Better tools for procrastination
14:20
I have a problem: the internet. Or rather the vast amount of interesting content being published versus the time and energy I have to consume it. I’ll read an article here, bookmark an article there, but mostly I just open stuff in tabs in order to “read them later.” And I know I’m not alone.
Currently, I have too many bookmarks to count both locally and in various cloud services, but more importantly around 80 tabs across 9 windows open. More importantly because those tabs and windows each use up a chunk of the finite RAM memory in my computer. As a result of this my computer almost constantly feels sluggish.
Now, I know the right course of action would be to address my behaviour. But who does the right thing?
In lieu of improving my judgment on what’s truly worth my time and attention, I instead found a tool to help me with the immediate symptom: The Great Suspender.
The Great Suspender suspends a tab after a set timeout, unless it matches a white list, or on demand. Individual tabs or all tabs in a window can later be restored as needed.
What I really need is a plugin that will simply close unattended tabs after a period of time. Because, even though I really do revisit some of those postponed articles, many are just waiting to be bookmarked and forgotten about forever. Perhaps I’ll add it to my ever growing list of hobby projects…
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5 Responses to “Better tools for procrastination”
Nice catch!
I use One Tab to do the same thing, but it doesn’t suspend a tab by timeout. You have to do it manually. Such is the design.
.rL
Comment by llaurén — 23.07.2014 08:58
One Tab looks nice, too. But I prefer the Great Suspender precisely because It keeps the individual tabs. I can then (to an extent, at least) find a tab using the “Switch To Tab”:https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/switch-to-tab/gbfhhcljihbgcobpfnceegfmooomhhli extension.
Comment by nikc — 01.08.2014 14:15
Having taken a closer look at OneTab, it’s not half bad either. Now I’m torn…
Comment by nikc — 04.08.2014 16:53
Well, after evaluating both, I find these two plugins complement each other quite nicely.
The Great Suspender frees up memory when a tab is left open and not visited for a while. OneTab allows you to then shove a bunch of those tabs out of sight (out of mind) when you realise you won’t need them anytime soon. (Read: never again.)
Thanks for the tip!
Comment by nikc — 14.08.2014 13:12
Yer welcome!
Comment by llaurén — 14.08.2014 23:23