# How many browser tabs do you have open right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 16, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411 "2010-06-16T11:55:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/21 "2010-06-17T17:43:09Z")
I try not to go much above 8 or 9 at a time. Whenever I feel I can get by for a while without a given tab, I’ll close it. I like how when there are only six tabs or fewer open, the red X to close them appears on each one, not just the focused one. I rarely have as few as 6 at a time, though. BTW, in Firefox keyboard switching between tabs is done with Ctrl+PageUp to go left, Ctrl+PageDwn to go right. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/22 "2010-06-18T03:25:26Z")
My standard tabs are Weather Underground local radar, cable tv listings, broadcast tv listings, Google Reader. So including the IMHO index page, 5. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/23 "2010-06-18T06:22:00Z")
I sometimes wind up as bad as the OP, and am frequently at 2 windows with multiple tabs, each, so surprisingly enough when I saw the poll, only 1! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/24 "2010-06-18T06:24:21Z")
Whoa, those are some insane options. Has anyone ever had 129 or more tabs open at once? Jesus. Anyway I really don’t like having too many open, and close ones I’m not using. I rarely have more than 6 or 7 open at a time (and at the moment only have 2). ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/25 "2010-06-18T06:27:24Z")
2, but I just closed 4 before I clicked on IMHO. I, at times, work on so many tabs that I open multiple windows - too many tabs in one browser makes it difficult to read what the tab contains. ---
**Author:** ![Sofis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sofis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofis)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/26 "2010-06-18T06:53:26Z")
1. It’s usually more, but I did some housekeeping recently. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/27 "2010-06-18T07:54:28Z")
26 open in Chrome right now. but it fluctuates during the day and I usually hover around 30-32. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/28 "2010-06-18T12:47:32Z")
When I come on I search for new posts and open up a tab for each page of new posts. In the morning that is 10 or 11. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/29 "2010-06-18T13:56:28Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > I didn’t vote, since there’s no “zero” option 🙂 From the OP: “A window with only one page on it counts as one tab.” > [@](#): > > I hate tabbed browsing with the fire if a thousand suns - open windows work the same way, so why duplicate? I can glance at my taskbar to see what’s open. Because Ctrl-Tab (with tabbed browsing) works better than Alt-Tab (with no tabbed browsing), as it doesn’t cycle through all the other programs I have open. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/30 "2010-06-18T19:11:00Z")
I think 5 or 6 is the most I’ve ever had open at one time. I currently have 2 open, just closed the third because I didn’t need it. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/31 "2010-06-18T20:52:44Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > I hate tabbed browsing with the fire if a thousand suns - open windows work the same way, so why duplicate? I can glance at my taskbar to see what’s open. Maybe if you’re running some ancient OS, but it doesn’t work that way on Windows 7. 😛 Better get with the times. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/32 "2010-06-18T21:09:42Z")
Nine at the moment in two windows, but I usually have more. When I’m doing something that uses a lot of tabs (like dredging for good fanfic on [FF.net](http://FF.net)), I give it its own window. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/33 "2010-06-18T21:58:35Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Maybe if you’re running some ancient OS, but it doesn’t work that way on Windows 7. 😛 Better get with the times. I have already informed my husband to stockpile his old PC parts. I will never go to Windows 7, because there is no Classic Start Menu. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/34 "2010-06-18T22:19:40Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > I have already informed my husband to stockpile his old PC parts. I will never go to Windows 7, because there is no Classic Start Menu. ☹ What exactly do you mean by classic? It’s a little different in every version but I don’t think the start menu is _that_ radically different. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/35 "2010-06-18T22:33:10Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > What exactly do you mean by classic? It’s a little different in every version but I don’t think the start menu is _that_ radically different. I mean the one I started using in Windows 95. Every time I upgrade, my first stop is right-click/Start/Explore, and I select the classic menu. It works perfectly for what I want it to do, and I see zero improvement in the newer versions. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/36 "2010-06-19T03:59:54Z")
Four, though I’ve had as many as 30. Things don’t start slowing down unless three or more contain Flash. And I have a single core, 32-bit processor with only 512MB of memory. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/37 "2010-06-19T22:18:37Z")
Three, which is lower than normal for me. Two in Firefox and one in IE. At a risk of hijacking the thread, I have recently started using Firefox and am disappointed in the number of web sites that do not work or have issues with it, and so I keep IE open for those (I keep OWA permanently open in IE). ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/38 "2010-06-20T15:52:54Z")
I do it just like **LSL Guy**. I’ll go to a particular forum, open all threads that look interesting, go through them, close them, move on to the next forum. Sometimes it get rather ridiculous when I’m on Wikipedia or something because I’ll open a new tab for any link that looks interesting… then suddenly, I find that I’ve got 30 tabs open… ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/39 "2010-06-20T16:13:51Z")
I start to feel wrong at four tabs. If I find that I’m getting too tab-heavy, I’ll either close them, or, if they’re tabs I keep open all the time, open a new window. Right now my “always open” tabs are two RPG’s I’ve been playing for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Dude111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@Dude111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dude111)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411/40 "2020-03-07T05:59:28Z")
I was just gonna post a thread like this but I figured I would search for an existing one first 🙂 Right now I have 3 tabs open… Why is there a poll on this thread?? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-browser-tabs-do-you-have-open-right-now/543411.md?page=3)