they started and introduced tabs some 3 years ago... long before Mozilla did.

          Honestly since opera uses "mouse gestures" (hold left button and move mouse in directions) to activate hotkeys... it makes browsing an easy thing once you get used to. Also opera in true Linuxite or Unixite fashion allows you to emulate lots of competing signatures (masquerade as IE 5/6, Netscape 2/3/4/5/6/7 or opera 1-7) which is quite unavailable on netscape.

          Also since opera is grounds up built upon fresh
  • But I use IE on my main (windowsXP) box. Tabs are overrated imo. So I'll side wit cha!
    • Oh, and "true geek" does not mean MS hater.

      Actually, I'd say a "true geek" knows the strengths and weaknesses of all operating systems and applications (and by saying "yeah, MS sucks at everything", then you aren't a geek at all, just a teenage wanna-be "hacker").

      This will bleed off on my hatred of "hacker vs professional developer" here, shortly, so I'll stop.
      • Actually, I'd say a "true geek" knows the strengths and weaknesses of all operating systems and applications (and by saying "yeah, MS sucks at everything", then you aren't a geek at all, just a teenage wanna-be "hacker").

        Yes. Damn straight. I don't really like Windows because it's not very intuitive to me. Not being able to type to get what I want throws me off. This is because I've been doing it my whole life. Does it mean that Windows is a shitty operating system? No, it just means I don't get it
        • Using hotkeys with tabs is very nice.

          Here is the list of Mozilla Hotkeys for Navigating Tabs [mozilla.org].

          One thing that tabs are useful for is if you want to surf offline, you can preload a whole stack of tabs (for example all the current stories on slashdot) into individual tabs, then disconnect, and read the pages you have loaded. I do this on my way to work, loading up my notebook, then reading the loaded pages on the subway where even my wifi card is of no use.
      • Well, to Hubby's credit, he doesn't think that MS just sucks at everything. He is against MS stuff on principle. I think I'll reprint an e-mail of his that he wrote to an MS-friend of mine. "I" refers to Hubby [slashdot.org] in the following, and keep in mind that it wasn't necessarily written for public consumption, so take it easy on him, please.

        For the record, [Hubby]'s stand on MS is that it should have been broken up into three "Baby Bills" with all three having access to the same software. Further, there should hav

      • "Hacker" - One who eschrews documentation, software design processes and commenting unless required by their position. Will most likely look at you with a funny look on their face if you mention Big O or in depth algo design.

        "Professional Developer" - One who regardless of whether or not he/she likes doing the above, does it anyway, whether being paid for it or not.

        See also: Reinventing the wheel, worship of the tin god, abuse of NULL, etc.

        And MS does suck at everything... except calender and office app
        • Well, in 'common' (computer) terms:

          "Hacker" - Someone who goes into code, makes changes, usually taught him/herself to code, doesn't necessarily know the inner workings of everything.

          "Professional Developer" - Someone who designs, architects, implements, and maintains a coding project/application. Using appropriate algorithms and patterns, understands how coding impacts entire projects, and completely thinks through solutions before implementing them.

          And don't forget, MS makes killer joysticks ;-)
    • on win XP. I get tabs, I get pop-ups killed, and its only a 2-meg download (because it uses IE!)

      DO IT! Now! [crazybrowser.com]
  • Absofreakinlutely, tabs are the best innovation in GUI design in the last ten years.

    Why? Hmmm, it's hard to explain. I can't stand the way MS Office (the Windows version, not the Mac one which is much better) puts multiple windows in one super-window. Is that MDI or SDI -- I can never keep them straight?

    Tabs, especially in a context where I need to periodically open new windows but not switch back and forth, keep the different windows organized and avoid wasting space, while allowing me to move through them

    • Is that MDI or SDI

      That is MDI which means Multiple Document Interface. The other option is SDI which means Single Document Interface. Once you know that, you cannot mix them up anymore.

