Pinning tabs in Chrome

Without a doubt the top feature I use in Chrome now is the ability to pin tabs in my windows. I like to keep a few websites open all day, and instead of creating Fluid instances for them all, I just pin them.

Here’s why you should love them, too:

• Tabs you like to keep open all the time—like email, streaming media, or news sites—can stay open without interfering in your daily workflow.
• If you quit Chrome with pinned tabs still open, relaunching the app will restore them.
• Pinned tabs help reinforce the policy of having a good favicon that extends your brand so visitors associate the tab with your service.
• You can configure apps from the Chrome Web Store to open as pinned tabs instead of regular tabs.
• And lastly, any tab can be pinned, not just apps—so go hog wild.

Pinned tabs are small and out of the way, but positioned in such a manner that you couldn’t miss them when you decide to look for them. It’s a nice little value add from the Chrome team and a solid way to keep users engaged with already awesome services like Gmail, Google News, and more.

As a side note, it’ll be interesting to see if Firefox or Safari follow suite given the progress Chrome has made in browser share and rapid development pace.