Browser Tabs and Short Cuts

[Bryman]

Now, I have been told there is nothing wrong with an image that just doesn't come up ! - No image appears, I've told them, but they say yes it does - NO it doesn't !! I'm not happy since their change of format or attitude of late

I have had a similar experience with FMP records in general, not specifically with Cheshire. Some census images just do not appear, although sometimes requesting a download to my computer can break it out of its circling torpor.

Another annoyance which is denied by FMP concerns my use of multiple browser tabs when searching with FMP. Typically, I have a separate tab for census/births/marriages/deaths (and a few others) so that I can quickly switch backwards and forwards. However, in about 10-20% of cases, when I have returned the census tab back to the original search state and then do likewise with births or marriages, I get the census screen displayed! This can be very frustrating as all of the previously entered field values are then lost and have to be re-entered.

I think this must have something to do with the sesion details retained by FMP. It is almost as if they only keep details for each browser instance rather than for each tab within the browser. FMP support requested that I clear my cache but that (of course) made no difference.

Has anybody else had a similar experience?

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Its a feature of how newer versions of browsers typically work they share data between sessions even though they are on different tabs. This didn't used to happen but was "fixed" by most browsers a year or so ago. For most uses this is actually a benefit for this use where you want the data to be different its a pain.

The solution is usually to use "open in new window" rather than "open in new tab". Then the session data isn't shared and you get the effect you are looking for.

 

[Tim]

I tend to use multiple windows as it's easier to switch from window to window, than from tab to tab.

To swap between two windows just press ALT + TAB.

 

[Charmaine]

I have had a similar experience with FMP records in general, not specifically with Cheshire. Some census images just do not appear, although sometimes requesting a download to my computer can break it out of its circling torpor.

Another annoyance which is denied by FMP concerns my use of multiple browser tabs when searching with FMP. Typically, I have a separate tab for census/births/marriages/deaths (and a few others) so that I can quickly switch backwards and forwards. However, in about 10-20% of cases, when I have returned the census tab back to the original search state and then do likewise with births or marriages, I get the census screen displayed! This can be very frustrating as all of the previously entered field values are then lost and have to be re-entered.

I think this must have something to do with the sesion details retained by FMP. It is almost as if they only keep details for each browser instance rather than for each tab within the browser. FMP support requested that I clear my cache but that (of course) made no difference.

Has anybody else had a similar experience?

Yep - I do the same thing - Multiple windows open while searching - When I click back to check something, that page has changed to the search results from the other window - This doesn't happen all the time though - Sometimes all is well for most of a session of searching

 

[Bryman]

I tend to use multiple windows as it's easier to switch from window to window, than from tab to tab.

To swap between two windows just press ALT + TAB.

I am surprised. I will try using multiple versions of the browser but would expect switching between 6-8 adjacent tabs to be easier and quicker using the mouse pointer than the ALT + TAB approach.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

I am surprised. I will try using multiple versions of the browser but would expect switching between 6-8 adjacent tabs to be easier and quicker using the mouse pointer than the ALT + TAB approach.

ALT+TAB switches between windows, CTRL+TAB switches between browser tabs. If you have opened in multiple tabs - then mouse pointer or CTRL+TAB is way to go. If you have opened searches in multiple windows then ALT+TAB is usually quicker than trying to find the right window behind other windows as you end up minimising, maximising etc. Or you can hover over the icons on the start bar and pick the right one.

 

[Susan48]

ALT+TAB switches between windows, CTRL+TAB switches between browser tabs

Can someone please explain the difference between 'windows' and 'tabs'. If I want to open a second screen when using my browser I select 'new window' rather than 'new tab' so that I can have access to more than one site e.g. Lost Cousins, Findmypast, FreeBMD, simultaneously. What would selecting 'new tab' do? Sorry, I seem to have gone off topic.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Susan if you select new tab you get an extra tab in your current window that you have open. This makes it a lot quicker switching between pages of info and uses less machine memory. Try it you might be surprised how easy it is.

 

[Pauline]

I haven't had a problem using multiple tabs at FMP but I have noticed this kind of thing happen using multiple tabs at the Lives of the First World War site.

At FMP I tend to use new tabs for opening search results rather than for doing different searches, which may make a difference, but at Ancestry I frequently have lots of different searches going on in different tabs and have so far never had anything untoward happen there.

 

[Bob Spiers]

I tend to use multiple windows as it's easier to switch from window to window, than from tab to tab.

To swap between two windows just press ALT + TAB.

