# Parenthetical number in front of tab title **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [March 7, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287 "2026-03-07T23:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/1 "2026-03-07T23:21:29Z")
I don’t actually know if this is a board feature, or a Chrome (OSX) feature, but… I currently have a threat open in a tab, that’s been open a while. Normally, the title of that tab is the same as the title of the thread, "Lateral Thinking Puzzles - ". But when I leave the tab open for a while in the background, a parenthetical number shows up at the start of the tab title: Like, right now it’s "(4) Lateral Thinking Puzzles - ". If I go to that tab, the parenthetical number disappears (until it eventually comes back and increments). What does this number mean? My first thought was number of new posts since I last saw the thread, except there aren’t any. New views, maybe? Something else? ---
**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:** [March 7, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/2 "2026-03-07T23:44:08Z")
It’s the number of new posts. I believe it’s since you last viewed the tab. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/3 "2026-03-07T23:53:42Z")
Except it’s not. It’s up to (4) again since I posted this, but the last post was by me, almost 27 hours ago. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/4 "2026-03-07T23:58:26Z")
IIRC, and if we’re talking about the same thing, that little number in parentheses is a count of new replies to you anywhere on the board (not necessarily in that thread) OR the number of new replies in any thread that you have set to “Watching”, which is the default for any thread you start. At least that’s the way it seems to work for me. I find it useful if I have a tab open to the SDMB but am working on something on another site in a different tab. I take the appearance of the number to mean “something needs your attention, probably a response to you”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/5 "2026-03-07T23:59:28Z")
Ah, so it has nothing to do with that particular tab, then. That’s certainly not intuitive. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/6 "2026-03-08T00:24:09Z")
Strangely, it’s not always consistent. It might only appear when the focus is on some other tab. It might also be theme-dependent – I’m using Straight Dope Light. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2026, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/7 "2026-03-08T04:13:26Z")
I was under the impression the two options were “number of posts since you left” or “number of notifications.” And since it goes away when you look, I assumed it was the former. I would have assumed the other option would just always be the same as the number in the upper right of the page. Tracking one number of notifications for the tab title and one on top of your user icon seems very strange. Yeah, in Preferences \> Interface, I have the “Background page title displays count of:” option set to “New Page Content.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenthetical-number-in-front-of-tab-title/1028287/8 "2026-03-08T19:30:37Z")
I had a (2) in front of the tab for my main page. When I went back from this thread I saw You have 2 new or unread threads. When I clicked that the number went away.