New tabbed browsing behavior (in Firefox trunk builds)

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beltzner
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New tabbed browsing behavior (in Firefox trunk builds)

Post by beltzner »

Ben Goodger landed the tabbed browsing behaviour changes that were being <a href="http://wiki.mozilla.org/Link_Targeting">discussed on the wiki</a> and in <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=308396">bug 308396</a> on <a href="http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=370221&sid=0155bd8d222037208c14950cebb6cc5c"> the next trunk build</a>*. These ideas were being considered for Firefox 1.5, but were eventually decided to be too major a change to take late in the cycle. We're quite keen on <a href="http://wiki.mozilla.org/Tabbed_Browsing">improving tabbed browsing</a> for <a href="http://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox:2.0_Product_Planning:Draft_Plan">Firefox 2</a>, though, with the specifc goals improving the discoverability and common tab interaction tasks (opening, closing, switching).

The patch was landed so that we could get a good body of feedback from experienced web browsers, which we'll compile with <a href="http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/2005_11.html">existing user testing data</a> and upcoming user testing data. We'd love to get your comments and ideas. Throw them onto this thread and we'll keep track!

<b>Please note:</b> Try to support any opinions with some rationale to help us understand your point of view. Just saying "it sucks" or "it rocks" isn't as helpful as saying <i>why</i> it sucks or rocks.

<b>Oh, and:</b> if you have extensions that modify tab behaviour, please try running this with them both enabled and disabled so we can figure out what (if anything) we're breaking.

(* the mac pinstripe theme graphics were missing from the first checkin, but have been added, and should be in place for the next trunk build)
Last edited by beltzner on January 20th, 2006, 10:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Mike Beltzner / Director of Firefox Development / beltzner@mozilla.com
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Mossop
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Post by Mossop »

Mike, nice to see these sorts of things landing experimentally and giving us more chance to provide our feedback rather than just checking things in and saying that that's that. I mentioned this on IRC but I thought I'd throw it in here too for others to see:

I've had a quick play with this and the first thing that stands out to me is the close buttons on unselected tabs. I'm not sure if they should be there or not, but what I don't like is that they are there, and working, but are greyed out. They look effectively disabled when they aren't. I'm certainly no usability expert but If you show a user something that looks disabled are they going to use it?

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rschultz2002
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Post by rschultz2002 »

Hmm, it sucks. I had to install Tab Mix Plus v0.3 just to get the stuff I like back.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.9a1) Gecko/20060120 Firefox/1.6a1 - Build ID: 2006012016
Elen
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Post by Elen »

One small quirk I have run into:

1) Open new tabs until close buttons disappear from the background tabs
2) Click on the first tab
3) Close buttons suddenly reappear on all tabs

For funkier looping version hide the page icon from tabs so that nothing keeps the tabs height set.

Code: Select all

/* Remove icons from tabs */ 
.tabbrowser-tabs .tab-icon {
  display: none !important;
}


I like the close buttons on unselected tabs, they make closing tabs a lot faster and smoother for me. As for the close buttons looking disabled, they lit up when hovered on for me (disabled buttons obviously don't do that) so I don't see much of an issue there.
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Mossop
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Post by Mossop »

rschultz2002 wrote:Hmm, it sucks. I had to install Tab Mix Plus v0.3 just to get the stuff I like back.

Is there any chance you could say what about it you didn't like? Just saying "it sucks" really doesn't help the developers to improve things.
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Mossop
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Post by Mossop »

Elen wrote:As for the close buttons looking disabled, they lit up when hovered on for me (disabled buttons obviously don't do that) so I don't see much of an issue there.

Yeah they do highlight on hover, I guess it depends, is it best to rely on users to explore around the tabs to find that the buttons can be used or make it more obvious that they're usable. I don't know the answer to that.
rschultz2002
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Post by rschultz2002 »

mossop wrote:
rschultz2002 wrote:Hmm, it sucks. I had to install Tab Mix Plus v0.3 just to get the stuff I like back.

Is there any chance you could say what about it you didn't like? Just saying "it sucks" really doesn't help the developers to improve things.
I want options. This build I have now if you try to install an Extention it opens a new window and wants to download it. I do not want to download I want to install. It did it with these.

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.9a1) Gecko/20060120 Firefox/1.6a1
Build ID: 2006012016

- Adblock Plus 0.5.11.2
- MR Tech Local Install 4.0.20060120.01
- NoScript 1.1.3.5
- Tab Mix Plus 0.3
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BenBasson
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Post by BenBasson »

Bug 324209 - Default new tab/window preference is not respected until manually set

rschultz2002 wrote:This build I have now if you try to install an Extention it opens a new window and wants to download it. I do not want to download I want to install.

That's unrelated to the new tab settings. Sure, Tab Mix Plus fixes it (so does Disable Targets For Downloads, from which the Tab Mix Plus fix is apparently derived) but there's already a bug on file. Mike (Beltzner) please bug Mike (Connor) to fix that bug, it's still there waiting for him ;)
Elen
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Post by Elen »

rschultz2002
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Post by rschultz2002 »

Cusser, It use to work though. I could always get the top 3 to install on Branch with out TMP.
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Post by BenBasson »

Elen wrote:I think that was left out on purpose, see 308396#c46

Bah. Oh well, that was the only thing I've noticed so far. I predict a WONTFIX. Although to be honest, it should probably be fixed meanwhile to avoid dupes.

rschultz2002 wrote:Cusser, It use to work though. I could always get the top 3 to install on Branch with out TMP.

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about in that case.

If you click a link and a blank tab/window opens in addition to a download/install, that bug is not related to these changes and exists on the branch. If you click a link and it tries to download instead of installing, that bug is not related to these changes either.
rschultz2002
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Post by rschultz2002 »

I will try the next build and see what goes on. I may of not checked a pref. Every build I try I do a total clean install.
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Post by supernova_00 »

Yes, thank you for not just landing and telling anyone that complains that it;s not going change, its what is wanted so live with it. Thanks for willing to accept feedback.

I haven't tried a new build out yet but will report on my likings or dislikings.

NOTE: Guys probably best to disable any tab related css hacks you have in your userchrome.css and any tab related extensions because the code changed so most likely some of the hacks and of course tab related extensions might not work properly.
supergirl260
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Post by supergirl260 »

this is goona rock new tab functionality
supernova_00
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Post by supernova_00 »

Just tried out and I like it.
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