_blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Discussion of general topics about Mozilla Firefox
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

The fix posted by zeniko does not work for me.

I have 3.5 final. When I click a link in my email client, it opens in the last open tab and replaces what was there. I want it to go back to the old behaviour of opening in a new tab.

There appears to be no fix for this, but I can't believe it got past quality control. It's a huge usability problem.

Has someone opened a bug for it I can go an vote on?
Chronial
Posts: 4
Joined: February 25th, 2004, 8:44 am
Contact:

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by Chronial »

Is there no solution to this problem?
I'm really annoyed by this, too.
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

Tab-mix works but you have to spend time configuring it. This is really frustrating and silly.
jml1911a1
Posts: 23
Joined: December 2nd, 2004, 7:38 pm

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by jml1911a1 »

I simply made Chrome my default browser, so links from external apps load in Chrome, which appears to be configured properly (links load in new tabs) by default. I still use FF as my primary browser.

I agree this is a big issue - why the devs reduced the configurability of FF is beyond me. If I wanted something I couldn't customize to the hilt, I wouldn't need anything but IE.
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

How this slipped past quality control to make it in to the release version is beyond me.
User avatar
Frank Lion
Posts: 21173
Joined: April 23rd, 2004, 6:59 pm
Location: ... The Exorcist....United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by Frank Lion »

mojo-chan wrote:How this slipped past quality control to make it in to the release version is beyond me.

Did you report the need for this feature to Bugzilla prior to the final release?
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
.
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, external links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

Frank Lion wrote:
mojo-chan wrote:How this slipped past quality control to make it in to the release version is beyond me.

Did you report the need for this feature to Bugzilla prior to the final release?


No, because it wasn't in the release candidate I tested. Also, since I'm not really in to testing out RCs I only installed it on one machine and didn't do extensive testing on it.

Besides, this is a regression, not an improvement. The old behaviour was the correct one, the new behaviour breaks the tab model both as a stand alone feature and as a replacement for multiple windows. Clicking on a link outside the current tab is _never_ an indication from the user that they want to navigate away from the page in that tab. Perhaps the only exception is when Javascript in a pop-up window affects the parent (e.g. refresh after logging in), but that's a parent-child relationship and the only one I can think of.

Frankly, you don't expect major features and long standing behaviour that is the default not only for every other browser but for 99% of apps that support multiple documents in a single interface to suddenly go away with no explanation and between release candidates which as supposed to be static in terms of features.

I don't see how it can be called anything but a bug, a major cock-up.
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

I found a fix for this bug. You need to change the way FF is invoked externally.

1. Open an Explorer window (e.g. double click on My Comptuer)
2. Select Tools->Folder Options...
3. Select the "File Types" tab
4. Select "(NONE) URL: Hypertext Transfer Protocol"
5. Click "Advanced..."
6. Select "open" and click "Edit..."
7. Untick "Use DDE"
8. Change the "Application used to perform action" from ' "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -requestPending -osint -url "%1" ' to ' "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -requestPending -osint -new-tab "%1" ' (note the double quote marks)

Save your changes and repeat for "(NONE) URL: Hypertext Transfer Protocol with Privacy" and "(NONE) Firefox URL".
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

A little update. The above fix does not work after FF is restarted if you click "Make FF the default browser" :(

There is now a partial fix. Install https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=371285. Keep in mind it's beta code, not well tested.

Go to about:config and create browser.link.open_external as an integer value, set it to 3. The set browser.link.open_newwindow to 1. External links now open in a new tab, internal links open in the same tab.

Unfortunately, this fix is not compatible with Tabs Open Relative, so it's still not right.
certificate18
Posts: 1
Joined: July 23rd, 2009, 12:47 pm

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by certificate18 »

The above "fix" just forced external hyperlinks to open in separate windows after I installed. After a few clicks from an Outlook email, I had several Firefox windows open, which is probably worse than continually overwriting the active tab.

But this should NOT have to be fixed by an external plugin, it's something wrong with Firefox 3.5 & 3.5.1 and Mozilla central should fix it asap. Roll on 3.5.2. Meanwhile I'm going to roll back to 3.0.12. =D>
ophi
Posts: 1
Joined: July 23rd, 2009, 1:53 pm

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by ophi »

omg. I can't believe they removed functionality to treat internal & external links differently. The reply to "just install tab mix plus" is a slap in the face. In any event, I went to download the plugin to continue my normal browsing habits, and see that it's not even updated to work on v3.5... grrr

I've always been an advocate of Firefox saying the developers focus on making it quick, secure, and customizable. But after reading the comments of the bug, & seeing the defiance of not altering course after it was apparent many users would be upset after it was completed has seriously disheartened me. It's not like it was a refusal to add a feature because it was time-consuming and/or affected few users, it was removing a feature b/c it contradicted a personal philosophy on how single window browsing should be treated.

I'm hoping the attachment to the bug provides a temporary relief while I ponder on the decision to downgrade or move to chrome.
dikrib
Posts: 64
Joined: November 18th, 2004, 11:44 am
Location: Denmark

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by dikrib »

In relation to my extension posted to bugzilla:

Tabs Open Relative: That extension seems so be using the fifth wrong reason to use eval. I don't know if that is the cause, but someone could give it a try.

New windows instead of tabs: I have no idea why this would happen. Could you try to set browser.link.open_newwindow to 3 also and check that it opens target=_blank in tabs and not windows? Otherwise could you try to edit the extension adding a line of alert(arguments[2]); after the line, which assigns to arguments[2] and see if it alerts 3 or not?
Jesper Kristensen
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

I am installing Ubuntu under VirtualBox so I can try to create a patch to fix this. I run Windows XP x64 but trying to compile FF on that is a waste of time.
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

Okay, I have produced a fix. The following add-on will restore the old, correct behaviour:

Tabs Open Relative (Modified): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/13626 (may take a few hours for the page to go live)

You can also get it at my web site, http://soft.world3.net/tabsopenrelative.html

Thanks to dikrib for the helpful code. I'd like to remove the use of eval at some point, but I'm busy with other stuff so it probably won't happen soon.
mojo-chan
Posts: 131
Joined: November 25th, 2003, 8:56 am

Re: _blank in same tab, extenal links in new tab

Post by mojo-chan »

Okay, site and addons.mozilla.org are both working now.
Post Reply