      I also don't like MDI and most users really have problems with MDI. ("Hey where did my spreadsheet go to when I opened a new one!"). For me it is tabs all the way. Not going to state any reasons: people around here already make points enough pro-tabs. On IE I just righ-click "Open in new Window", but only when I

  • But I'll say that I love tabs because a lot of times when I hit a page that is slowly getting Slashdotted, I can just open it in another tab and watch it's progress while I go back to doing other stuff. The problem I have with multiple IE windows is that if you minimize them, then you have no idea if they've completed loading or not. If you don't minimize them and position them so you can see the throbber of the loading window from behind the current page you are reading, then you get a lot of screen clut
  • I love FARK.com, and each of their links opens in a new window.

    With Mozilla Firebird (and an installed extension called "Tabbrowser Extension"), I can have each of those links open in a new tab in the background - so I can go through and click on all the links I want to see, then close FARK and read each one of 'em.

    Tabbrowser Extension also lets you have it warn you if you're closing the window with tabs open - should help your problem there. Much harder to accidentially close the whole thing... :-)
    • I'll second that. Farking wouldn't be the same without it.
      • I'll second that. Farking wouldn't be the same without it.

        Or /. For instance, opening multiple JE's. Reading a thread, deciding you want to friend someone, because you just read the site they linked too (yes, I'M the guy that RTFAs, occassionally), and replying to thier post, all well not losing state in the origional discussion. I was browsing /. earlier today in IE (because that was what was available), and it was PAINFULL.

        Or Cnn, or Foxnew (yeah, yeah,yeah...), Or any other site that has intensive li
  • ...right-click, Open In New Window, new 'tab' in taskbar. And in Windows XP, they stack up to prevent clutter.

    For developer-stuff (primarily Delphi for me), tabs are a Good Thing. But yes, this tabbed browsing is -1 Overrated.
    • Exactly -- that's precisely how I do it. It works well even when you don't have XP.

      ....Bethanie....
    • It's uh different, see I don't like the stacking in the bottom on XP. It means I have to go through an extra step in order to see what I have open or switch between (or alt-tab through them). At that point the lack of clutter becomes a decrease in info processing speed.

      With tabbed browsing, until I exceed the capacity of my tab bar I can view all the sites I have open at once (often 10+) and quickly switch between them. If it weren't for tabbed browsing I wouldn't be able to post on /. hardly as much.
    • Hi, troll. Trust me, having good categorization---all my library docs in one window, all my XML-processing docs I'm going to look at in a minute, etc. is a good thing. The taskbar doesn't make this half as easy.
      • Hi, troll.

        You evidently haven't read much of my writing here on /. if you're confusing me with your regular /. troll.

        Trust me, having good categorization---all my library docs in one window, all my XML-processing docs I'm going to look at in a minute, etc. is a good thing.

        Well, good for you. As it happens, I know all about categorisation (as we say it over here), particularly with regard to /. users. *grin*

        The taskbar doesn't make this half as easy.

        Works for me. YMMV, of course.

        • You evidently haven't read much of my writing here on /. if you're confusing me with your regular /. troll.

          Go take a good, long hard look in the mirror.

          Works for me. YMMV, of course.

          I'm sorry; I though you were saying `works for everyone else'. Or what else does `for browsing, tabs are (-1 Overrated)' mean?
          • [Goes to bathroom]
            [Looks in mirror]
            [Comes back]

            Sorry, still Homo Sapiens here. Your turn!

            With regard to your other issue, I suppose I should point out that my writings here reflect my opinion, and my opinion alone. Under no circumstances should my writings be perceived as the Eternal Truth, a Pronouncement from God, or an Executive Order to be carries out on Pain of Death. Doubly so if it includes a smiley or *grin* at the end.

            I hope that this puts your mind at ease, and that you can not get on with your
      • Ummm... excuse me, but MonTemplar's comment is NOT a troll. Or if it is, then it's only a troll by association, since this whole thread is based on the Mother Troll, that is, my JE. I mean, the frigging TITLE gives it away (not that I intended it as a troll, but it certrainly could be misconstrued that way, if that's what you're looking for).

        So before you call MT a troll, please consider that he was posting in my journal and that I agreed with him.

