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12/31/2005: "Browser Tabs"
How I'm feeling: Annoyed
I read an article in November's Windows IT Pro about choosing the next generation of browser. The author, Mark Joseph Edwards, reviewed the upcoming versions of four different browsers: Opera, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Netscape. He concluded that Firefox is the best choice, mostly because of its customization, but that Netscape would be the best if you don't care about that.
I don't have a problem with his conclusions per se, but some of his criteria don't make sense. He kept bringing up the fact that all of the new browsers will allow tabs for each site you have open instead of different instances of your browser. The strange thing is that he seemed to think that tabs were a good idea. Well, they're not.
The biggest problem with tabs is that they use up some of your valuable "real estate". In other words, it's just another thing on your screen that has nothing to do with what you're looking at. I already limit the number of toolbars my browser shows and make sure that I'm using the smallest possible buttons I can. Why would I want to clutter up my screen with useless tabs when I have more than one site open?
The other problem is with switching. Most of you should know by now, that Windows allows you to easily switch between applications by using Alt+Tab. And if you hold the Alt button, you can tab between multiple programs easily. Well, if you're using tabs in your browser, you can't use Alt+Tab to switich between sites. You have to use Ctrl+Tab instead. While that doesn't seem like a big deal, you'll notice that hitting Ctrl+Tab is not as easy on your hand as Alt+Tab is. Rest the middle finger of your left hand on the Tab key. Where does your thumb naturally fall? Right. The Alt key. In order to get to the Ctrl key with your thumb, you've got to rotate your hand and tuck your thumb in. That kind of unnatural motion is what leads to repetitive stress disorder. And I guarantee that you can't hit Ctrl+Tab one-handed with one of those stupid "bowling glove" things.
The only "positive" thing that tabs do is remove extra entries on my taskbar. Whoopee-de-doo. 
Since I like as much real estate as I can get, I already have it auto-hide. Plus, WinXP allows you to group instances of programs together under one button, so I can have 100 browser windows open and still only use the space that one would take.
I defy anyone to give me a plausible reason of why tabs are necessary. To me, it's just another case of features that no one needs and only a few people even want. The ability to tab will be a comfort when someone is hacking into my computer because my browser security wasn't tight enough. 