Bugzilla

(In reply to avada from comment #13)
> I'm quite sure I (as the person who brought this up) was only suggesting for tabs to be opened in the background (with the urlbar/results preserving state of course) when a typical "open in new tab" action was performed. Middle+click, ctrl+LMB, alt+enter (if the modifier stays as it is).
> Opening in a new (background or not) tab via mere left click or enter would be unusual and unexpected.

I mean the default action when opening tabs, not the default action when clicking urlbar results. There's no need for new prefs to make opening in tabs the default, as the pref `browser.urlbar.openintab` already exists (along with an equivalent for the searchbar). Urlbar results can be opened in tabs by two methods - 1) the pref, and 2) a modifier (Ctrl/Cmd for click, Alt for Enter). The question is whether we add a new pref that makes these tabs open in the background by default (as opposed to requiring an additional modifier, as is currently required).

Unless I'm misunderstanding, your request is to make urlbar results opened by the "open in tab" modifier load in background tabs instead of foreground tabs, without requiring an additional modifier (Shift). Which I don't think is a desirable default (most users will expect Ctrl+click or middle click to open foreground tabs), so fulfilling that request would require a new user preference.

(In reply to avada from comment #13)
> I'm quite sure I (as the person who brought this up) was only suggesting for tabs to be opened in the background (with the urlbar/results preserving state of course) when a typical "open in new tab" action was performed. Middle+click, ctrl+LMB, alt+enter (if the modifier stays as it is).
> Opening in a new (background or not) tab via mere left click or enter would be unusual and unexpected.

I mean the default action when opening tabs, not the default action when clicking urlbar results (see [comment 0](#c0)). There's no need for new prefs to make opening in tabs the default, as the pref `browser.urlbar.openintab` already exists (along with an equivalent for the searchbar). Urlbar results can be opened in tabs by two methods - 1) the pref, and 2) a modifier (Ctrl/Cmd for click, Alt for Enter). The question is whether we add a new pref that makes these tabs open in the background by default (as opposed to requiring an additional modifier, as is currently required).

Unless I'm misunderstanding, your request is to make urlbar results opened by the "open in tab" modifier load in background tabs instead of foreground tabs, without requiring an additional modifier (Shift). Which I don't think is a desirable default (most users will expect Ctrl+click or middle click to open foreground tabs), so fulfilling that request would require a new user preference.