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> Firefox invented tabs Wow, that's false. Firefox was NOT the first browser with tabs. From the top of my head, Opera had tabs before Firefox, confirmed by a
by thiht 4y ago
> Firefox invented tabs
Wow, that's false. Firefox was NOT the first browser with tabs. From the top of my head, Opera had tabs before Firefox, confirmed by a quick Google search. And apparently Opera wasn't the first browser with tabs either, although it was probably the first browser with a significant market share with tabs.
Also tabs were not invented by any browser, other programs used to have tabs before it was integrated into browsers.
- aliqot 4y agosimplebrowser had them before opera
- OrbiterToad 4y agodont know what kind of googling prodigies you are, but I googled 'first browser with tabs' and it says the InternetWorks Browser was the first
- runnerup 4y agoThey’re not googling. Google is useful but sometimes has incorrect answers. The truth is we probably won’t know the true first browser with tabs. It could have been before the one you found. These people are saying “I personally used browser Z with tabs before your example Browser A was even released”. If enough people continue the chain, we’ll get to “the oldest tabbed browser that anyone on HN remembers using”. The nice thing about these anecdotes is that they can generally be validated quickly and easily. But your google result cannot be validated easily.
- aliqot 4y agoyou know, you're alright with me
- WorldMaker 4y agoRelated to this, the first browser I experienced with tabs was a custom VB3 wrapper around shdocvw.dll (IE) somewhere around early Windows 9x that I wrote myself. I'm not suggesting I invented tabbed browsing and certainly that VB project never influenced anyone else, I just find it a fun anecdote.
- fencepost 4y agoThe easiest way to track it down isn't looking for the oldest memory. It's looking for reviews of Firefox when tabs were added and looking for the ones that complain about that earlier browser doing it better.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- imiric 4y agoWay to jump in with a quick retort, when GP already conceded that Opera wasn't the first browser with tabs. But it was arguably the first browser that popularized tabs. Besides, their point was refuting the "Firefox invented tabs" statement, which is valid.
- aliqot 4y agolisten here poindexter if you're feelin froggy you can @ me in the parking lot about it and we can nerd out
- isleyaardvark 4y agoIt’s only a “retort” if you read it uncharitably, and there’s no reason to do that.
- hjkl0 4y agoI have a feeling it was either omniweb or icab. But I’m probably wrong. And anyway, tabs existed in other applications before browsers adopted, rather than invented, them. Right?
- geenew 4y agoThere's also the antecedent called the Mozilla Suite, that Firefox branched off from. It still lives on, somewhat zombie-like, as the Seamonkey Suite.
- jokethrowaway 4y agoI think tabs are a terrible ideas (and I have probably more than 200 opened right now). I think the browser should just make windows and it should be the window manager responsibility to group them in tabs or show them side to side or do whatever it's needed. Same for code editors. I often times need to group together tabs from different applications and that's obviously impossible.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]