Tabbed browsing allows users to switch between multiple open web pages within a single browser window. It is useful for comparison shopping, research, and keeping track of multiple pages. Firefox was one of the first browsers to offer tabbed browsing, and it has since become a standard feature in most browsers.
Tabbed browsing is the ability to quickly switch between several open web pages within a single web browser window by clicking on tabs. Tabs appear in the browser window when more than one web page is open. Each open web page has its own tab, with the active tab showing its page “foreground”, the inactive tabs hidden behind. Clicking on a tab takes the user to that front page for quick viewing.
Tabbed browsing is extremely useful in a variety of situations. If you’re reading a web page and want to click on a link without losing your place, you can open the link in a tabbed window. After reading the link you can either close the tab or simply click on the original tab to return to the previous page, keeping both pages available. Tabbed browsing eliminates the need to repeatedly reload pages or use the “back” button.
Comparison shopping is also much easier using tabbed browsing. By opening several bargain-finding websites, you can easily refer to each other to see who has the best deal. Potential purchases can be left open in tabs while new tabs can be used to continue shopping. When done, the deal websites will still be there, just a click away. You can forget about having to navigate away from the pages of interest, only to have to go back!
Researchers really like tabbed browsing. Easily and quickly compare specs between competing products, review various FAQs, get customer and expert reviews, and keep all valuable information just a click away. Google for more information without missing pages and follow up on tangential leads when needed without worrying about straying too far from your chosen sources of information.
Mozilla’s free, open source Firefox has offered tabbed browsing since September 2002 (when it was called Phoenix, then Firebird, and finally Firefox), in part due to its extreme popularity among computer techs. Firefox add-ons make tabbed browsing even easier. With the click of a button, you can save tabbed sessions and finish shopping or searching when it’s convenient. The user can also assign a custom name to each saved session for easy reference. When you’re ready, click on the session name and Firefox will recreate the saved session for you, all tabs complete.
Probably, Booklink Inc. developed and released the first tabbed browser in 1994, called InternetWorks. This was followed in 1998 by Adam Stiles’ Simulbrowse which became NetCaptor, widely recognized as the “DNA” of modern tabbed browsing. Opera®, a paid browser at the time, began offering tabbed browsing in 2000, switching from a shareware to optional adware model, before dropping the adware model in 2005.
Most browsers today offer native tabbed browsing, while Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7.x requires a specially installed toolbar to implement it. The feature became standard in version 8.0 of that browser, released by Microsoft in 2009.
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