Ask HN: How do you cope with your browser tab overload?
We're a small startup in the process of building a Chrome browser extension to address tab-overload.
We realise there's been many attempts to solve this (OneTab et. al), but to us, they feel like they're just sweeping the problem under the rug. We're trying to work back to the root of the problem, so we have a question:
Do you find that your browser tabs continue to accumulate and multiply? If so, why do you think that is (i.e. do they stay open as a todo list?); and how do you deal with it right now?
Any insight you're able to share about this problem would be enormously helpful. We know it's a whopper, but we're determined to solve it and we need your help.
Thanks so much :)
P.S. We put together a more formal survey over here ( http://bit.ly/1lfTNMK ). If you'd like to beta test, or even play with some wireframes (brutally honest feedback is very welcome), just drop your answers and details into the form.
16 comments
[ 64.3 ms ] story [ 1210 ms ] threadAfter getting bored with Kippt I've gone back to bookmarking in Pinboard (wiped my account and trying to start fresh), but again I'm not really going back to things I've saved there. New idea - just radically cutting down the list of things I care about and being realistic about how many 5 page New York Times essays and 20 minute Medium posts I'm going to get around to reading - most of the internet is tldr anyway.
It seems that tabs as a "to read" use-case isn't one we're going to solve, as this is about self discipline. Either control your intake, or few tools such as Pocket as a StumbleUpon from your past self.
But managing tabs relating to directed search, or actionable tasks, is an interesting one to explore.
We're definitely still in the research phase of this problem, but thanks for weighing in :-).
The root of my issue is that I'm occasionally bad at managing my 'working memory' and worry too much about letting things go from it. I worry that if I let this cool new thing leave the forefront of my consciousness that I will never see it again. This fear causes worry and sadness.
I've been working recently to overcome this knee-jerk tendency.
At Work. I limit myself to one browser for the internet. This includes work research, news, and also HN (cant' quit). It is closed completely at the end of the day. If there really was some work related site i need to follow-up on. I simply leave myself a note to follow up on the task and not the specific website. If I need to find that, i trust my future self to remember, or look it up in the history.
At Home I'm less strict but still try to maintain one Chrome instance. I won't necessarily close it every night but I will review my open tabs before leaving. I try to make reasoned decisions to keep open, bookmark, or let go each tab. It's been a pretty successful project so far.
I consider in-built browser bookmarks to be all I need. If I bookmark anything, I assign it to some logical grouping of sites so I feel better about finding it later.
If I had some sort of magic button to whisk away my open tabs, I feel I would be missing out on a crucial activity; letting each thing go from my mind. I need to trust myself that if I really need this new framework for a future project, i'll find it if it's actually useful. I need to make decisions on whether to buy this thing or not instead of waffling and letting the tab rot.
At it's root, this is a human psychology problem and not a technical one. -my 2cents
I find there are times though, when gathering tabs is inevitable. Like when you're researching solutions to a problem and need to explore widely, before being able to filter your sources down.
I think our focus will be more about helping users filter tabs stemming from research—the letting go you speak of. These tabs tend to hang around because you're not sure whether they're relevant or not, until you've conducted further research.
I find that I navigate the web like this and a tree solution would be nice.
Have you found Tree Style Tabs has addressed most of your tab problem?
To be honest I use Chrome most of the time. My laptop's not particularly great and tends to slow to a crawl to tell me to control my tabs long before I get to a major problem. That's not to say I manage them well, I rely a lot on Chrome's history search and recent tabs, I close a lot of tabs I wish I hadn't.. the slow down really annoys me.
I answered your poll btw, looking forward to seeing what you come up with! :)
It for me it also replaces bookmarks, and does better tab crash recovery than the browser alone. I've used it to 'unload' an entire browser window with multiple tabs that encapsulates a particular mental state so I can concentrate on something else and then switch back to it with less difficulty than having to entirely rebuild that browser+mental state combination from scratch.
Nevertheless, I do find that tabs continue to proliferate. A bit more help to detect duplicate saved tabs, do automatic grouping, and integration with external tools meant for particular use cases (Pocket for stuff I want to read/watch later, pinboard for longer term/more structured categorization, etc.) would be welcome.
If you're curious, we've put together a summary of what other people have been saying: http://blog.twin.gl/post/82178923107/a-few-findings-on-tabs