How to always get tabs to load in the background?

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FrankSMS
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How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by FrankSMS »

I notice on a few websites when you Control_Click a link it doesn't open in the background like its supposed to do. Some prick in their web design team has deemed themselves above convention and has decided to ruin fluidity for everyone else just to get attention to themselves sooner. Despicable behavior but its common. Pricks are everywhere it would seem. I looked in about:config but didn't see anything though the tab area is huge and I didn't check every one since I don't even know what most do that I see here.

Any idea how to really control how tabs work these days or are we at the mercy of these scum? Tabs used to work so well. They always opened in the background.

Another problem I've noticed, and this is not just Firefox, is when I load a tab and come to it later often it has to reload. Why? Its already loaded! Its not a news site or stock ticker that changes minute by minute. The whole point of tabs is to load and forget about them and they are there til you need them.
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MarkRH
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by MarkRH »

Uhm, check browser.tabs.loadInBackground in about:config and make sure set to true?
FrankSMS
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by FrankSMS »

That was True.
services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.tabs.loadInBackground is also True.
I wonder if websites can override these settings?
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MarkRH
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by MarkRH »

Well, with it set to true and I control-click say my Firefox Config link here it opens it in a new tab in the background and tab focus doesn't change. Normally I have it set to switch to new tabs immediately so it's making a change in behavior here.
FrankSMS
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by FrankSMS »

accessibility.tabfocus is set to 7
accessibility.tabfocus_applies_to_xul is False
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dfoulkes
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by dfoulkes »

FrankSMS
You might want to post a link to one of those problem sites.
Last edited by dfoulkes on October 23rd, 2018, 7:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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therube
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by therube »

Throw in an ad blocker & see if that doesn't help.

I was putting some browser through their ranks, so was kind of running them open & visiting every kind of site, & one porn site I came across (oh, the name, I'll think of it), if you tried to to center-click a thumbnail (to have it open in a tab), instead it would revert to opening in the current tab.

So I threw in uBlock (& NoScript) & that quieted things down, & pretty sure it was something in uBlock that nixed that behavior.
(Now if uBlock "fixed it", I'm sure you could do similar "manually", maybe with a Pref change or some CSS, but as it was "fixed"...)

(I'll get the name... momentarily... if I can these neurons connecting... Tried two, but no dice. I'll think of it...)
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FrankSMS
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by FrankSMS »

I've noticed that as well on sites that are very aggressive, like when they are pushing some crap item to sell, multi-level marketing, gambling, etc. They often have that confirmation popup asking if you really want to leave when you've close that tab. That's a dead giveaway you're on a scum site when you see that. But I found this occurring on Kijiji, not exactly a scum site. Occasionally it occurs on other normal sites but it does seem rare. It sure would be nice if web designers respected obvious conventions. I guess some consider themselves above us all. :)
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jscher2000
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by jscher2000 »

When you're in about:config, filter on inback to see lots of interrelated preferences. In addition to this one:

browser.tabs.loadInBackground

you may need to change this one true if it has its default value of false:

browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground

A diverted tab is one that the site launched to a new window but Firefox diverted to a new tab instead.
FrankSMS
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Re: How to always get tabs to load in the background?

Post by FrankSMS »

Both are true. Looks like some sites can just override whatever we set.
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