Firefox 4. How to disable 'Switch to tab'?

[patrickjdempsey]

I'm sure there will be another generation of Old Location Bar that removes it.

[ilhan123]

I wish to see that option.

[globalplayer]

If you already have the tab open, why do you want to open it again?

You know http://www.discogs.com ?
Music media in all flavors?

Well, if you ever tried to enter a record there, you know HOW you will miss the Duplicate Tab feature when having to use another browser.

Supposing you're in the "Add new entry" mask, had accidentally clicked with LEFT button (replacing current page), current page already contains some data entered by your humble self, but you want to look something up in the master entry.
If you press "Back", all your catalog #, record format, credits stuff will be GONE and you can redo everything from start.

"Duplicate Tab" will let me make a COPY of the (already populated!) "Add new entry" page, which will SAFELY let me go back to the previous page, but now independently (!) in the second tab, not touching the first, where the data is which I want to prevent from getting cleared.

[patrickjdempsey]

Sounds like it's a Flash or Java-driven data-entry system. That's bad-news-bears for any website. Hopefully HTML5 will allow more authors to abandon Flash and Java-driven data-entry systems... IMO they are terrible on every site.

[Gingerbread Man]

You should be able to remove the "switch to tab" listing via a userStyle or userChrome hack.

No, once again, it's not possible. Removing the Switch to Tab result creates a blank area at the bottom of the drop-down menu. Sometimes it works fine; the behavior is not consistent.

Code: Select all

/* Address bar: remove "Switch to tab" */
#PopupAutoCompleteRichResult richlistitem[actiontype="switchtab"] { display: none !important }

[Grue]

You know what I hate about switch to tab? When it suggests a tab that I'm currently on! I mean, really. Why would I ever want to switch to a tab that I'm already looking at?

[patrickjdempsey]

Well ain't that just special.

[Gingerbread Man]

You know what I hate about switch to tab?

The fact that it's there?

Why would I ever want to switch to a tab that I'm already looking at?

It has been mentioned earlier in this thread that it can be used to duplicate the tab by middle-clicking or pressing Down Arrow then Alt+Enter.

[Grue]

You know what I hate about switch to tab?

The fact that it's there?

Nope, I don't mind this feature. It should be configurable though.

Why would I ever want to switch to a tab that I'm already looking at?

It has been mentioned earlier in this thread that it can be used to duplicate the tab by middle-clicking or pressing Down Arrow then Alt+Enter.

There are already quicker ways to duplicate a tab. Polluting search results with an option that is useless, except if you use some obscure shortcut on it, seems like a bad idea to me.

[BigWillyStyle42]

Why would I ever want to switch to a tab that I'm already looking at?

It has been mentioned earlier in this thread that it can be used to duplicate the tab by middle-clicking or pressing Down Arrow then Alt+Enter.

There are already quicker ways to duplicate a tab. Polluting search results with an option that is useless, except if you use some obscure shortcut on it, seems like a bad idea to me.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=555694

[KiRK_]

Please also add me to the list of annoyed people who want "switch to tab" gone ASAP. I'm using FF4 only for a couple of days now, but this new feature really is driving me nuts already... As other people have mentioned here before.

There *must* be a way to disable it in the future. This feature may be of use for some people. But certainly not for me. Not only that it's useless to me, it's totally getting on my nerves...

I have AutoFill enabled in the address bar, i.e. I can start typing a few chars and then just press enter. I do not need to scroll down to the results or click on anything. I like that very much.

Now when I start typing and the first result will be "switch to tab", AutoFill will not work anymore. It does not work with "switch to tab" results (which are on top of the list everytime!).

I often load the same web page into several tabs, e.g. when I'm on our database system and need to have several user accounts open at the same time. There are many examples you could tell. Like when you're on a billing system and have several bills open or so. If you type in the address of the system again, you will have dozens of "switch to tab" results... Because the same billing system is open in many tabs already, but of course with different data in the tabs.

I hope the developers can understand my/our problems with this "feature". It can drive you totally nuts! I hope there will soon be a way to disable it.

[patrickjdempsey]

I have AutoFill enabled in the address bar, i.e. I can start typing a few chars and then just press enter. I do not need to scroll down to the results or click on anything. I like that very much.

What happens when you completely disable urlbar suggestions? Tools > Options > Privacy > Location bar > select Nothing.

[pao]

Supposing you're in the "Add new entry" mask, had accidentally clicked with LEFT button (replacing current page), current page already contains some data entered by your humble self, but you want to look something up in the master entry.
If you press "Back", all your catalog #, record format, credits stuff will be GONE and you can redo everything from start.

Quicker than a Duplicate-Back: Middle-click the Back button, which opens the previous page in a new tab. It also works on Forward (or the items in the Back/Forward context menu, natch). Unfortunately no keyboard shortcut AFAIK.

[KiRK_]

What happens when you completely disable urlbar suggestions? Tools > Options > Privacy > Location bar > select Nothing.

Then nothing happens anymore, just as I anticipated This doesn't work. I just tried it out.

I get no suggestions at all when typing into the address bar and AutoFill of course does not work anymore. Because AutoFill just fills in the first search result automatically. Which also is the main problem here. Because many times the first result is a "Switch to tab"-result, and then it will not work.

But thanks for the suggestion anyway!

[patrickjdempsey]

Then the author needs to update to fill in the second suggestion for 4.0.