Why do many people not use tabbed navigation (e.g. in an internet browser)? I have noticed that many people do not use tabs even though tabs have been around in browsers for some time. I have been noticing that people either do not differentiate tabs as specific navigational elements (e.g. a web page with tabs) or do not use them even when they know what purpose they serve. A lot of people have not even heard the word "tab".

These are only my personal impressions so I am curious to learn if you  have noticed otherwise. Also I know a free add-on for MS Office which gives you a tabbed window. As far as I know it is not a massive success.

Why do some/ most people find it hard to use tabbed navigation (e.g. in an internet browser)?



Here is an informal study (blog published, 21 participants, all Firefox users, all students or friends of the author) that shows that most (of the recruited participants) do use tabs, but about half of the participants use them only rarely ("4 tabs for every 100 navigation actions"): http://dubroy.com/blog/how-many-tabs-do-people-use-now-with-real-data/

Since the sample in this study is not very representative (Firefox users have made a concious choice regarding browser usage and are therefore more aware of browser functionality; 21 is an extremely low number for analysing common behavior) we might safely assume that other user types (those using pre-installed browsers; those not friends to a computer nerd) will use tabs even less.



update:


a speculation just occurred to me: what if people, generally, find navigation much easier on a vertical (e.g. book contents/ web site left menu/ Win Explorer folder tree/ etc) or if not finding it easier, at least expect it there, while navigation ver a horizontal is either more difficult for some reason or unhabitual?
Because a majority of the people are just too plain stupid.

In an international study by the OECD on adult competencies (PIAAC) that evaluated literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments, it was found that only every third adult (in Germany: 36%) between 16 and 64 was able "to master more complex tasks such as navigating the internet".

Read that again. A more complex task such as navigating the internet. Only one third manages that. In an educated country like Germany where 77% of the population 14 and older use the internet.

This means that more than half the internet users don't know how to navigate the internet.

The study also found that


every eighth person does not know how to use a computer mouse
every fifth person only knows basic arithmetics or less
every sixth adult (!) has the reading ability of a ten year old child


I think tabbed browsing is a minor problem. The study makes me doubt the principles of democracy. How can people be allowed to vote, if about 15% of the adult (!) population "can at best read short texts with simple words and extract from these only very limited information"?

Source: http://www.oecd.org/site/piaac/