We both agreed we have too many tabs. But how does it happen? What does it mean? When does it become a problem? And how can we solve it?
Time for some user research. And as we're the only people around, we'll start by interviewing ourselves. Ahem.
SD: So, umm, tell me a little about yourself. What keeps you busy?
FH: I code things, and I draw things. Mainly monkeys.
SD: How many tabs do you have open now?
FH: I use Chrome and Firefox at the same time. I use Chrome for websites that use Flash and for reading documentation. I have 37 tabs open in Chrome. Firefox is my primary browser. I have my Google, Facebook and Twitter accounts signed in, so it's where I do everything else. I have 458 tabs spread across 5 spaces.
FH: Spaces is a little feature hidden in Firefox. They allow you to group tabs by theme, and switch between spaces for different projects.
SD: And how do you group them? By project?
FH: When I feel that I have too may tabs, I open a new space. This is my shameful secret.
SD: And why is it shameful?
FH: I like things to be tidy. It makes me feel stressed to have all of these unread things. The fear of missing out.
SD: So why do you keep so many tabs open? Why not just close them all?
FH: Sometimes I want to read something, but I want to keep it for later. Sometimes I finish reading something, but I know I'll want to read it again. For example if I see a new JavaScript library, I want to be reminded of it next time I start a project. When I see something inspiring, I want to keep it open. If I leave a tab open, it allows me to keep track of this thing, as an object. It reminds me that I want to see a movie, book tickets to that gig, order something on Amazon...
SD: When do you close a tab?
FH: I close a tab when I think it won't be useful to me anymore. I close the tab when I've finished reading or booking or buying.
SD: So, on average, how many tabs do you open per day, and how many tabs do you close per day?
FH: I think on average I end each day with 5 more tabs.
SD: So, what do you think is the real problem? Why are your tabs growing?
FH: Whenever I have some free time, it takes me so long to review all the things I want to do, that I run out of time to do things.
SD: So the number of things you want to do each day exceeds the number of things you can actually achieve each day. Hence the chronic tab creep.
SD: Well, I work at a digital agency. We use Gmail and Google Docs for everything, so I have one Chrome window signed in with my work identity, and one Chrome window signed in to my personal identity, with all my social accounts. I'll then have another Chrome window, or occasionally Firefox to log into a client's analytics data or social accounts.
FH: And how many tabs do you have open?
SD: I currently have about 30 tabs open in my work Chrome, another 40 or so open in my personal Chrome, about 4 in Firefox, and that's not even counting other devices, like my mobile and iPad... My work laptop often struggles to keep up.
FH: Why do you leave things open?
SD: In my work Chrome, it's often multiple Google Docs that I need to refer to while I'm working. Sometimes I keep them open like a to do list, to remind what I need to finish. In my personal Chrome, it's usually links I've opened from social: things to read, songs to listen to, games I want to play...
FH: Do you use bookmarks?
SD: I used to *love* Delicious. I tagged and saved everything for years, until Yahoo basically destroyed it. (Not that I'm bitter or anything. Actually, yes, yes I am bitter.) After I gave up on that, I never really got back into the process of saving and filing links. I've thought about trying Evernote, but the price put me off.
FH: How do you keep track of things you want to be reminded of?
SD: I tend to use other people, to be honest. If I see tickets I want to book, I'll share it with my friends who might want to go. Then I close the tab. If they get back to me, it reminds me to reopen the tab and book. If no one's interested, I'll let it go. Similarly, if something is interesting enough for me to share, I'll usually tweet it, then close it. So I'll often find myself looking back through my timeline thinking "I'm sure I tweeted that thing about the thing three months ago..."
FH: When you are looking for a web page you remember, how do you find it?
SD: That's definitely a problem. It's hard to remember where I found things: was it through an email, Facebook message, tweet, or just general browsing? Sometimes I'll try looking in my Chrome history, but that's annoying because I need to remember if I viewed it through my work or personal browser identity. No easy answer there.
So, it looks like we have two kinds of problem here. One is about grouping and archiving the things we want to keep, in an easily searchable way. The other is about helping us get our to do lists done, so we can stop drowning in reminder tabs. Maybe we can build something that does both!