A computing device comprising: a processing unit; data storage; and a web browser application stored in the data storage and executable by the processing unit to carry out operations comprising: rendering a web application, wherein the web application contains a plurality of tabs, and wherein rendering the web application includes carrying out, respectively for each tab of the plurality of tabs, a set of resource-consumption actions involving use of resources of the client device, and dynamically managing operational states of the tabs based on a cumulative resource-consumption of the web application, wherein dynamically managing operational states of the tabs based on the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application includes: (i) determining the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application, comprising determining a number of tabs operating in each of a plurality of operational states, (ii) determining that the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application exceeds a defined limit, (iii) responsive to the determination that the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application exceeds the defined limit, selecting a first tab of the plurality of tabs in a first operational state of the plurality of operational states to be transitioned to a second operational state of the plurality of operational states, and (iv) transitioning the first tab from the first operational state to the second operational state, wherein the first tab contributes less to the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application in the second operational state than in the first operational state. a processing unit; data storage; and a web browser application stored in the data storage and executable by the processing unit to carry out operations comprising: rendering a web application, wherein the web application contains a plurality of tabs, and wherein rendering the web application includes carrying out, respectively for each tab of the plurality of tabs, a set of resource-consumption actions involving use of resources of the client device, and dynamically managing operational states of the tabs based on a cumulative resource-consumption of the web application, wherein dynamically managing operational states of the tabs based on the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application includes: (i) determining the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application, comprising determining a number of tabs operating in each of a plurality of operational states, (ii) determining that the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application exceeds a defined limit, (iii) responsive to the determination that the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application exceeds the defined limit, selecting a first tab of the plurality of tabs in a first operational state of the plurality of operational states to be transitioned to a second operational state of the plurality of operational states, and (iv) transitioning the first tab from the first operational state to the second operational state, wherein the first tab contributes less to the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application in the second operational state than in the first operational state. rendering a web application, wherein the web application contains a plurality of tabs, and wherein rendering the web application includes carrying out, respectively for each tab of the plurality of tabs, a set of resource-consumption actions involving use of resources of the client device, and dynamically managing operational states of the tabs based on a cumulative resource-consumption of the web application, wherein dynamically managing operational states of the tabs based on the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application includes: (i) determining the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application, comprising determining a number of tabs operating in each of a plurality of operational states, (ii) determining that the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application exceeds a defined limit, (iii) responsive to the determination that the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application exceeds the defined limit, selecting a first tab of the plurality of tabs in a first operational state of the plurality of operational states to be transitioned to a second operational state of the plurality of operational states, and (iv) transitioning the first tab from the first operational state to the second operational state, wherein the first tab contributes less to the cumulative resource-consumption of the web application in the second operational state than in the first operational state.