The problem with open tabs
Tabs are a convenient way to keep something in sight. They are also a way to postpone decisions. Each open tab is a small promise to come back later, and thirty open tabs are thirty promises you will probably not keep. They slow your computer, make it hard to find the one page you need, and add to a vague sense of being behind.
Research is where this gets worse. One search leads to five articles, each of which links to three more. The aim of this article is a light set of habits that let you follow your curiosity without losing track of where you have been.
Decide for each tab: read, save or close
Whenever a tab has been open for a while, give it one of three outcomes.
- Read it now. If it is relevant and short, read it, take notes, and close it.
- Save it. If it is useful but you cannot read it now, bookmark it in the right folder and close the tab.
- Close it. If you opened it out of habit or it turned out to be unhelpful, close it. If you need it again, your browser history, or the shortcut to reopen the last closed tab, can bring it back.
This sounds obvious, but it removes the in-between state that causes most tab overload. A tab you will never read is clutter, and closing it is not a failure.
Group tabs by task
Many browsers offer tab groups, which let you collect related tabs under a label, often with a color, and collapse them when not needed. Keep one group per task, such as “Biology essay” or “Math revision”. When you finish the task, you can save the group’s pages as bookmarks and close the group.
If your browser lacks this feature, you can use separate windows, one for each task, or pin the few tabs you need constantly, such as your course site and email. Pinned tabs sit small at the left and stay put.
Whatever you use, keep the number of open tabs for the task in front of you low enough to see. A sensible aim is to be able to read the tab titles without scrolling.
Make bookmarks you can find again
A bookmark is only useful if you can later tell what it is and where it is.
Rename them. The default title is whatever the page author wrote, which can be vague. Edit it to say something like “Cell membrane diagram - good labels” rather than “Home”.
Use folders. Mirror the folders you use for files: one for each course, with sub-folders if needed. If you use the same course names in your file folders, bookmarks and notes, moving between them is easier. A structure such as the one described in organizing files and folders works well for bookmarks too.
Limit depth. Two levels of bookmark folders is usually enough. Deeper than that and you will stop filing.
Use the bookmarks bar for what you use daily. Put the handful of sites you open every day there, and keep the rest in folders.
Record where information came from
A bookmark is not the same as a citation. Pages can change or disappear, so if you rely on a source in your own work, note down the details you will need: author or organization, title, date, site name and the date you accessed it. Different citation styles ask for slightly different details, so check which one your course uses. Having this written down at the time saves hunting for it later.
For important pages, consider saving a copy, such as printing to PDF, so you keep the version you read. Check that doing so is permitted for the material in question.
Checking sources with extra tabs
Opening extra tabs deliberately can be productive. When you meet an unfamiliar source, a common technique is to open a new tab and search for information about it, rather than only reading what the site says about itself. This is the idea behind lateral reading. Starting from an encyclopedia entry, a method often discussed under wikipedia research, and then following its references into new tabs is another sensible pattern, as long as you assess the original sources too. Judging what you find is a skill of its own, and a short list of questions for source evaluation helps you decide whether a page deserves a bookmark.
Help your future self
At the end of each study session, take two minutes:
- Save anything you will need again into the right bookmark folder.
- Close tabs that are finished.
- If you must leave tabs open to resume tomorrow, group them and name the group, or add them to a “Resume” bookmark folder.
- Write one line in your notes about where you stopped.
Many browsers can restore the previous session on start-up, which is useful, but it does not give you a tidy workspace. A clear end-of-session routine does.
You can pair this with timed focus periods. A technique such as the pomodoro technique naturally gives you a break every so often, which is a convenient moment to tidy tabs.
Practical settings
- Learn the keyboard shortcuts for opening, closing, moving between and reopening tabs, and for bookmarking the current page.
- Check whether your browser syncs bookmarks across devices. This is convenient, but it also means they are stored with an account, so use a strong password and think about privacy settings.
- Export your bookmarks to a file now and then, and include it in your backups.
A small system is enough
You do not need an elaborate tool. A browser, a few course folders, a habit of read, save or close, and a weekly clean-up are usually enough. If the system takes more effort than the problem it solves, simplify it.