Closed Bug 103354 Opened 23 years ago Closed 21 years ago

"close other tabs" is in a dangerous position on tab context menu

Categories

(SeaMonkey :: Tabbed Browser, defect, P1)

Product:
SeaMonkey
Component:
Tabbed Browser
Type:
defect

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
VERIFIED WONTFIX
Milestone:
mozilla1.3beta

People

(Reporter: joschi, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Keywords: dataloss, regression)

Attachments

(5 files)

patch v.1 Add box to confirm removals and reorder context menu.
2.56 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
v.2 get rid of other patch scraps
2.09 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
v.3 moved text into a .propertes for other langs. Patch can now be subjected to review.
3.76 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
v.4 got rid of js probs and made code nice and neat.
3.74 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
Remove "Close Other Tabs" menuitem.
2.76 KB, patch
bryner
: superreview+
asa
: approval+
asa
: approval1.3b+
Details | Diff | Splinter Review 
The order of menu items is extremely dangerous.  Having two actions with
destuctively oposite effects right next to each other is not a good idea.  Many
times I have accidentally clicked "Close Other Tabs" when intending "Close Tab"
... I'm sure you see how annoying this could be if you are regularly keeping 8
pages open in tabs, and go to close the page you just read... boom... all those
other pages are gone and you are left staring at the page you just read  :)  I
don't have a suggestion for the order at this time, maybe this issue will vanish
as more items are added to that menu, but this is a big usability issue.
Summary: tab popup menu item order is dangerous → "close other tabs" is in a dangerous position on tab context menu
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Keywords: ui
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Target Milestone: --- → mozilla1.0
I'm sure 'Close' and 'Close other tabs' should be swapped on the context menu
consistent with windows and some gnome menus.

A msgbox should also promt the user with 'All other tabs but the currently
displayed tab will be removed. Are you sure you want this to happen?' to prevent
mis-clicks from loosing whatever the other tabs contain by accident.
I think this menu item should be gotten rid of altogether.

I don't think this is an option user's expect. The File menu doesn't have a
"Close all other browser windows" menu item.

I think the small benefit of increased functionality is outwayed by decreased
usability due to increased UI noise.
i do not think we should get rid of it, this feature is pretty useful for tabs
but i don't see (personally) the big improvement if we just switch the positions
of "close tab" and "close other tabs"...
I just lost several tabs, including my bug search results, to this.
Adding self to Cc.
Target Milestone: mozilla1.0 → mozilla1.0.1
the patch v4 is outdated because of changes being made to the source, isn't it?
The context menu was reorganized some time ago...
IMHO this bug as described in the summary is now a WONTFIX.

the only interesting thing is the confirm-dialog... do you really want it?
I think it would be more annoying than helpful...
There is now a separator bar between "Close Tab" (which
I use constantly) and "Close Other Tabs" (which is very
destructive and never what I want, ever), so that it is
not *quite* so easy to hit the wrong one by mistake,
but really a separator bar is thin, and it still would
be fairly easy to accidentally close a dozen tabs one
still wants, by mistake.  

I would like to be able to configure away the "Close
Other Tabs" option entirely.  I never use it.  

Don't know about the patch; I only grab the nightly
builds, since I don't have the compiler needed to
build Mozilla.  Waiting for the day it will build
under cygwin.  (Is there an RFE for that someplace?)


*** Bug 107519 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
if you want to get rid of a menu, you can use your userChrome.css to
display:none it.
Talking about menus: IMHO Ctrl+W command (File/Close) is even more gangerous
than "Close other tabs" command.

How about replacing/adding "Close window" (Ctrl+W) command with "Close Tab"
command in main File menu when Tabbed Browser is activated?  

This way pressing Ctrl+W will close always one active tab up to last one, then
the whole window is closed as normally.

"Close other tabs" feels terrifying, because most people usually like to confirm
visually what exactly they are closing and the tabs are closed one-by one.

> How about replacing/adding "Close window" (Ctrl+W) command 
> with "Close Tab" command in main File menu when Tabbed 
> Browser is activated? 

This Works For Me, Win95 OSR2, Mozilla build 2001103103

> "Close other tabs" feels terrifying, because most people 
> usually like to confirm visually what exactly they are 
> closing and the tabs are closed one-by one.

