SOLVED

#tabsmustfall

Copper Contributor
Tl;dr
Tabs, and especially every browser maker's recent obsession with grouping them, is just silly. Over the decades, we've learnt that the ultimate navigation is Search and not wasting time clicking through "folders". Expecting users to spend time manually organising tasks is counter-intuitive.

With the explosion of Web, browsers have become extremely sophisticated in managing many (if not most) of our daily tasks. I often find myself with far more tabs open than apps running in my task bar. And more often than not, my task bar is rather empty while Alt+Tab doesn't cycle through anything specifically useful. Nowadays, it feels like Windows is just something I need for booting up; it's become entirely divorced from managing the things I'm really working on - my browser is greedily taking over those duties.

The idea behind Windows was intuitive; to help me manage my tasks. I'd expect Microsoft's Edge browser to build on that idea and provide an integrated, unmatched navigation system - this pairing, after all, is what gives Microsoft a true edge.

Instead of following what others are doing, do away with tabs altogether. They're just an inferior solution to a problem I don't have when working with separate windows.
9 Replies
What are you suggesting exactly?
remove tabs and use the browser address bar/omnibox to switch to different open web pages?

p.s the address bar already has a similar option. e.g. when you have an Instagram profile in a tab open and then type in the address bar "insta...", the browser offers you to switch to that tab.
Thanks for your reply, HotCakeX.

I'm suggesting that we go back to a time before browsers had tabs, altogether. That is, separate browser windows for what currently exist in a given tab. Therefore, browsing a new site means opening another Edge.

I personally wouldn't want that.
FWIW, people are usually asking for more tabs, not less. like tabs for file explorer, tabs for Office apps etc.

I do think tabs have a place for when the nature of the work is related. But browsers are special - the things I do in one tab typically has nothing to do with things I do in another.

Desktop apps seem to find their place in the task bar, but Web apps just don't - not unless we package them in special ways, anyway. For some reason, we access Web apps all from the same shell/window, and this is the very reason why we're faced with the problem of having to organise them in there in the first place.

best response confirmed by Biscuits24_ (Copper Contributor)
Solution

You can install your web apps in Edge and use them in separate window(s).

press Edge's (...) button => Apps => install this site as an app

 

edit: fixed typo

Thanks HotCakeX. This information is life changing! :beaming_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Oh, You're welcome :)
Hello,
there are many browsers out there with smaler or in some details bigger differences. Maybe Edge is not the right choice for your stlye of working. Have you had a look at other browsers like the chromium based „Sidekick“?
Best regards
Joe

@JoeGoerlich, thanks. It looks super cool - I'll definitely try it out!

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Biscuits24_ (Copper Contributor)
Solution

You can install your web apps in Edge and use them in separate window(s).

press Edge's (...) button => Apps => install this site as an app

 

edit: fixed typo

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