Episode 5: Technology Bytes. . .Safari Tab Groups

This is Technology Bites, episode 5 for April 9th, 2023.

Technology Bites is a microcast where I share my brief insights on an interesting technology.

My name is Joel.

Enjoy, and here we go.

Today I want to talk a little bit about Safari Tab Groups.

So I will start out with defining what that is.

I know not everybody uses Safari, but as you know from previous episodes, I’m an Apple guy, unapologetically, and that is the world that I live in.

And one of the things that they have added to Safari is called Tab Groups.

And this allows you to have a group of tabs that is always the same.

So if you are on an iPad and you set up a number of tabs and you save that as a tab group, then when you are on your iPhone or when you are on another iPad or on a Mac or an iMac, whatever it is that you’re using, and you’re logged in with your Apple ID, those same tab groups are available in that environment.

You don’t have to reopen, you don’t have to remember what you had.

They are always there and available.

So why might one use tab groups?

In a little bit, I’ll cover my personal uses, but I think one of the things is that we all have a variety of interests.

And in that, we look at different aspects of information on the internet.

And we can classify those or put them in groups and define tabs that have some of our favorite sites for those areas of our life that we are doing maybe some research or like to read up on the news, those kind of things.

So it could be sports, it could be science, it could be technology, it could be outer space, it could be inner space.

All kinds of ways that we want to think and learn and gather information about our lives.

It could be that you’re looking for a home and so you have a tab group of sites that you like to go visit to see what has changed and what is available, maybe music.

So you can see there are lots of opportunities for dividing your internet world into tab groups so that you don’t have hundreds of tabs open not knowing which tab is for what event or information site or category and give you some control over that in Safari.

I want to tell you a little bit about how I use it personally and why I like it so much.

So one place I use it is and probably the most use I get out of Safari tab groups is in my work environment.

So at work we have a number of tools that we use in web browsers that define how our manufacturing processes work, let us know where items are in the process, that let us understand what needs to happen next.

The tools for inspection, the tools for receiving, all tools that our company has built in the web type environment.

And so those tools are important to me as I manage the manufacturing and the production operation.

And so I am able to on my computer keep a certain set of tabs open that are always looking at a given part of our operation.

And then when I am mobile I can pick up my iPad and go out to the floor and what I was looking at at my desk is immediately available on my iPad.

I have the same information, the same sites open, the same access as I had sitting at my desk.

And I do not have to remember where I was, I do not have to re-look anything up, and it is very simple to use and keeps me in concert independent of my location in the factory, either on the floor, in my office, in the warehouse.

I am always available to the same information because of Safari tab groups.

I also use Safari tab groups for things that I am interested in.

So I have a Safari tab group called Apple, which is not entirely true, it is more technology.

So I can look at some of my favorite podcasts for instance and have those open.

I have the Apple website open, I can look at the latest in the betas and what they are offering in that environment.

And so I always have that information available.

The other thing I do is in my study of the scriptures, I have a religious tab group or a Christian studies tab group is what I call it.

And it has some of my favorite bible sites, some of my favorite authors and teachers and their sites, so that as I am doing research I do not have to go and find all these sites again.

They are right there in my tab groups, accessible on my Macbook Air and on my iPad simultaneously, and they always stay in sync.

It is really cool to use to make sure that you are in control of Safari.

If you have never used Safari tab groups or you do not think they are for you, I would take a couple of instances, things that you have looked up recently, maybe movie sites or something that is of interest to you and make a tab group of those sites and then realize that when you are on your phone or if you are on your iPad or if you are on your computer, those sites are immediately available to you at the same place, at the same instance that they were the last time you looked at them.

I think you might find that it is a useful tool to help you stay organized and have great access to the information that you want at your fingertips almost instantaneously.

You have been listening to the TechnologyBytes Microcast.

Until next time, continue enjoying your technology.

Joel Mearig @technologybytes