Agreed, it is easy to lose data this way.
Keywords: dataloss
Reassigning to new component owner.
Assignee: hyatt → jaggernaut
Status: ASSIGNED → NEW
QA Contact: blaker → sairuh
I agree with the request for a confirm message. To have all tabs closed without
a confirm is very frustrating and it does happen all too often. Granted, you can
remove it manually, but the default action should not be to wipe all tabs
without a confirm. 

Yes please add a confirmation window!. I regularly have between 6 and a dozen
tabs open, and have accidentally closed them all at once this way..

In the meantime, I will see if I can find a way to disable it in the chrome as
described earlier.. Thats not a perfect s9lution though, becuase sometimes it IS
a useful function.. It just needs to have a safety..
I am in favor of either:

1) Removing "Close other tabs" from the tab context menu
--or--
2) Adding a close confirmation message upon selecting "close other tabs"


FYI: this will be in my new tabbrowser.xml update patch :)

<tabbrowser.xml:snap>
      <method name="confirmTabClose">
        <body>
          <![CDATA[
            try { // a pref setting a preferred for this dialog
              if (!this.mPrefs.getBoolPref("browser.tabs.confirm-close"))
                return true;
            } catch(e) {
                return true;
            }
            var dialogTitle =
this.mStringBundle.getString("tabs.confirmDialogTitle");
            var dialogText = this.mStringBundle.getString("tabs.confirmDialogText");
            var promptService =
Components.classes["@mozilla.org/embedcomp/prompt-service;1"].getService();

            promptService =
promptService.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsIPromptService);
            return promptService.confirm(window, dialogTitle, dialogText);
          ]]>
        </body>
      </method>
</tabbrowser.xml:snap>

This snap of code should be inserted to activate the dialog:

<tabbrowser.xml:snap>
            if (!this.confirmTabClose())
              return;
</tabbrowser.xml:snap>

As you see you can configure a pref to enable/disable this dialog. And please
don't mess up with the tab menu.
We'll be putting a close box on each tab, making using the menu unnecessary.
That then leaves a lot of room between the Close All Tabs item and the other
items. Is that enough? If so I propose WONTFIXing this bug. Having an alert is
not really an option; alerts should only happen when something goes wrong. (Ask
mpt.)
Whiteboard: WONTFIX
Proposed fix doesn't WFM...an alert should happen when something goes wrong, AND
when the user is about to do something big and destructive that can't be undone.
For example, the "Are you sure you want to quit" type alert in many apps. I can
see how that confirm behavior might be annoying to some, but if we're going to
include hardcore features like Close All Tabs, then we need to have a way of
turning it off or warning the user if they use it. The *best* solution IMHO is
to group those kind of alerts in a Newbie section and allow the user to
enable/disable them as a group. The user could also enable/disable hardcore
features like Close All Tabs...but the prob with this bug is not the distance
between the items, it's:
 
1) the Close All Tabs is there at all
2) you're doing a big, destructive thing with no warning to the user. 

At least that's how it looks from over here. 


How useful is "Close other tabs"? Perhaps the solution is to just get rid of it.
I would just like to voice my agreement with jag, it just isnt useful enough to
justify it potential to cause the user to loose lots of information.  I
routinely close 10's of tabs just clicking repeatedly on the [X] button,
clicking with the middle mouse button, or using ctrl-w.  
Ok, apparently this didnt make it into 1.0, even though I can't imagine
I'm the only one that has lost a whole bunch of open tabs with one
mis-click of the mouse.

I dont know why this requires so much discussion, why it cant just be
fixed in the official tree. It baffles me why a TINY fix like this didnt
get included - not even so much as a pref to remove it from the menu..

Anyway, its **** me off enough now, and with 1.0 'released' I'm not
waiting any more.

I'm not a code hacker, and a full mozilla compile would take days on my
system. So I've found a way to get this option off the menu at run-time.

I publish it here for anyone else who keeps losing important work due to
this ill-devised misfeature, and is also not in a position to edit the
source and recompile. Maybe my doing this will prod someone who has
access to the tree to put in a proper fix or preference - this is a
semi-ugly hack.

This works on linux, it might work on other platforms. It comes with
absolutely no warranty - if you break your mozilla, or crash your
system, or erase your hard drive, dont complain to me.

