Tabs - What's It Really All About?

Greetings from the Neanderthal gallery - but I just don't get 'tabs'

I've been opening up new windows when I thought I wanted to for 10 years - just by right clicking - 'open in new window'

All 'tabs' is doing for me is doing that for all kinds of pages I have not wanted having their own window and blocking the main one I was using - and just makes closing things down a 'stumble thru the forest' requiring many extra steps.

What am I missing? (and can I turn that so.called 'feature' off if I want? All I see is a Hobson's choice - do I want a new tab or a new window? What if I want NEITHER`!)

 

Well, I suppose it depends on what you're after. Personally, I always hated having umpteen windows open when I'm working and researching several different things simultaneously. I also hated reading a text, clicking on a link, and immediately being taken somewhere else. I can't focus on a text when I'm forever being sent to hell and gone...

Apart from offering commiserations, though, I'm afraid I can't be terribly specific about how to tone down the tabbing behaviour as I, too, very rapidly tired of Firefox (for a myriad other reasons) and flushed it down the virtual lavatory. Nevertheless, if you mean that a new tab opens every time you click on a link and the new tab steals the focus (ie. you're looking at the new tab rather than the original one you were reading), then that can certainly be stopped. I'm afraid someone else will have to tell you how, though.

Good luck!

 

Hi Rob,

Neanderthal, indeed! I can't imagine using a browser without tabs, and even the Gnomes of Redmond finally saw the light, adding tab capability to IE7.

I've forgotten which browser you use, but I'll assume it's Firefox. As written, I don't believe FF (I'm using the current release, 2.0.0.3) provides options for single-window operation (which I assume you want) or to turn off tabs.

The Tab Mix Plus extension should give you something close to what you want, though. It provides an option to always open pages in the current tab, as well as an option not to display the tab bar, so it's as though you're in single-window operation. And, you still have the ability to right-click and choose "Open Link in New Window" or "Open Link in New Tab ".

HTH.

 

Rob,

You are missing the best part of Firefox, if you stop using Tabs. If you don't want to lose focus, then in
Tools | Options | Tabs, ensure that this setting is disabled: When I open a link in a new Tab, switch to it immediately

 

OK - bear with me, please - I am flying blind here - I know I could google my way to 'knowledge' of what's bothering me - but maybe one of you wise folks could cut thru the mustard and clear things up faster than the Google people

I started 'webbing' 10 years ago - I would open a 'page' - I found that if that was a page I wanted to refer back to easily (and not be prevented as I found some 'paths' did) - I would right click and open a 'new window'

Whenever I wanted to close a window - it closed

Some folks set up their pages to open new windows - as actually I did on our company's own web page - that has turned out to be a 50-50 matter of taste.

In any case - everything was - to me - simple -open windows and close windows - individually. No one decided anything for me - except the folks who opened new windows on their own pages - easy to deal with.

NOW - I have a whole forest of windows - with stop signs all over the place - and Hobson's choices to beat the band.

Could someone please set up a small - or large - scenario - showing where this new 'tab world' is so brilliant - and where I am missing out on a new generation of 'sliced bread' - ?. I hope it is not in 'organizing web pages' - as that sounds as appealing as organizing 10,000+ photos which I now have.

In sum - i was blissfully (?) ignorant before - and now there is a New World - and I have rather - seemingly - sailed off the edge. Enlightenment please.

 

Rob,

Scenario:
I browse several technical forms every day. Just for grins let's say I have 8 tech. forums, a jigsaw puzzle, and the Wall Street Journal open. If I had opened these 10 sites in 10 separate windows, it would be difficult to jump back and forth, opening and reopening windows.

However... I have the 10 sites open in 10 tabs, and all I have to do is click on the tab to jump from site to site. There is an "X" (Exit) on each tab, to close the tab when you have finished browsing the site.

Another lovely feature is once you open all the important sites that you browse, you can save this group of tabs as a Bookmark. When you open Firefox, you can click on that Bookmark, and all your sites will be there.

Even better, you can set your most frequently browsed tabs, which you have bookmarked, as your home page. Once Firefox is opened, the 10 tabs are there.

If you have something specific in mind, please tell us, and we can help you set it up.

What I really like about Tabs is when I'm looking at an appliance, or something similar, and can open Consumer Report's, or PCWorld Ratings page, then open the different retail sites in separate tabs, and jump back and forth in order to compare prices.

Another wonderful use, is when researching, and being able to open all the different links in tabs, without accidentally closing a window, and having to reopen the site. I can't imagine having this feature and not putting it to work for you. Try it, you'll like it!

 

Thanks much R - will drive it around the block and see what gives with this new fangled 'technology'

 

Tabs are an acquired task, but once you develop a flow, you become hooked. I use Tab Mix Plus, a Tabs extension which brings in numerous options. Example, when I have 10 tabs open, I can sweep my cursor over the Tabs and each tab auto-opens. With no required click on the tab for opening allows very fast moving from view to view. Another feature I like is how I close the tab(s). They have no "X's ", just have to touch the tab with my cursor, double click, whoosh, it's gone. Once you get your groove on with tabs, their is no going back.

 

I liked Tabbrowser Extensions better than TMP, but TBE hasn't been updated in over a year, and doesn't work with FF 2.x.

I seldom have that many tabs open, so I much prefer to click on a tab to activate it. I do have a close button on each tab and use it to close the tab. Diff'rent strokes ...

 

Rob,

Perhaps another way to look at it is: tabs are just another way of displaying more windows. Without tabs, each additional window got its own frame, title bar, tool bars, close and minimize buttons, etc., a complete, whole new window. You'd select the one you want to view, either by clicking on an exposed part of it, if there is one, or by finding and clicking its button on the task bar. To close one, you'd click on its close ('X') button.

With tabs, all of the new windows are displayed in the original frame, stracked one on top of another, conceptually. You select one to view by clicking on its tab. To close one, you'd right-click and select 'close tab', or click the tab by clicking the scroll wheel, if you have that kind of a mouse.

Otherwise, they work the same, and which one works better will be a matter of personal preference.

But it sounds as if you're being plagued by new windows you didn't want, and tabs vs. windows is just re-arranging deck chairs. The solution (if I've understood your problem) is going to involve understanding why you're getting so many new windows in the first place, regardless of where. Can you be more specific about what happens, and under what circumstances? (Or correct my mis-understanding, if I got it wrong)?

 

This is interesting re: Tabs vs Windows in Firefox

 

What I like most about tabs is, as was said above, navigating through x number of tabs is much easier than navigating through the same number of windows. This is especially helpful when I am working on one particular project, say, shopping for hard drives. I can have one Firefox window with all my other stuff, and another FF devoted to 7 or so tabs at sites where I can purchase a hard drive. I can easily shift from one tab to another, and then, when I'm done, I can just exit the window, and keep everything else I was doing alive.

It sounds like what you were describing, though, isn't a tab vs. window problem. If tabs are opening up that you don't want, or aren't clicking to open up, are you sure that this isn't being caused by an adware program on your computer? I don't recall any tabs opening up that I don't want--sometimes a new window will appear, the result of a popup/popunder ad.

 

Hey robfwoods:
There's a "Tab Killer" extension @ Firefox Addons that might work for you.