Navigate through unloaded tabs without reloading them?

[voipfc]

I use the Unload Tabs/Auto Tab Discard addons and when I have to navigate the tabs using Ctrl Tab/Shift Tab keys the tabs in between I am not interested in are automatically loaded.

Is there some setting that will stop unloaded tabs from reloading automaticaly until explicitly required to?

[jscher2000]

I don't know what those add-ons do. However, if they work similarly to session restore, a tab that is in a "pending" state after restoring a session will restore when activated. So a possible workaround would be to try to avoid activating the tab by using a different method of navigation.

[jscher2000]

I got a message prompting me to look at this page:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/unload-tabs/

It mentions a keyboard shortcut to navigate tabs that bypasses the ones which are unloaded. Unfortunately, while extensions can add their own keyboard shortcuts, they cannot override the behavior of the built-in keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Tab, Shift+Ctrl+Tab).

[therube]

Does FF still have tab "previews"?

If so, you can mouse-over the tab & it will display a "thumbnail" image of the tab - without opening (loading) the tab.

[voipfc]

I found a partial fix for the problem using the SurfingKeys addon, though I suspect it will work with most Vim keyboard addons.

I simply estimate how many tabs I have to move and I use a number prefix plus the shortcut for moving tables. SurfingKeys defaults are `Shift-E` and `Shift-R` to move up and down tabs.

I changed them to `[` and `]`, so if I want to move 5 tabs back (or upward with TST) I type `5[`. It isn't perfect but it is good enough.

Another way is to use the `Shift-T` option in SurfingKeys to search for the tab and jump to it, or use a similar facility in All Tabs Handler.