On The Insider: Barbara Walter's Most Fascinating of 09
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I have.
In my experience, the reason most people like tabbed browsers is because they solve problems with the TASKBAR. A tabbed browser doesn't clutter your taskbar, and the tabs are easier to use than taskbar buttons.

The taskbar comes in the wrong place. It's horizontal, so your buttons are never the same width unless you only have two or three things open. You can't fit many icons in your QuickLaunch bar or system tray. The start button is in the single most inconvenient area of the screen to click. And if you're auto-hiding your taskbar, it slows down your access to it.

Now take your taskbar, drag it to the right hand side of your screen, and resize it until the "Start" button is just barely large enough to still say "Start". Use THAT for a couple of days. Notice how many buttons can fit on the taskbar now. Notice how when you shove your mouse out of the way to work on something, it goes right to the start button and all your taskbar buttons. Notice how it's easier to point your mouse vertically than horizontally, so you click the wrong button a lot less often. Notice how it's easier to visually scan the screen horizontally than vertically, so it's easier to *look* at the taskbar here.

And now that the taskbar works so much better, you'll start to find that tabbed browsing is somewhat more annoying than IE-style browsing with multiple windows. A tabbed browser is just one button on the taskbar, which is nice when you can't fit many buttons there -- but now that you have more than enough space to stack up buttons on the taskbar, it becomes a serious bother to click on your browser and *then* click on a tab. IE puts a button on the taskbar for every page, so you can click once to go right to the desired page immediately.

Is tabbed browsing worthless? Of course not.
Tabbed browsers are EXCELLENT for development. By saving out a group of pages representing a complete project, you can change a CSS file and then load that group of pages to click through and make sure they all look okay with the new styles. You can't do this very easily with IE.

