Put wheel lower in fork dropouts using 'axle tabs'??

The tabs are not at all suitable for the purpose, so forget the tabs.
Using a solid spacer as I mentioned, so long as everything is nice and secure, is very stable. The axel can't go anywhere, you'd have to crush the spacer for it to slip, which is not going to happen.

I think for safety sake the front axle should be fully within the dropout, by dropping the axle lower in the drop out you could be on a short cut to the local casualty department. The tabs in an earlier photo are usually found on kids bikes or cheap bikes.