        Frankly, jcast, I'm a little disappointed in you. Your c
  • Tabs rock because often I don't want to lose what I'm working on and want to check a link out.
    Right click over to 'Open Tab in New Window' or, CTRL + T and then CTRL + V in the new tab URL.
    Uses less resources.
    Funny enough, surfing pr0n was one of the earliest reasons I found it useful. A page has a bunch of thumbnails, right click and open multiple new windows. On dialup that was a huge timeserver. And, let's face it, half the pics out there suck. You know, you're looking for the right image where it ha
  • See my response in your last JE. :)
  • So what y'all are telling me is that Tabs Rock because:
    1. They use fewer resources
      Cool. Resources bogging down are the one reason why I ever restart my machine (unlike Hubby's, which seemed to crash for no reason whatsoever).
    2. They open faster
      I didn't really see evidence of this on Hubby's machine. I used both tabs and windows, and windows worked better for me.
    3. You can browse offline.
      Not really useful for me. When I am browsing multiple windows, it's 'cause I'm on Slashdot, and I need to be on-line to get
    • First off, tabbed browsing isn't nearly as big a deal as tabbed bookmarks. I click a button, and I have all my blogs open neatly. I click another button, and all the interesting craigslist personals open up. Without this feature, you could take my tabs away and I'd barely notice. In fact, I go untabbed while at work.

      Second, tabs are more important on MacOS.

      We don't have a taskbar with an entry-per-window.

      We don't have maximize, we have zoom. This means that while dealing with multiple windows is easy and

      • First off, tabbed browsing isn't nearly as big a deal as tabbed bookmarks. I click a button, and I have all my blogs open neatly.

        Right. This has been missed by almost everyone for some reason but it's probably the biggest win for tabs. The other win for me is that I have new tabs set to open in the background. That means I can open a bunch of links from a page without having to switch back to that page after opening each one. Then once I've finished with the first page all the others are ready for brows

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • ok, here's my reasons for loving tabs. And it all stems from Win98, believe it or not.

      Back on Win98, I usually had between 30 and 60 browsers open, along with my messengers. It was annoying to find my messengers beneath all that, so I became adept at alt+tabbing, as most keyboard afficionados do. (note that I was very upset when MS decided to make a GUI standard. I love the command line.)

      Naturally, when the option came up to have tabs so I only had to alt+tab past one browser, I was overjoyed.

      There a
    • I would go with either Mozilla [mozilla.org], cause it's what I use ;->, or with Opera [opera.com], A VERY nice browser, though you have to pay (or whatever..) to get rid of an add banner.
      There are others, but I don't care about them...
  • In IE when I use my scroll wheel I enjoy a nice comforting woosh of the page. I'm not saying it's slow, I can just see it scroll past. Let's say it just takes an extra frame or two to animate this and while I guess this frame is arguably slower, it provies a nicer feel. In moz I just jump down however many lines. BAM, you're 5 lines or whatever down. I guess it affords a "faster" feel, but to me it feels much harder/hasher with this stutter step.

    This stutter is also annoying when you're (for example) in
    • Try firebird (moz trimmed down) or Opera. Both are a lot quicker than moz.

      I don't notice a difference between Firebird's speed and IE's speed under XP (granted this is on a fairly buff and new computer).
      • I don't think you understand what I'm saying, I'm saying the Moz srolls "too fast." Please explain that if you understand my problem how going with a faster browser will help me.
        • Oh, shit, sorry.

          I'm a bit fever-ridden today. I thought you said too slow (and rereading that, I have NO earthly clue how I got that idea).

          I'm assuming you run Windows? If you use Linux and Gnome you can adjust the sensitivity of the scroll wheel.

          Anyway, under firebird, it requires less movement then you are used to under IE to make it move. It's sensitive to how fast you scroll, and if you move it real fast (like I do in IE) it scrolls almost like hitting page down. Do it a bit more leisurely and it
        • Errr, edit then preferences.

          My bad, expand advanced and you'll see it right there.
          • I think we're still having issues communicating. You tell me to go to:

            edit then preferences.

            But as I said in my original post:

            I've been through the Preferences, but I couldn't find an option.

            I guess I just wasn't clear that I found the obvious wheel mouse option, and I am aware there are many users who just make vague claims to "oh yeah, I checked all of the... oh, how'd you do that? you just clicked on the obvious 'fix the problem' button, how did I miss that?" But please, give me some credit. =^
            • Helio, I think I understand your problem, but I'm not able to duplicate it on my machine. Using the scroll wheel and the down arrow both give me very nice "animation" as you call it, as I scroll -- I see no difference from IE.