Which is exactly why Visual Studio .NET and FrontPage have tabbed browsing. It's great when you're developing web sites. When you're looking at them... well, not so much.
Posted by: CDarklock   Posted on: 03/05/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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dictate procurement practices that disadvantage proprietary software  NemesisNL | 03/02/04
Commodities  wploger | 03/02/04
Err... Hmm. Cost Savings?  Max Llamaton | 03/02/04
I have three computers....  wploger | 03/02/04
I think the point he was making...  Mark Miller | 03/07/04
Re: Err...Hmm. Cost Savings?  Mack DaNife | 03/09/04
my post...  wploger | 03/02/04
I Agree  coffeenite | 03/03/04
you're right  ryusen | 03/03/04
A bit late to the party...Proprietary == Open Source  Fred Fredrickson | 03/08/04
Let them eat straw?  Robert Crocker | 03/02/04
I *agree* with John's points, I think?!  jim_oflaherty_jr | 03/03/04
I disagree with one aspect  Chad_z | 03/02/04
If Windows was value for money MS wouldnt be giving local discounts  jellyclock | 03/02/04
John doesn't want to admit that  Bobby Sskcat | 03/02/04
Local discounts  Ardian Daka | 03/02/04
yes  Hanover Phist | 03/02/04
No!  CDarklock | 03/04/04
You describe drugs very well  voska | 03/04/04
This is called "capitalism".  CDarklock | 03/03/04
Software has a differnt angel though  voska | 03/03/04
Lock-in  CDarklock | 03/04/04
That's not really the Lock In I'm thinking of  voska | 03/04/04
I don't call that lock-in.  CDarklock | 03/05/04
Is it just me?  Mack DaNife | 03/09/04
Well this article really takes the cake  Aphelion | 03/02/04
The King's taster...  techboy_z | 03/02/04
Fallacy of Four Terms  rp518dan | 03/02/04
Very well done!  John Le'Brecage | 03/02/04
Why it isn't so  OleAndersen | 03/02/04
I couldn't have said it better!!!  nachokb | 03/03/04
The GPL is Just Plain Bad for the Computer Industry  P. Douglas | 03/02/04
But that's exactly the point  rapson | 03/02/04
Wrong industry  Robert Crocker | 03/02/04
Re: GPL Bad or Good for the Industry  criderja | 03/02/04
In the words of Ed McMann.....  Ployd_Farker | 03/02/04
So, I agree the GPL is bad for that small segment of the computer industry  NemesisNL | 03/02/04
Re: GPL Bad or Good for the Industry  P. Douglas | 03/02/04
You answered you own question  voska | 03/03/04
as the innovations just wouldn?t be there  NemesisNL | 03/02/04
Re: Biggest drive for MS to innovate there is  George Jay | 03/02/04
innovation?  mdibergi | 03/02/04
It's one reason I don't use IE  voska | 03/03/04
Odds that this person never used a tabbed browser?  hlampert | 03/05/04
I have.  CDarklock | 03/05/04
This is the reason for my initial interst in Linux  k12linux_z | 03/02/04
Innovation comes from need  voska | 03/03/04
Very insightful  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 03/04/04
intellectual property...  Not average Joe | 03/02/04
ibm's doing just fine, so's hp  hipparchus | 03/02/04
Myths, Fallacies and innacuracies  k12linux_z | 03/02/04
No competence??  nachokb | 03/03/04
Are you as upset with people posting free recipes on the net?  voska | 03/03/04
Open source is PC Industry's Father  NoDough | 03/03/04
Re: Open source is PC Industry's Father  P. Douglas | 03/04/04
Re: Re: Open source is PC Industry's Father  NoDough | 03/04/04
You don't understand the GPL  Fred Fredrickson | 03/08/04
Re: The GPL is Just Plain Bad for the Computer Industry  Mack DaNife | 03/09/04
Re: Cake analogy  criderja | 03/02/04
Cake is essentially zero  voska | 03/03/04
John, why don't you write a piece on...  ordaj@... | 03/02/04
I'm not a programmer, but I take advantage of source code.  Michael Kelly | 03/02/04
John Carroll - too much money-care to see a bigger picture.  Vily Clay | 03/02/04
Yawn, not this again John  hipparchus | 03/02/04
Extremely boring  zd-spam | 03/02/04
Preaching to the bakers?  No_Ax_to_Grind | 03/02/04
Not really  Robert Crocker | 03/02/04
Doesn't makes sense  voska | 03/03/04
Hey I used to be a baker  voska | 03/03/04
Newsflash: Carrol allegory ignores history.  John Le'Brecage | 03/02/04
Poor analogy  dcarrera | 03/02/04
A Better Analogy  CT_z | 03/02/04
Even cake is open source  billmason | 03/02/04
Ingredients are not the recipe  voska | 03/04/04
Like it or not  qu1j0t3 | 03/02/04
Excellent  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 03/03/04
Good luck!  John Le'Brecage | 03/03/04
Yes...  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 03/03/04
that explains alot  ryusen | 03/03/04
man i bet your dying....  JoeMama_z | 03/03/04
Me too it seems  JoeMama_z | 03/03/04
nog...  ryusen | 03/03/04
Man, that was painful  Eggs Ackley_z | 03/04/04
Analogy applies to RMS only - NOT to open source  Eggs Ackley_z | 03/03/04
What is going on here?  r0ckflite | 03/03/04
A very workable analogy  voska | 03/03/04
couldn't agree more  fosterd42 | 03/03/04
Open Source Vs. Proprietary  JoeMama_z | 03/03/04
More like civil disobedience....  NemesisNL | 03/04/04
Very nearly.  CDarklock | 03/04/04
John Le'Brecage is correct, but John Carroll means well...  awaretek | 03/04/04
The Passion of RMS?  hlampert | 03/05/04
Yes, intersting comments...  awaretek | 03/05/04
To those who care  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 03/05/04
Moving the goalposts again?  Robert Crocker | 03/08/04
only from john (NT)  JWatson77 | 03/05/04
Using a bad analogy doesn't prove your point  hlampert | 03/05/04
Good analogy happy  Mark Miller | 03/07/04
Open source radicals  msulli27@... | 03/12/04

What do you think?

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