# To Open A New Browser Window Or Not? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2014, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691 "2014-02-19T07:16:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/1 "2014-02-19T07:16:30Z")
I have been on the internet for over 10 years now. And I like to think I am _fairly_ internet and computer savvy. But one thing I have always wondered. If you need to visit **a lot** of sites, is it better to do it all in one take? Or should you open a new browser window, for each site (or perhaps after you’ve visited a couple)? You get the picture. Well:)? :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/2 "2014-02-19T08:52:16Z")
Better in what sense? In terms of your personal workflow; whatever works best for you. In terms of bandwidth; all that content has to come through the pipe at some point - you might not want to set loads of different pages loading if you find that interferes with the one you’re trying to look at first (for example: if you’re trying to watch a streaming video while 100 other pages are stacking up in other tabs/windows) In terms of system performance; on machine of decent, modern spec, you’re only using a fraction of the resources anyway; it makes little difference how you browse. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/3 "2014-02-19T08:57:06Z")
Nowadays we use tabs. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/4 "2014-02-19T09:02:34Z")
Yep, tabs are the way to go. I read about 10 news sites every day and have them set up in my bookmarks allowing me to open all 10 sites at once. That way, they are ready to read as I go from tab to tab. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/5 "2014-02-19T09:55:36Z")
I have about 150 - 200 tabs open at any time, plus those open for new stuff: as Firefox remembers them all with session manager, they open quite quickly if I hit reload. Providing one unticks _Don’t load tabs until selected_, which is as annoying as _Lazy Load_ on a website. Opening a window for each would be… annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/6 "2014-02-19T10:51:07Z")
I use RSS feeds to keep track of a large number of websites (which in the age of social media is considered old school). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/7 "2014-02-19T12:12:38Z")
**Moderator Action** This is more a matter of opinion than fact. Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/8 "2014-02-19T12:41:15Z")
200 tabs… even if you spend an average of only 5 minutes on each, that would be more than 16 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/9 "2014-02-19T14:26:35Z")
Tabs are the way to go. Unless you are a dork who opens 150 - 200 tabs at a time. Then you should just go outside and get some fresh air. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/10 "2014-02-19T14:32:00Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > 200 tabs… even if you spend an average of only 5 minutes on each, that would be more than 16 hours. I’ve been known to have tabs open for weeks at work. My home computer got rebooted the other day for the first time in 20 days, even then it started up with all the tabs that were open when I closed the browser. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/11 "2014-02-19T14:38:11Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Nowadays we use tabs. Whattayamean we? I mean, I would never tell any who likes tabs that they’re wrong and need to knock it off, but I hate, hate, hate tabs with the fire of a thousand suns. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/12 "2014-02-20T17:19:30Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Whattayamean we? > > I mean, I would never tell any who likes tabs that they’re wrong and need to knock it off, but I hate, hate, hate tabs with the fire of a thousand suns. You’d love my Firefox setup then, I use TabGroups Manager and presently have 6 major tabs, each with 3 to 12 subtabs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/13 "2014-02-20T19:44:42Z")
I use windows _and_ tabs. I might have a window for fun time-wasting crap, a window for scholarly research (now that I’m in grad school; when I worked in IT it would be a window for internal IT sites and pages), maybe a window for chores or tasks to get done (like online banking, etc.). Each window will have a bunch of tabs open at any given time. [I strongly identify with this xkcd](https://xkcd.com/214/), but for _everything_ online, not just Wikipedia. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/14 "2014-02-21T22:22:07Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Whattayamean we? > > I mean, I would never tell any who likes tabs that they’re wrong and need to knock it off, but I hate, hate, hate tabs with the fire of a thousand suns. Any who like tabs are wrong and need to knock it off. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/15 "2014-02-21T22:28:02Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > I have about 150 - 200 tabs open at any time… How can you even see what the 150-200 tabs are for? I have nine open at the moment, but often have more but there’s no way I’d be able to see what page 150 separate tabs might take me to. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/16 "2014-02-21T22:29:39Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > I use windows _and_ tabs. I might have a window for fun time-wasting crap, a window for scholarly research (now that I’m in grad school; when I worked in IT it would be a window for internal IT sites and pages), maybe a window for chores or tasks to get done (like online banking, etc.). Each window will have a bunch of tabs open at any given time. > > [I strongly identify with this xkcd](https://xkcd.com/214/), but for _everything_ online, not just Wikipedia. 😃 Pretty much this. And all manner of hotkeys to make me feel like I actually know something about computers. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/17 "2014-02-22T00:00:38Z")
I don’t like tabs. I open lots of windows, and I never have a window fill the whole screen. I like to see my current screensaver (currently it’s a slideshow of works by Kandinsky) peeking around the edges. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/18 "2014-02-22T00:41:42Z")
Tip for tab users: To open a link in a new tab, click with the scrollwheel. To close a tab, click anywhere on the tab with the scrollwheel. No need to find the “X.” Very convenient to let you go back to the original page. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/19 "2014-02-22T20:25:54Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I don’t like tabs. I open lots of windows, and I never have a window fill the whole screen. I like to see my current screensaver (currently it’s a slideshow of works by Kandinsky) peeking around the edges. I don’t follow your logic here. Using tabs doesn’t mean you need to have your window maximized. I just use a normal sized window with several tabs in it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691/20 "2014-02-22T20:43:31Z")
when i hear people say they want to open new windows it makes me want to get all tabby. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-open-a-new-browser-window-or-not/681691.md?page=2)