Supercharge your surfing with tabbed browsing
Published: December 5, 2005
By Sandi Hardmeier
Internet Explorer is 10 years old this year. Although several versions of the browser have been released since its original debut, the browser's look and feel has not changed all that much over the years.
Internet Explorer 7 will be the biggest change to the user experience since Internet Explorer 4 with Active Desktop was released in 1997. The most obvious, and most requested, improvement to Internet Explorer 7 is the introduction of tabbed browsing.
What is Tabbed Browsing?
According to Wikipedia, tabbed browsing first appeared back in 1994. It proved to be very popular with the Internet surfing public at large and was adopted by many different Web browsers. Instead of using a separate window for each open Web page (which can clutter up your taskbar with lots of buttons), tabbed browsing makes it possible to have multiple Web pages open in just one window.
It is important to note that this article discusses tabbed browsing as it appears in Beta 1 of Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP, and Build 5231 on Windows Vista. The look and feel, features and behavior of tabbed browsing may change by the time the final version of Internet Explorer 7 is released.
Internet Explorer 7 is the first version of the popular Web browser to feature tabbed browsing.
Working with Tabs
Opening Tabs
When a new session of Internet Explorer is started it will open one Tab displaying your choice of home page. To the right of this Tab is a second smaller Tab (marked with a starburst and cursor in the screenshot above).
Click on that small Tab to open a new Tab. Alternatively, right click on any open Tab and select New Tab from the context menu that appears. A third option is to use the (ctrl T) key combination. These new Tabs will always open in the foreground.
If you wish to open a new Window instead of a new Tab, the (ctrl N) key combination will open a new Internet Explorer window with a Tab already open to your home page.
New Tabs open to about:blank with the address bar already highlighted, allowing us to quickly enter the URL that we want to visit. Duplicate content in new windows, a common complaint about new windows opened in Internet Explorer 6 and earlier, is no longer an issue.
Tip: Those who are not able to update to Internet Explorer 7 can install an alternative protection such as such as SpoofStick or the EarthLink toolbar. Users of Windows XP Service Pack 2 can download and install the Microsoft Phishing Filter Add-in for the MSN Search Toolbar.
Tab Groups
Tab Groups is the new name for subfolders in your Favorites directory. Internet Explorer 7 introduces the ability to open all Tabs in a subfolder in the Favorites folder at the same time. Open the Favorites Explorer Pane then click on the arrow that appears on the right hand edge of the pane. All URLS in that folder will open at the same time.
Grouped Tabs allow us to open several pages at the same time.
Creating a Tab Group
Make sure that you have only those pages which you want to save as a Group open. Right click any open Tab then select the option Add Current Tabs to Favorites.
Quickly create Tab Groups.
Closing Tabs
Click on the X button to right of screen to close the active Tab or use the (ctrl W) keyboard combination. Alternatively, right click on any tab then select Close or Close Other Tabs.
Reloading Tab content (refreshing a Web page)
The keyboard command F5 still works, as does the forced refresh (Ctrl F5). Alternatively, we can right click on a Tab and select Refresh or Refresh All.
Navigating between Tabs
Simply click on any Tab to view its contents. If you prefer to use your keyboard, the shortcut keys for navigating Tabs are as follows: use the (ctrl tab) key combination to jump from left to right one Tab at a time, and use the (ctrl shift tab) key combination to jump right to left one Tab at a time.
There is a minimum width for Internet Explorer Tabs. Once that minimum width is reached, pre-existing Tabs are pushed out of sight to the left or right of the screen. The method of accessing these hidden Tabs changes depending on what version of Internet Explorer 7 you are using.
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 on Windows XP:
It is not possible to jump to the far left or far right Tabs when they are hidden off screen. We must click on the last Tab on either edge of the screen and then use (ctrl tab) or (ctrl shift tab) to reach the Tabs which are off screen.
Internet Explorer 7 Build 5231 on Windows Vista:
Use the (ctrl 1) key combination to jump to the far left Tab. Use the (ctrl 0) key combination to jump to the far right Tab. Use the (ctrl 2), (ctrl 3), (ctrl 4) etc (all the way up to ctrl 9) to navigate to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th (etc) Tabs. Note: these key combinations may change in later builds of IE7.
Quick Tabs
Quick Tabs is a special window in which a thumbnail views of all open Web pages is displayed. It is accessed by clicking on the Quick Tab icon to the left of the open Tabs.
The Quick Tab icon.
We can jump to any Tab by clicking on its thumbnail in the Quick Tabs window and can close any Tab by clicking on its close (x) button. By right clicking on any thumbnail we can reload (refresh) an individual page, or all open pages.
The Quick Tabs window displays a thumbnail view of all open Tabs.
The Quick Tabs icon also maintains a drop down list of all open Tabs which is accessed by clicking on the down arrow on its right edge. We can jump to any Tab via this list.
Navigating Web Pages - Hyperlinks
One of three things will happen when we click on a hyperlink in Internet Explorer 7; the page will load in the current Tab, the page will load in a new Tab, or the page will open in a new window, depending on how a Web pages designer codes a particular hyperlink.
If you wish to control what happens when you click on a hyperlink right click on the link and then select Open in New Tab or Open in New Window. If you select the first option, the default behavior is for the Tab to open in the background so that you can continue reading your current page undisturbed while the new Tab downloads. If you select the second option the link will, of course, open in a new window (with its own button on the Taskbar). The window will open on top of the originating window.
If you want all Tabs to open in the foreground, no matter how they are triggered, you will need to adjust Internet Explorer's default settings. Click on Tools, then Internet Options, then navigate to the Advanced tab. Turn on the option to Always switch to new tabs when they are created.
Internet Explorer 7 supports middle mouse button navigation. By using your middle mouse button (or scroll wheel) to click on a hyperlink button you will open the hyperlink in a new Tab. If you want to open a hyperlink in a new window, hold down the shift key then use the middle mouse button to click on the hyperlink.
Don't want Tabs? Turn them off
Tabbed browsing can be turned on and off via a check box that is accessed in different ways depending on what version of the Internet Explorer beta that you are using. When using Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 we click on Tools then Internet Options. Navigate to the Advanced Tab and scroll down to the section headed Tabbed browsing.
Internet Explorer Beta 1 includes basic Tab controls.
For Build 5231 on Windows Vista the Tabbed Browsing Settings are accessed by clicking on Tools, then Internet Options then navigating to the General Tab. The same dialogue box also controls Quick Tabs and how pop-up windows are displayed.
Build 5231 introduces more comprehensive Tab controls.
Adding Tabs to Older Versions of Internet Explorer
If you're using an older version, prior to Internet Explorer 7, it is possible to add Tabs to the Web browsing experience by installing a third party product such as Maxthon, Avant Browser or Crazy Browser. Maxthon and Avant are available via Windows Marketplace and Crazy Browser can be downloaded from its home site.
If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2003 Service Pack 1, or Windows XP (64 bit) I recommend that you install Internet Explorer 7 rather than depend on third party products to give you tabbed browsing, so that you can take advantage of all the other improvements that will be part of the new browser. For detailed information about the improvements that are part of Internet Explorer 7, and to download the most recent version of the software, please visit the Internet Explorer 7 homepage: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx.
