July 2nd, 2004

Filed under:
Technology
14 Comments »

Put Away Childish Things

I’ve carried on about Internet browsers before. But don’t take my word for it, the frickin’ Big Brother Gestapo Department of Homeland Security recommends that you don’t use Internet Explorer.

It’s time to grow up. Put aside that child’s browser. Today, in fact, right now, go download and install Firefox from the good people at Mozilla. Make a donation while you’re at it. I bought a nifty T-shirt. Not only is it faster, more secure and more standards-compliant than IE, you can now explore the wonder that is tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing profoundly changed the way I use the Web.

Comments: 14 Responses so far

Olaf
July 2nd, 2004
2:20 pm

Tabbed browsing is crack. I’m so hooked I find myself disregarding the lack of support for VBScript and ActiveX apps in Firefox vs. IE. I guess, though, if the Fed’s say to stop using IE, we should all obey }:-{>

Reply

Chris
July 2nd, 2004
2:31 pm

Tabbed browsing is only the way to go. I still have to use IE for some sites that don’t render correctly on Mozilla/FireFox.

Reply

Mel
July 2nd, 2004
7:07 pm

Mmm…Mozilla.

Reply

Jeff
July 3rd, 2004
7:21 pm

Enlightenment required/appreciated.

Can someone explain what the big deal with tabbed browsing is? I mean, yeah, multiple windows open, click and get another one – but how is that different from having multiple browser windows open on the task bar?

I’m sure it’s good, I just honestly have not figured out WHY just by trying it.

Reply

Chan
July 3rd, 2004
9:40 pm

Yes I’m with Jeff, what is the difference between tabs and different windows open?

I’ve d/l Firefox and am impressed with it’s speed, but would like some enlightenment also.

Reply

donna
July 4th, 2004
9:15 am

confession: I don’t really like tabbed browsing.

Of course, I’m also the person who setup IRC so that it opens each channel as it’s own program on the task bar. I like having everything out where I can see it…

Reply

John
July 4th, 2004
1:28 pm

Chan & Jeff & Donna: Tabs vs. Windows is a “different strokes for different folks” kinda thing. If somebody has to explain the advantages of tabs then you have a windows mindset — so stick to that; it’s a paradigm you enjoy. For everybody else, tabs is the way to go.

Darren: just now discovering tabs? Shame. Opera has had ‘em for years.

(btw … I _really_ wish the open source community would come up with something new instead of simply copying what’s already available from the proprietary source corporations. Open source people criticize MS for doing nothing new … well, look in the mirror, people.)

Reply

Darren
July 4th, 2004
5:16 pm

John: I’ve been a tabbed-browing man for maybe a year, now. I’m converted and there’s no going back.

Ye Non-Tabbed Browser Advocates: For me, tabbed browsing offers a very simple, but very important difference. In my experience, when I opened a link in a new window in IE, the new window always opens in front of my current window. Mozilla opens the new window in a tab behind the current page.

IE essentially assumes that I immediately want to read the link I’ve clicked on. That’s presumptuous, and generally wrong. More often I want to open that link, let it load in the background and continue reading the original page. At an appopriate time, I’ll switch to it and read it.

Additionally, you can open all of the bookmarks in a folder in tabs. This means that I can launch thirty tabs with the click of a button, and review them very quickly. I usually have at least 5-7 windows open on my taskbar at once, so adding more than a couple of browser windows can mess that up. Adding thirty would make it unusable. Donna, I know you’ve got a two-monitor setup, so this probably isn’t an advantage for you.

Reply

Vicki Smith
July 5th, 2004
5:32 am

Occasionally I have yammered on about FF and tabbed browsing and found that the unconvinced had not installed any of the extensions that make tabbed browsing the wonder it really is.

TabBrowser Preferences Extension, yummm.

Reply

Jeff
July 5th, 2004
6:20 am

Darren, when I click a link in FF, it simply opens a new window – not a new tab – I like that idea. I’ll play around in prefs and see if I can turn it on.

And Vicki, perhaps what I need is the tabBrowser Extension.

Reply

Darren
July 5th, 2004
8:07 am

Jeff: That’s the default functionality, I think. Try clicking the link with your middle (scroll-wheel) button. By default, I think that opens the link in a new tab.

Reply

Jeff
July 5th, 2004
1:14 pm

Well that works. Thanks! Now if only I could somehow make the left mouse button do the same thing. I don’t know how I’ll overcome 10 years of habitual left clicking – but it really is nice having those links load separately, and in the background.

So long IE, it’s been fun.

Reply

Augie De Blieck Jr.
July 6th, 2004
7:05 am

CTRL-Left click will also automatically open a link in a new tab. I switch between using that and Right Click – Open Link In New Tab. It’s such a minor mouse movement that it doesn’t bother me.

It’s ridiculous that IE doesn’t have tabbed browsing yet. (Nor a natice pop up blocker option, for that matter.) Tabbed browsing is, indeed, the only way to go. It’s much neater, also. You don’t have to alt-tab through a cycle of windows to find what you’re looking for, when you have all the tabs with their descriptions rigtht above the window you’re looking at right now.

One other thing I don’t thing Firefox gets enough credit for: Bookmark handling. It’s ten times easier than MSIE’s ugly excuse for a Bookmark Manager. Plus, you have the Search option on the bookmarks sidebar that’s helped me find a bookmark in a heartbet that would take too long to drill down torwards or got lost in a sea of other bookmarks in the same folder.

Reply

bree
July 9th, 2004
8:53 am

I downloaded FireFox, and so far it doesn’t hold up the experience I have using Avant Browser, which is also a tabbed browser. Avant has a ton of customizable preferences, and I’ve got it set up exactly as I like it. When I tried FireFox, I found it nearly as bland as IE. I’ll look into the extensions thing (Avant isn’t as stable as I’d like) but so far I just don’t get the hype.

Reply

Add a comment