1. Find 'toolkit.jar'.

In my RH 7.x install from the RPMs, this was in
/usr/lib/mozilla-1.0.0/chrome

2. MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF THAT FILE!

3. If you didnt follow instruction #2, do it now. MAKE A BACKUP COPY!  

4. Make a temporary directory somewhere, and unzip toolkit.jar into it
(its really a zip file, even though it says .jar)

5. Find content/global/bindings/tabbrowser.xml in your temporary
directory

6. Look for a line thats starts like this:

 <xul:menuitem label="&closeOtherTabs.label;

 This is the start of the menu item definition. In my version, it was
wrapped onto 4 lines - it ends with "/>" at the end of a line

7. Delete just those lines. There is a menu seperator definition above it
that you can delete too if you dont want it to look silly.

8. Re-zip all of these files up into a new toolkit.jar . Make sure it
has the pathnames starting with content/... etc ...

MAKE SURE YOU DONT OVERWRITE YOUR BACKUP
COPY - YOU DID MAKE A BACKUP, RIGHT?

9. Name this new zip file 'toolkit.jar', and put it in place of the
previous one. Restart Mozilla. That pesky 'Close Other Tabs' should be
gone now.
Please fix this! It has happened to me at least 10 times already and I'm no
newbie. Especially on a slower computer if the GUI 'stutters' for a moment it is
WAY to easy to click "close other tabs" instead of "close tab". You've then
wiped out ALL your tabs, and AFAIK there is no way to get them back. 

This is especially frustrating if you are shopping or composing some text in one
of the tabs you accidentally closed. 

Please don't put an alert asking for confirmation, that's even worse. Just
seperating the two on the menu will probably suffice, alternatively, just remove
the "close other tabs" option entirely. How often does the user really want to
do this? 
I'm sorry but it seems to me that some people here blame mozilla for the
mistakes they make.

"Please don't put an alert asking for confirmation, that's even worse."
Why is that even worse?

"This is especially frustrating if you are shopping or composing some text in one
of the tabs you accidentally closed."
Exactly, it was _you_ that accidentally closed the tab, not mozilla or somebody
else. So why should every single mozilla user have to pay for your mistake(s)?

"How often does the user really want to do this?"
Well, in fact, tons of times. A lot of porn surfers asked for this feature so it
was first introduced in MultiZilla. I my self use it when doing research on the
web for my daily job, so it would be a bad thing to remove.

My tip is: You should be more carefully in closing tabs. You are just to fast
for your little left brain part. Slow down a bit and thing are fine again. Don't
get frustrated right away. So you closed the wrong tab(s) ten times, well, the
sky is still blue :-)
Without blaming anyone, let's look at the tool. Why is closing all tabs despised 
so? Because it's in a position that makes doing an irreversible act EASY. Now if 
you have computer problems, or something freezes (and we all know that NEVER 
happens, right?) you might select this without choosing to. The result? No 
warning, no undo, but all your tabs and all your URLS are GONE. How is that 
treating the user fairly? PS. Because a lot of porn surfers asked for something 
doesn't mean they're the same audience as the general browsing crowd. I surf with 
a lot of tabs open and I never, ever use close all tabs. This functionality 
should be:
1) removed entirely
2) be a preference 
3) be part of a suite of preferences subsumed in a mode (expert mode).

The general user should not be exposed to this unless he or she chooses. It's 
advanced functionality for a specialty market that can't be undone. Is anyone 
saying all users really want this? Look at this thread and its emotional 
intensity and then judge for yourself. 

..."I'm sorry but it seems to me that some people here blame mozilla for the
mistakes they make.... Exactly, it was _you_ that accidentally closed the tab,
not mozilla or somebody else.... My tip is: You should be more carefully in
closing tabs. You are just to fast for your little left brain part. Slow down a
bit and thing are fine again. Don't get frustrated right away. So you closed the
wrong tab(s) ten times, well, the sky is still blue :-)"...

This is the typical open source response - "I can't figure out how to make my
interface not suck, so I'll blame the user." Don't misunderstand me - whether or
not it's a feature that porn surfers want is not really my concern. If it needs
to be a feature, let it be a feature. The problem is that the placement of the
feature is all wrong, making it WAY too easy to select the wrong menu item. 

Don't project the flaws of the application onto the user (and make no mistake,
it is a flaw). Good interface allows the user to click as fast as they want by
predictably placing menu items and widgets. This isn't it. 
Before the somewhat inflammatory comment #26 starts everyone spamming this bug,
I will point out #20 again, which seems to be an excellent solution (adds a
close button the tab itself so one doesn't need to use the menu).