Only just found this posting so have not assimilated everything said, but find it strange you think switching from tab to tab easier than window to window and couldn't disagree more. Yes I too would use ALT+TAB to move between windows but there is no need to use the keyboard to go backwards and forwards between tabs, when the click of the mouse does the same thing, instantly. I use multiple tabs a lot (on different computers and in different browsers but that's a by the by) but only rarely find the need to open anything in a new window.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Did you get that sentence the wrong way round Bob? You are strongly against tab to tab switching in first sentence and sound like you use little else in the second sentence. Confused.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Did you get that sentence the wrong way round Bob? You are strongly against tab to tab switching in first sentence and sound like you use little else in the second sentence. Confused.

Well Alexander I had to read my opening sentence again, but see what you mean, yes I appear to be against tab switching, when in fact I am not. I posted just before closing down for the day and did not really assimilate the full context of the posts, just the windows versus tab bit. I should explain it is my practice to work with multiple tabs in each of the 3 browsers I commonly use (IE/Chrome/Firefox) each browser assigned a particular theme; for example: Genealogy with browser tabs (say): Ancestry-FMP- Genes- Family Search- LC. I usually use two browsers per computer, each differently assigned multiple tabs. So yes I like using tabs! The end tab in each is usually used for carrying out a Google search.

So getting to the post theme, I open FMP in the appropriate Browser by clicking on the FMP tab. I carry out a search which opens (by default) as a temporary new tab and will remain until manually closed. I rarely need to open any as a new window. I admit my use of multiple PC's with pre-set tabs reduces the need to open things as new Windows but of course it is convenient to do so from time to time. In truth I find it a bit of a nuisance to re-locate the window when I have switched browsers and normally resort to passing my mouse over the Browser, finding and clicking on the window, or of course using ALT+TAB as Tim suggests.

 

[Tim]

Hands up who isn't confused?

 

[Tim]

Alexander has explained Windows and Tabs. If there are 2 applications (in different windows) that I want to rapidly switch between, then I use ALT + Tab.
Being right handed, ALT + Tab is very easy to do with your left hand and leaves my right hand still on the mouse.

I also have many Tabs open on Chrome, and if I find myself switching between 2 tabs often, then I select and drop one Tab to create a new window so that I can ALT + Tab between them. There is no quick way to switch between tabs, CTRL + Tab just moves you to the next one, and not the switching between Tabs.

 

[Tim]

Can someone please explain the difference between 'windows' and 'tabs'. If I want to open a second screen when using my browser I select 'new window' rather than 'new tab' so that I can have access to more than one site e.g. Lost Cousins, Findmypast, FreeBMD, simultaneously. What would selecting 'new tab' do? Sorry, I seem to have gone off topic.

Susan, in one browser window, you can have multiple tabs open on the same website.

 

[Katie Bee]

ALT+TAB switches between windows, CTRL+TAB switches between browser tabs.

You learn something new every day on this forum.
Up to now I have just switched tabs by clicking the one I want at the top of my window and changed windows by clicking the window description at the bottom of my window.
Not sure if that description is dependent on browser or not.
I have just tried ALT+TAB and CTRL+TAB and they work perfectly.
Will I ever remember to use them!!!
Thanks Alexander and Tim
What other useful shortcuts are there? Or does that open up a whole minefield?

 

[Bob Spiers]

Up to now I have just switched tabs by clicking the one I want at the top of my window and changed windows by clicking the window description at the bottom of my window.

Stay as you are Katie as anything you are used to doing with the mouse is quicker than memorising and recalling a keyboard short cut. By the time you think of it you could have achieved the same thing anyway. I have known and used a good many keyboard shortcuts from the past -(past being the operative word) - and reject all except for ctrl-c & ctrl-v. Even there I often find it quicker to copy by right clicking with the mouse and using ctrl-v to paste. I don't even think about it, if I did it would take up more time.

There is a time to use toggle keys -for example -Shift/Ctrl/Alt/Tab/Windows, in certain combinations with themselves and other keys to modify things. For instance ALT combined with a number sequence allows you to add foreign accents to letters (I keep a list of the numbers on my wall). You can bring up the Desktop quickly by using the Windows key with D, and Explorer with E, and a host of 'sticky' key combinations -the best known of which is CTRL/ALT/DEL, plus there are numerous 'F' key functions. This is when you require the keyboard, but the other (so called) short cut keyboard actions are just legacies from the old word processor days and before the mouse was invented.

 

[Bob Spiers]

I also have many Tabs open on Chrome, and if I find myself switching between 2 tabs often, then I select and drop one Tab to create a new window so that I can ALT + Tab between them. There is no quick way to switch between tabs, CTRL + Tab just moves you to the next one, and not the switching between Tabs.

And I'm supposed to be confusing?

 

[Tim]

And I'm supposed to be confusing?

Which bit's confusing? I'll see if I can re-word it for you.

 

[Katie Bee]

I often find it quicker to copy by right clicking with the mouse and using ctrl-v to paste

That is exactly what I do Bob.
We all have our little ways.