              But I'm sure that you're seeing what you're seeing. I am just baffled as to why I don't see it, too. But maybe this knowledge might help you.

              ....Bethanie....
              • Actually this is helpful, since it gives me incentive that there's something just funky with me and/or my miriad of windows computers (I'm able to dubplicate this on my father's computer, my main windows computer, my laptop, my spare windows computer, and the computer in the living room).

                Perhaps I'll make a JE about it and get some votes as to:

                A) I can't see IE scroll, it doesn't matter to me. It all looks "jumpy" to me.

                B) They all scroll just fine to me.

                C) I see what you're talking about, but I just l
    • In moz I just jump down however many lines. BAM, you're 5 lines or whatever down.
      this is configurable (what isn't in Moz?). Edit->Preferences->Advanced->Mouse Wheel.
      I've been through the Preferences, but I couldn't find an option. Hopefully I've just been overlooking it and someone here can set me on my way.
      It's definitely there in 1.4, not sure about other versions.
      • Read the other posts in this thread and you will see that this is not at all what I was talking about. You will also see that someone else listed the exact same location to change the same setting. I am by no means saying I want to alter the distance traveled, just the means by which I travel that distance.
        • Ok, yes. I see what you mean. How many lines does each "click" of the wheel move you? Mine does 3 in Mozilla and it's really not a problem telling which direction someone is scrolling in. In IE it does about 5 lines and the "smooth" scrolling is fast enough so that it's very hard to tell how many intermediate points it goes through, although it looks like it might be only one or two. The few other applications I tried behave exactly like Mozilla - 3 lines instant jump, even other parts of IE behave that way
          • Ok, first off: ha-lay-loo-yah!

            You say you can see what I'm talking about? That means that either I'm not as insane as once thought, and/or you have been infected with the same brain anomily!

            Birds of a feather...

            Anyway, on Windows I have Moz set to the system default scroll distance per "click." I have experimented with setting it to a hard value and it appears to be in the neighborhood of 4 lines.

            Have you tried scrolling in Word/Excel?

            I think I will put together some of this info and another gripe* I
            • You say you can see what I'm talking about?
              Definitely. Can't say it's ever bothered me though. I used IE as my main browser up till about 2 years ago and I didn't notice the difference in scrolling behaviour when I switched to Mozilla.
              Have you tried scrolling in Word/Excel?
              Word, Excel, Outlook, Mozilla, Explorer, and UltraEdit all behave the same way (3 line instant jump). IE does it's own thing.
  • Usually when I get online, I have several missions. Tabs help me organize those missions. Mission 1 is usually catch up on slashdot, so all slashdot pages are tabs in one Netscape window. I'm usually researching multiple things, so each topic gets it's own window, with google and then result links are Open Link in New Tab. I could also be checking a webmail account which will go in a seperate window, or doing online banking/credit cards, etc, which all go in a window. It just keeps me organized better
    • This is probably the most cogent argument for using tabs that I have thus seen, and I don't even come close to having ADHD -- I just appreciate a good, organized system when I see it. If I were still doing internet research for a living, your way would be the way I would do it!

      Thanks, TL!

      ....Bethanie....
  • I suppose I'll chime in here. The biggest reason I love tabs has to be for browsing sites like slashdot with lots of links to click. My middle button opens a new tab. So, while reading all the story submissions I've missed since last time I read, I'll middle click any link that sounds interesting and it loads in the background. That's the important part, doesn't take the current page away from sight. After I've "collected" all the links I want to read, I'll start with the first tab. When I'm done with that
  • I love tabs. It's because of the way in which I browse:

    First, if I'm reading a page and see something I want to look at -- but not right now -- I'll Ctrl-Click to open the page in a new tab, and continue with the page I'm reading. Then I'll switch tabs and go look at whatever's on the link. Plus I'm not waiting for the other page to load/render.

    Second, I'm often looking at several sites which each take quite a bit of my time. I don't have the luxury of looking at each one sequentially, and I also have

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