Like many technologists, I spend a lot of time on the Web. Much too much for my liking. Searching for information, following digital trails and finally consuming it.

The primary search generally begins via a search engine and may occasionally involve a fine tuning of the search query for better results. Not too bad in itself. The next step to reach the actual information is where is fun really begins. Click-click-click. First level pages open up. As one quickly scans them, bright blue (generally) links tempt us to click on them in our quest for information. Click, click, click… and before you know it, your desktop is literally littered with windows, consuming resources, distracting you and confusing you.

Unless of course, you happen to be using a browser that supports tabbed browsing (or tab browsing). In such a browser, a single window can contain multiple pages. Every page loaded in its own tab and is reachable with a single mouse click. The open page is your active page. The benefits are tangible and immediate. No new windows, no taskbar clutter, less confusion. It gets better. Its possible to configure the browser, so that links clicked on the active page open up in new tabs, in the background, while you continue to read. Which means they are ready for you when you want them, saving time and increasing efficiency.

I’m a power user and I use this feature a LOT. If your browser doesn’t support tabs, I suggest you dump it and try one that does (everything else being equal, of course). On my linux desktop, Konqueror was my browser of choice for a long, long time. Since a while ago though, I’ve been using Mozilla’s Firefox (previously known as Firebird). Its a great browser and I’m pretty certain that its here to stay. Firefox is available for the MS Windows variants, Mac OS and Linux - in case you are interested, download it and take it for a spin.

Inspite of all the advantages of tabbed browsing, I still manage to build up one hell of a intra-cluttered tabbed window. Often enough.

Example scenario 1
I open up a site, say Slashdot and check out the recent entries. I middle-click on a link to open it in tab 1, in the background. As I continue to scan the page, I see something else of interest and middle click that to open it in tab 2.

Then I move over to tab 1 and start reading. As is the case with a lot of slashdot discussions, I come across various other links that look interesting. (Middle) click-click-click. All loading in the background, in new tabs. After finishing the page, I switch to tab 2. The same thing happens. Before I realize, two postings have resulted in many tabs. Now imagine, if I had opened up five links initially. Just how many tabs would I end up with? You see what I am leading up to? I have a feeling that a lot of other power users possibly find themselves in similar scenarios.

And so?

I’d like to propose an enhancement. Grouped Tabbed Browsing (GTB). The principle is simple: A group tab contains multiple other member tabs.

Currently, I sometimes avoid tab clutter, by opening up a top level link in a new browser window (instead of a tab) and then tab browse within the new window. This window thus serves effectively as container (or a group tab) for a related set of tabs. This is a work around. IMO, a group tab solution, which seems like a logical progression, would be a more elegant approach. As illustrated below.

Example scenario 2
You come across a topic which you feel may have a lot of other related pages and you’d like to keep them together. You are on link number 1 and you decide that you’d like this to be part of its own group. Okay, so instead of middle-click, you do <Some Key>+Middle Click, and voila, it opens up in a new group tab. All subsequent middle clicks work as normal, opening up tabs in the background and automatically associating them with the current group tab. You want another group? No problems. <Some Key>+Middle Click…

Clicking on one of multiple group tabs, would make it active and fill the browser window with all its member tabs. The other tabs would disappear into their group tab, thus reducing clutter and improving organization. The group tab could also be used to conveniently control all other members of the group. Say bookmark all pages of a group. Or close or save or maybe forward them all.

One would need to think this entire thing through in more detail, but these are top of mind ideas. Are the nice people at Mozilla listening? :)

This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2004 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.