6 ms·

120 tabs?! What for?!

by curiousgal 10y ago

setq 10y ago
I do this. It's a curse. I don't know why.
- Buge 10y ago
  I once had 1000 tabs open in firefox. I only found out when I accidentally clicked the x and it asked "are you sure you want to close 1000 tabs".
wiredfool 10y ago
Tabs are the new bookmarks.
- tdkl 10y ago
  Sadly they aren't bookmarks and then people moan about memory usage, when they should get a reality check instead.
  - to3m 10y ago
    I don't know if you're familiar with the ins and outs of writing computer programs, but it's actually often practical to make a program that does one thing do another instead. So in this case one obvious thing that could be done is to have a dormant-type (exact terminology TBC) tab. Such things would have an entry on the tab bar like a normal tab, but wouldn't actually have anything loaded until you clicked. Firefox already supports this sort of thing internally, it looks like, since when you reload a session that had a bunch of open tabs, it doesn't seem to load each tab's contents until you click on it. (Open such a thing with a particular shortcut, or by transforming an existing tab into a dormant one - obviously equivalent in terms of JS callbacks and so on to closing the window.) Other possibilities could include multiple types of tabs, and/or alternative UIs for lists of pages you like/pages you want to look at sometime soon.
    - curiousgal 10y ago
      >it's actually often practical to make a program that does one thing do another instead Like using Photoshop to abort a system shutdown if you forgot to commit.[0] 0.https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-greatest-software-misuses/answer/Sourabh-Singh-2 https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-greatest-software-misuses...
      - hugodahl 10y ago
        On Windows, using the built in notepad, you can block any shutdown by having an instance pen with any unsaved changes. Handy when Windows schedules a reboot and you've got your debugging session setup just right.
        Tempest1981 10y ago
        I read that Win10 will still force a scheduled reboot, even with unsaved documents: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/3hb614/windows_10_automatic_updates_restarting_computer/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/3hb614/windows_10...
  - robotresearcher 10y ago
    Now we know how people behave we can engineer the software to work well for them. Suspend the LRU tabs so they can be paged out, etc.
  - PeCaN 10y ago
    just curious if you've ever used a computer Pretty sure users aren't the ones that need a reality check, go fuck yourself.
    - grzm 10y ago
      go fuck yourself Please don't be uncivil on HN, regardless of the discussion.
      - PeCaN 10y ago
        go fuck yourself
    - sctb 10y ago
      We've banned this account for repeatedly violating the guidelines after we've asked you to stop. This account has posted a lot of decent comments, so we'd be very glad to unban it if you email hn@ycombinator.com and we believe you'll stop breaking the guidelines.
- sker 10y ago
  They're better. If I bookmark something with any service, chances of me ever checking that out again drop to nearly zero. Tabs, by virtue of being there bugging you, are bookmarks, to-do lists, and task reminders all in one.
  - truth_sentinell 10y ago
    No, they aren't. I don't know about you, but I can't have more than 20 tabs open and consciously be aware of the content. I can't think of people like above, having 120 tabs. It's probably a waste of time and resources. First because you can't possibly hold in your memory 120 tabs, thus you'll have to visit them or read the title to remind you why is it there on the first place. With bookmarks at least you can use the search bar... So it ends up being counterproductive.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - xorxornop 10y ago
      Naw, at least with me I seem to be able to by treating the tab ordering as a conceptual discovery ordering. That is, I remember what things I learned / researched prior to and following each tab. It's lossy, but because each has a unique relationship with its surrounding concepts there's plenty of opportunities for parity-like behaviour; redundancy. When researching a thing I'll open up some high level page about it, then do breadth-first searches of tab contents, opening up new tabs whenever I see something that looks interesting, has wider implications, or possibly has some weaker relationship to a thing with one or both of those properties and I think I might be able to traverse the concept graph this way to find it / them. So I end up with a sort of flat tree where it corresponds almost directly to my earlier thought graph which produced them. I can work with maybe 200 this way... But not more. Unless I open them in different windows - sometimes different browsers, actually, to help further differentiate/compartmentalise them (eg. I'll use this strategy for largely disparate topics). Then, well, I'm not sure where I top out, all I can say is I once crashed my box from out of memory (not running swap), and it's a 32GB box soooo... I dunno. There are likely many others that work this way. Perhaps it's not common, but I also feel that it's very unlikely unique!
spacehacker 10y ago
I personally use tabs like a desktop with all kinds of papers, documents and books flying around. Sort of like this: https://s15.postimg.org/dpq7mpmaz/messydesk.jpg https://s15.postimg.org/dpq7mpmaz/messydesk.jpg
- srathi 10y ago
  That seems like Einstein's desk. Is that correct? I remember seeing this picture before.
Theodores 10y ago
Sometimes I open 100 or so tabs to do repetitive stuff I cannot code, data entry work that won't be easily automated or needs the human touch, e.g. updating a product catalogue. On top of the 10-50 tabs open that gets to be a lot of heavy pages but makes for an efficient workflow. With hot keys and 'close all tabs to the right' I can quickly get through a lot of stuff that needs attention to detail and focus to get done. All I am saying is that there are situations when a lot of tabs is the best option given the circumstances, e.g. lots of data entry work.
Theodores 10y ago
Sometimes I open 100 or so tabs to do repetitive stuff I cannot code, data entry work that won't be easily automated or needs the human touch, e.g. updating a product catalogue. On top of the 10-50 tabs open that gets to be a lot of heavy pages but makes for an efficient workflow. With hot keys and 'close all tabs to the right' I can quickly get through a lot of stuff that needs attention to detail and focus to get done. All I am saying is that there are situations when a lot of tabs is the best option given the circumstances, e.g. lots of data entry work.

