FF 2 open in new tab is fubar. Is this being addressed????

Discussion of bugs in Mozilla Firefox
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jdopple
Posts: 88
Joined: February 27th, 2005, 9:49 pm

FF 2 open in new tab is fubar. Is this being addressed????

Post by jdopple »

The setting to force a new tab and not a new window does not work for me, or many others. There are some config settings that can 'repair' this but they break other things, like popup windows opening in a tab, which is a royal pain.

This is very basic functionality that was broken in 2.0.
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dickvl
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Joined: July 18th, 2005, 3:25 am

Post by dickvl »

Middle click a link to force it to open in a new tab.
That don't work for JavaScript links, you need to left click those or you get a blank window.

You can try to toggle the tab settings in Tools > Options > Tabs.
In Fx 2.0. some settings are combined (external is combined with internal links) and I don't know which one shows as the selected option.
jdopple
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Post by jdopple »

Don't know why I missed the middle click thing. Thanks.
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dickvl
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Post by dickvl »

You're welcome.
jdopple
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Joined: February 27th, 2005, 9:49 pm

Post by jdopple »

Im afraid this is still not working well. I have tried various settings of these

browser.link.open_external
browser.link.open_newwindow
browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction

and cant get FF to simple open the link in new tab reliably. I get one new tab, and it gets overwritten.
old LoudNoise
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by old LoudNoise »

Check out https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=356830

I think this is what you are talking about.
jdopple
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Joined: February 27th, 2005, 9:49 pm

Post by jdopple »

Sounds like it, but I'm pretty sure this behavior changed from 1.5 to 2. I was getting new tabs for new windows without having to hold the control key. Not sure I have a 1.5 install to verify this with.
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Olhanzilla
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Joined: February 10th, 2005, 8:29 pm

Post by Olhanzilla »

A note about "middle click"

Be aware that some mouse drivers let you select an action for the middle button.

Logitech has had this feature since back in the 1980's - I remember writing an article about it for a PC user's group back then. I called it "The Best Mouse Trap Around" :-)

I always set my middle button to be a double click. This saves finger action and reduces wear and tear on the left button.

My point is that depending upon the mouse driver a person is using and how it has been configured, middle clicking may not produce the same result.

If the mouse driver being used lets you select an action for the middle button, the easiest way to open a link in a new tab is to hold the CTRL key down when you left click the link.

I'd recommend that if you are explaining how to open a link in a new tab, you give all the possible ways:

1) Right click for context menu and select Open in New Tab

2) Click with middle mouse button - if it is not configured to some other function

3) Hold the CTRL key down while clicking with the left button.

Often a short answer creates more problems than no answer at all.

While I don't expect everyone to write a novel in every reply, you should try to give all the options in your replies.

As to whether there is a bug in Firefox 2 for opening links in new tabs, I don't know. Haveing downloaded and install 2 yet - may not do so for awhile considering how many bugs seem to be being reported :-)

By the way, Logitech's mouse drivers will often work with non Logitech mice - you might be able to download and install a driver which would give you the ability to set the middle button to something.

Setting it to emulate a double click makes using windows a lot easier.

Bob
jdopple
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Joined: February 27th, 2005, 9:49 pm

Post by jdopple »

Bob, I've had my Logitech trackman ( I hate mice, dont know why the trackman thumb wheel didnt capture 99% of the market.) middle button set to double click for about 15 years.

Seems you are correct, this prevents the middle click from opening in new tab.

What I want, is for Firefox to open in a new tab BY DEFAULT, and in a new window BY EXCEPTION.

Given all the config options, this should be possible, but apparently not.
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Olhanzilla
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Post by Olhanzilla »

There is a setting to open links that coded to open in a new window in a new tab instead but I've not seen one to open all links in a new tab.

What I'd like to see - and perhaps it is there but I've not heard about it - is the ability to open a link in a new tab, instead of a new window, via javascript.

I have an application - a CD archive of about 500,000 messges from a message board - where I open things like indexes in new windows and then messages referenced from the indexes in another window. I do this because some of the indexes are quite large - even breaking messages down by months creates large indexes - and I want to spare the user having to reload an index just to find another message.

Most people get confused by, and don't like, new windows so a new tab would be a great way to go.

It makes everything visible and saves the time of creating a new window - I don't know if you are a programmer or not, but creating a new window of any type eats up a lot of time and Windows resources.

I do a lot of searches and always open hits in new tabs as I browse through the hit list. I set Netscape (and now Firefox) to open new tabs in the background and it is amazing how much faster you can zero in on a search by not having to constantly switch back to the window with the hit list or reload it in the same window.

When I'm doing most of my searchs, I use the right click menu to direct links into new tabs - sure it is two clicks and a bit of mouse movement (or thumb wheel movement) to use the right click menu - it is faster to use the mouse rather than reach for the keyboard since I'm using the mouse a lot anyway to scroll thorugh hit pages - and I find it faster since I don't have to hold the CTRL key down to do it the other way and I always leave my center button set to do a double click.

When I first came across Logitech's mouseware - it must have been in the late 80's - I jumped at the ability to click the middle button once instead of clicking the left button twice.

I have actually worn out left mouse buttons with double clicks. The plastic has worn down so that it no longer drpresses the switch enough to make contact, no mater how hard I push.

When I saw that I could make the middle button do a double left click, I thought I'd found the perfect mouse software.

I wrote that article about it and several people complained that I didn't know what I was talking about and had never even tried the Logitech software :-)

When they actually tried it, they converted to it.

As to "all the config options" - I seem to be having a bit of an arguement with the-edmeister about there being so much advise being given out to dive into the config files and make changes.

It strikes me as a dangerous thing to do - someone who blunders about could cripple or disable Firefox.

If options exist, there should be a better interface than one which simply lets you change the value.

I guess the Firefox team doesn't want to spend the time on a good interface to the options.

In the 33+ years that I've worked with computers, I've seen too many people who should not be allowed to touch one let along make changes to a configuration file.

Bob
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