There are tons of reason why you need to load multiple tabs in a browser, and one of them is probably because you need to refer to information from two (or more) websites. However, with the current tabs architecture, you will have to switch between the tabs to view the information. Won’t it be great if you can split the screen layout and arrange the tabs side by side so you can view two (or more) tabs at the same time? A nifty Chrome extension called Tab Resize lets you use multiple tabs next to one another quickly and more intuitively than doing it yourself.
Using Tab Resize
1. Head on over to the Chrome Web Store and install Tab Resize.
The nice thing about Tab Resize is that it only needs access to your tabs and browsing history to work.
2. Once installed, if you right-click the Tab Resize icon in the top right toolbar, you’ll be able to either hide the icon or uninstall the extension as necessary.
3. Left-clicking the Tab Resize icon will open its options.
You have five standard tab resize options available: 1×2, 2×1, 1×3, 3×1 and 2×2.
Regardless of how many tabs you have open, Tab Resize will only resize the number you selected starting with the tab currently selected and going to the right until it reaches the maximum number of tabs for the layout.
4. If you only want a single tab resized, and you want it to use a standard layout, click on “Single Tab.”
Single tab resizing will only occur for the tab currently selected.
5. Clicking on any layout will automatically change Chrome’s tabs to it.
Once the tabs are set, you can grab a hold of them to move them around if necessary. You can also move them back into the primary browser window you’re using.
6. At any time you can revert to your original by clicking “Undo.”
This will revert to the layout you used before, so if you’ve resized several times, you may need to manually set Chrome back up the way you want.
7. Open up Tab Resize again and click “Custom.”
This is where you can create custom screen layouts to use within Chrome. You’re only limited by how big your monitor is, so think creatively.
8. Once you set the rows and columns for the layout, click “Save” and it’ll now appear when you left-click the Tab Resize icon.
9. If you want to delete all your custom layouts, click “Delete.”
10. You’ll be asked to confirm getting rid of them, so click “Apply” to continue.
This’ll leave you with the default layouts that came when you installed Tab Resize into Chrome.
The only con to this Chrome extension is that Tab Resize doesn’t work on multiple monitors. This is because Chrome doesn’t detect that you’re using more than one monitor so the feature can’t be implemented until the browser allows that type of detection.
Conclusion
Anything that can help users multi-task in Chrome is a good addition to the browser. Tab Resize allows you to work side-by-side with Chrome tabs the way Google should’ve integrated it to begin with. Maybe one day they will add the feature but for now, Tab Resize can get you by.
The post Split Screen Layouts and View Tabs Side by Side in Chrome appeared first on Make Tech Easier.