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Ask HN: How many tabs do you have open?

6 points by redrubia ↗ HN
I'm curious if the number of tabs has increased over the years.

Check your tabs now - how many do you have open? How many do you average? Do you go looking through your tabs regularly, or start a new one?

If you have chrome + a mac, click on 'Tab' and you can see!

Thought of this from... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8163788

29 comments

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tomaszs
On average: calendar, communicator, application, documentation / search. It gives 4 cards open. Why not more? Because:

a) they drain memory and slow down the system b) but more importantly: more cards distract you and make it harder to find what you are looking for = worse productivity and quality

compressedgas
239 in 26 windows. This year the highest was 510 tabs in 72 windows. Of all time I have a session that had 2982 tabs in 127 windows.

Note that this session and most sessions anywhere near 500 tabs to have most of the tabs' renderers killed so really it never actually had all of its tabs loaded.

__d
It depends how long since I last restarted the browser.

Today, 87.

pwg
140 total tabs across 14 windows spread out over six virtual desktops.
vaccinator
you have a virtual desktop for each "subject"?
pwg
In general, yes, although there is a somewhat loose association of "subjects" to particular desktops.
vaccinator
11 but I just closed 30 tabs an hour ago...
markus_zhang
38 for learning/personal (left screen) and 21 for dev/company (right screen). But usually I only keep half of that number.
zzo38computer
Just this one. I don't usually open that many, and often do not have the web browser open at all. (It would be better to eliminate it even more, by using better protocols and file formats and user interfaces etc.)
tellarin
I have 153 tabs right now. All split into different windows representing "sessions". Personal, by topic, and a last one for breaks (where this HN tab is and it will be closed in ~6 min). I have 19 such session windows at the moment. And my browser is set to re-open state on launch.
lioeters
Average 1~5 tabs per window, with 1~3 windows for context (work/side projects/"news").

As they grow, I copy any "important" URLs to a text file or related Markdown notes, to which I return occasionally to grep or organize. I mercilessly close tabs/windows to minimum necessary for current focus. It's a harsh environment, ensuring the least distraction, and only the best URLs survive long-term. Most are forgotten or lost, leaving just a memory if any.

kevinherron
5. Not usually more than 10. I'm not a tab hoarder.
sharmi
I remember once reaching 600+ tabs at one point. I have reached 1000+ sometimes. I don't always keep count.

Firefox has been good, providing great performance inspite of my shenanigans.

Now I use a tab counting extension and a tab limiter extension to keep myself in check. The limit is 200. I find having too many tabs distracting nowadays.

croo
Me, 20 if I'm deep in something. I use Chrome and Firefox, both with and without incognito, so make that 30 across all browsers.

My wife on the other hand has ":D" number of tabs open as this is the number chrome shows on mobile after you hit 100.

We live in a happy marriage but once she is over 1000 tabs I'll consider divorce ;)

yamrzou
I currently have 1500+ open tabs on my smartphone.

The tab counter shows ":D", but I knew the number because I once accidentally closed all tabs and quickly restored them, so the browser told me that I had closed ~1500 tabs.

Let's not talk about the number of tabs and windows on my computer :D

I'm keeping them because I remember stumbling upon some interesting links that are hard to find again, and which require further action (like buying a book), so I'm planning to return to them in the future.

enonevets
Usually less than 10. On rare occasions, maybe more if necessary.
minerjoe
My browser, links2, has a limit of 10. I haven't been motivated enough to hack in some more, and I think the limit help keep me saner.
codegeek
About 10-15 on an average. My 7 year old says "too many dad" :)
tim44
41 over 5 windows. With whatever I'm doing at the time, I tend to keep those in a window. I've tried different extensions to keep track/save, but eventually have to bite the bullet and close whole windows after a quick looksy. 99% of the time I can immediately find what I've closed in one search, but that 1% is a bitch. If things get real bad, I might do a quick review and consolidation :) I never really don't have sessions open.