Potential Visualization Data
This is a list of tab characteristics that could potentially be used to visualize open browser tabs in a meaningful way:
| tab characteristic | behaviors supported |
|---|---|
| tab age – when was the tab opened | leaving the browser open for extended periods |
| last viewed – time since you last looked at that tab | leaving the browser open for extended periods |
| opening relationship – which tab was opened which other tab | |
| unread – whether this tab is still unread | opening several tabs at once |
| domain – tabs from the same domain (e.g. *.umich.edu) | task organization |
| viewing time – the duration of time that you spend on a tab | |
| tab groups – tabs that are either automaticallly or manually grouped by individual projects, tasks or topics | task organization |
| sticky/constant tab – tabs that you have open nearly all the time and that you would like to always have in the same place (e.g. Gmail, CTools, …) | tabs as a reminder, tabs in order |
| timeframe/session – tabs that have been opened during a special timeframe or browsing session (e.g. “yesterday before name”) | task organization |
| physical location – grouped by the physical location that you opened the tab (home, work, coffee shop), which could potentially be determined by your IP address | task organization |
These are other projects that we found which visualize certain tab characteristics:
- Ctrl-Tab
Shows open tabs in a matrix view in most-recently-used order. - Autodial 3D
Visualizes tabs in a 3D space. More frequently visited tabs being in the foreground and less frequently visited ones in the background. - Chromatabs
Gives each tab a unique color based on a hash build from its domain. The rationale is that you can easily recognize certain websites/tabs based on their unique color.
There are certainly more extensions out there that visualize tabs in some way, but this give you a short overview over some noteworthy ones.
January 28, 2009 No Comments