The original article began with browser tabs. Switching between tabs was more convenient than repeatedly opening, closing and minimising separate windows. The author contrasted that experience with older versions of Internet Explorer and discussed the popularity of tabbed browsing in Opera and Firefox.
Switching between tabs
Ctrl and Tab was given as a common keyboard shortcut for moving through tabs. The source also mentioned the Firefox extension LastTab, which could change the order in which recently visited tabs were selected.
That extension reference is historical. The useful idea is that a browser's navigation shortcuts can influence how efficiently someone moves between several tasks.
How iGoogle used tabs
iGoogle was a personalised start page built around small applications or gadgets. The article described adding news, a calendar, dictionary tools and task-related items to one place.
Tabs helped prevent a single page becoming crowded. Users could put different gadgets into different sections, then open the tab relevant to what they were doing.
Organising a personal page
The author used a main tab, a general-news tab and a more specialised technology-news tab as an example. The arrangement made it easier to choose where to look for a particular subject.
Rather than continually moving the same gadgets around, the user could build several smaller, recognisable collections.
Sharing a tab configuration
The old walkthrough described opening the small menu beside a tab's name and selecting the option to share that tab. It then asked for a recipient's email address and offered to send the user a copy.
The point was to share an arrangement of tools with someone who had similar interests. It did not mean that every private account or personal item inside those tools should be shared.
Reading the walkthrough now
This page records a feature of iGoogle from that period. It is not an instruction to find or install the original service today. The broader organisational idea remains easy to recognise: divide a busy workspace into named groups and make the structure understandable to the person using it.