From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

Tabs provide a way of presenting more than one web page in a single browser window. Although a common feature in many web browsers, it will be new to former Internet Explorer users. They work in a similar way to the applications that appear on the Windows Task bar or Mac OS Dock while running, but by having them based entirely within the browser it can help you keep your virtual workspace tidier. You should note that using tabs is entirely optional, but do try it as it could revolutionise the way you work.

Working with tabbed browsing

Much of the tabbed browsing functionality (such as opening, closing and navigating tabs) can be achieved using mouse and keyboard shortcuts.

Extending tabbed browsing

Many users prefer to customize the tab function of Firefox with extensions, some of which (TabBrowser Preferences and Tab Mix) became extensive "tab operating systems" which were eventually incorporated in Firefox 1.5 as the features they provided became overwhelmingly popular. Users should note that these plugins contain mutually overlapping features, which can cause problems.

For a list of all Tabbed Browsing extensions see:

• Mozilla Update.

Tabbrowser Preferences

Provides a comprehensive UI for changing a number of the hidden tabbed browsing preferences in Firefox. It also provides the ability to control how internal and external links are opened in the browser and how the browser will react when links are sent to it.

• open URLs in the URL bar and searches from the search bar in new tabs
• open the homepage in every newly created tab
• select tabs by moving the mouse onto them, instead of clicking on them
• moving the tabbar to the bottom of the browser window
• opening URLs from the Extension/Theme Manager and the Help window in new tabs
• opening the throbber in a new tab
• control the focusing/unfocusing of various tab-creating functions, such as the File->New Tab command
• per-tab locking, to force left-clicked links to open in new tabs
• compatibility with Tab Clicking Options
• ability to drag and drop URLs on the new tab button on the tab bar
• ability to control focusing of newly created tabs
• ability to divert URLs away from popup windows (still under development)

These settings are now accessed through a preference panel in the Options dialog, located at Tools->Options (Windows) or Edit->Preferences (Linux).

Tab Mix

Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities with many features common to Tabbrowser preferences. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows.

Full Documentation in PDF

Articles in category "Tabbed browsing"