When I first started using Mozilla Firefox (or Firebird, as it was called back then), I admit that even I wasn’t too used to the tabbed browsing feature of it. I even started off by having the tabs at the bottom so it would be similar to going down to my Windows taskbar since that’s what I was used to doing. After maybe a day or two, I ended up moving the tabs to the top, and now I mostly just use shortcut keys (ctrl+t, ctrl+tab, etc.) to browse from tab to tab.
I’ve noticed some habits with people who mainly use Internet Explorer (the newest version)… or use Firefox now, but used to use IE exclusively. Most people don’t understand how to use tabs at all… or don’t even know that the tabs exist. Even though the new IE (IE7? Not sure, I avoid using IE most of the time) has a tabbed browser feature, when I see a lot of people browsing sites and they want to open up another site, they open up a completely new browser window.
Why, people, WHY?? Do me a favor and just hit Ctrl+T for once and try it out. You’ll find that opening a new tab is much faster than opening a whole ‘nother browser instance. Sure, it may be awkward at first to switch between tabs by clicking up at the top of your browser instead of clicking down in your taskbar, but you’ll get accustomed to it. After a while, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
If you’re not quite sure what tabs are, they’re an easy way to open another website without having to open a separate browser window. For IE7 users, a little info window pops up the first time you ever use a new tab… but most people probably just click past it without ever reading what it said in the first place. If you’re one of those people, you might want to read this info from Microsoft on tabs and how to use them.