Creating a link to a particular tab

Creating a link to a particular tab

I'm integrating the jquery UI tab structure on a website, and would like to be able to create a link to a particular tab.

The basic structure is:
            <div id="placetabs">
                <ul id="menutabs">
                    <li><a href="#panel1"><span>Tab1</span></a></li>
                    <li><a href="#panel2"><span>Tab2</span></a></li>
                    <li class="last"><a href="#panel3"><span>Tab3</span></a></li>
                </ul>
                <div id="panel1" class="tabscontent"></div>
                <div id="panel2" class="tabscontent"></div>
                <div id="panel3" class="tabscontent"></div>
            </div>

I wanted to be able to create a link originating on another page so that the user winds up on a particular tab.  I'd tried <a href page.html#panel2> to activate the second tab when the page loads.  And it sort of does, but the page scrolls down a bit, which is distracting . 

I'd like the page to load visually just like it would if the table initialized to the first tab, but displaying the information from the second tab.  Is there a way to make such a call?

Thanks!