120 tabs?! What for?!

setq 10y ago

I do this. It's a curse. I don't know why.

Buge 10y ago
I once had 1000 tabs open in firefox. I only found out when I accidentally clicked the x and it asked "are you sure you want to close 1000 tabs".

wiredfool 10y ago

Tabs are the new bookmarks.

tdkl 10y ago
Sadly they aren't bookmarks and then people moan about memory usage, when they should get a reality check instead.
- to3m 10y ago
  I don't know if you're familiar with the ins and outs of writing computer programs, but it's actually often practical to make a program that does one thing do another instead. So in this case one obvious thing that could be done is to have a dormant-type (exact terminology TBC) tab. Such things would have an entry on the tab bar like a normal tab, but wouldn't actually have anything loaded until you clicked. Firefox already supports this sort of thing internally, it looks like, since when you reload a session that had a bunch of open tabs, it doesn't seem to load each tab's contents until you click on it. (Open such a thing with a particular shortcut, or by transforming an existing tab into a dormant one - obviously equivalent in terms of JS callbacks and so on to closing the window.) Other possibilities could include multiple types of tabs, and/or alternative UIs for lists of pages you like/pages you want to look at sometime soon.
  - curiousgal 10y ago
    >it's actually often practical to make a program that does one thing do another instead Like using Photoshop to abort a system shutdown if you forgot to commit.[0] 0.https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-greatest-software-misuses/answer/Sourabh-Singh-2 https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-greatest-software-misuses...
    - hugodahl 10y ago
      On Windows, using the built in notepad, you can block any shutdown by having an instance pen with any unsaved changes. Handy when Windows schedules a reboot and you've got your debugging session setup just right.
      - Tempest1981 10y ago
        I read that Win10 will still force a scheduled reboot, even with unsaved documents: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/3hb614/windows_10_automatic_updates_restarting_computer/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/3hb614/windows_10...
- robotresearcher 10y ago
  Now we know how people behave we can engineer the software to work well for them. Suspend the LRU tabs so they can be paged out, etc.
- PeCaN 10y ago
  just curious if you've ever used a computer Pretty sure users aren't the ones that need a reality check, go fuck yourself.
  - grzm 10y ago
    go fuck yourself Please don't be uncivil on HN, regardless of the discussion.
    - PeCaN 10y ago
      go fuck yourself
  - sctb 10y ago
    We've banned this account for repeatedly violating the guidelines after we've asked you to stop. This account has posted a lot of decent comments, so we'd be very glad to unban it if you email hn@ycombinator.com and we believe you'll stop breaking the guidelines.
sker 10y ago
They're better. If I bookmark something with any service, chances of me ever checking that out again drop to nearly zero. Tabs, by virtue of being there bugging you, are bookmarks, to-do lists, and task reminders all in one.
- truth_sentinell 10y ago
  No, they aren't. I don't know about you, but I can't have more than 20 tabs open and consciously be aware of the content. I can't think of people like above, having 120 tabs. It's probably a waste of time and resources. First because you can't possibly hold in your memory 120 tabs, thus you'll have to visit them or read the title to remind you why is it there on the first place. With bookmarks at least you can use the search bar... So it ends up being counterproductive.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - xorxornop 10y ago
    Naw, at least with me I seem to be able to by treating the tab ordering as a conceptual discovery ordering. That is, I remember what things I learned / researched prior to and following each tab. It's lossy, but because each has a unique relationship with its surrounding concepts there's plenty of opportunities for parity-like behaviour; redundancy. When researching a thing I'll open up some high level page about it, then do breadth-first searches of tab contents, opening up new tabs whenever I see something that looks interesting, has wider implications, or possibly has some weaker relationship to a thing with one or both of those properties and I think I might be able to traverse the concept graph this way to find it / them. So I end up with a sort of flat tree where it corresponds almost directly to my earlier thought graph which produced them. I can work with maybe 200 this way... But not more. Unless I open them in different windows - sometimes different browsers, actually, to help further differentiate/compartmentalise them (eg. I'll use this strategy for largely disparate topics). Then, well, I'm not sure where I top out, all I can say is I once crashed my box from out of memory (not running swap), and it's a 32GB box soooo... I dunno. There are likely many others that work this way. Perhaps it's not common, but I also feel that it's very unlikely unique!

spacehacker 10y ago

I personally use tabs like a desktop with all kinds of papers, documents and books flying around. Sort of like this: https://s15.postimg.org/dpq7mpmaz/messydesk.jpg https://s15.postimg.org/dpq7mpmaz/messydesk.jpg

srathi 10y ago
That seems like Einstein's desk. Is that correct? I remember seeing this picture before.

Theodores 10y ago

Sometimes I open 100 or so tabs to do repetitive stuff I cannot code, data entry work that won't be easily automated or needs the human touch, e.g. updating a product catalogue. On top of the 10-50 tabs open that gets to be a lot of heavy pages but makes for an efficient workflow. With hot keys and 'close all tabs to the right' I can quickly get through a lot of stuff that needs attention to detail and focus to get done. All I am saying is that there are situations when a lot of tabs is the best option given the circumstances, e.g. lots of data entry work.

Theodores 10y ago