As for #26... blaming it on users seems deliberately provocative.  Having a bad day?
#26 - so if there was a "delete all my bookmarks" menu item _right next to_ the
"delete" item of the context menu in the bookmark manager and a user with
arthritus (like my grandfather who i had to teach how to use a computer from
scratch) accidentally clicked _2 pixels_ to low, its their fault that all their
bookmarks are trashed?  sure, i'm sure you could find some users would would
love to be able to clear out their boomarks quickly and easily, but this would
be a really silly thing to force apon the general populous.  this breaks one of
the most basic tennants of UI design of not laying out dangerous, irreversable
actions in close proximity to safe one.
Sure, not everybody wants to have this in the tab context menu nor does
everybody likes to see it removed. So what can we do to improve the UI suck
less. Fact is that a Close Icon on the tab isn't going to make it. 

Adding a menu separator isn't the best thing to do, but a confirmation window
will make sure you don't close all tabs by accident. Let's face it, you don't
see that confirmation window, if you don't use that menu item.

Sure it is damn easy to select the wrong menu item, so are many others menu
items but those have less effect on you. Again, we have to do something that
works for both parties, the onces that like and dislike the feature. But at the
end, it was still you selecting that menu item.

And no, I'm not having a bad day or mind trip. We've had this discussion almost
two years back now for MultiZilla and it seems to work for both parties with a
confirmation window.
#30 - exactly, a confirmation window would have stopped him from accidentally
erasing his bookmarks. So we should simply ask for confirmation, if there is no,
simple, way of undoing the action. We are already used to this kind of
confirmation windows for other programs so why not for mozilla?
"But at the end, it was still you selecting that menu item."

You're still blaming the user! When we design interfaces that make it trivially
easy to click on the wrong menu item, it is our screwup, not the user's. 

If it's not going to change, fine. Just say so, as in "I don't have time",
"other bugs are higher priority", or "We don't have the technical skill". But
please at least acknowledge the issue instead of pretending you've designed it
"right". 
#32 (i feel like we are in an episode of "the prisoner" ;) i agree, this menu
needs a confirm dialog.
Why does it have to be fixed? Whats wrong with a pref to do one or both of:

1. control wether 'close all other tabs' appears on the menu

2. control wether or not there is a confirmation dialog.

I would suggest the default be appear, but with the confirmation dialog.

people who hate it and dont want it at all, can set the pref to hide it entirely.

people who like that it blows away a whole pile of tabs at once without even a
how-do-you-do, can set the pref to disable the confirmation (at least until THEY
accidently lose an important URL, at which point they can adjust as needed)
clarification:

I just realized I may have been unclear..

I didnt mean 'fixed' as in 'repaired', I meant 'fixed' as in 'unchangeable'

Who says this feature can only work one way? There should be a pref (or two)
controlling what id does, especially since there seems to be such vocally
opposing viewpoints as to exactly how it should work. Mozilla CAN suit all
(well, maybe at least most) users on THIS item, in fact I would say MORE prefs,
and MORE documentation of those prefs.. But that is getting off the topic of
this particular problem..
I am a capable and competent end user who just lost a significant amount of work
to this bug because it closed a page with a text box entry where I was writing
an entry onto my webpage. You can't blame this one on me; I hit the "close all
other tabs" not because I'm incompetent, but because I'm *highly* competent! It
should not be that easy to do something that destructive, period, especially
when the destructive act is of marginal benefit. 

I just took the time to follow the directions in comment #19, and will do so as
many times as it takes as I update Mozilla.

I've closed hundreds, probably thousands of tabs, and never yet wanted "Close
all other tabs". By the principle that the less used something is, the less easy
it should be to get at it (leaving more room for the most frequently used
commands), that pretty much says that "Close all other tabs" should either just
plain *not exist*, or be buried two levels deep in the View or Tools menu or
something. (For that matter, the same principle says that "Close Tab" should be
on the *top* of that popup menu, at least in my case.) It should certainly not
be 10 pixels away from the most common command.

This is a stupid hangup; 36 comments on this bug to date and not a *single
person* has defended the need for this "Close all other tabs" feature! As near
as I can see, it remains of theoretical benefit to a nobody concrete, whereas
the damage is real, done to real people. I suggest simply removing the damn
misfeature and then worrying later, if anybody even bothers to yell for it's
return, which I'd bet against.
Hey Jag, why don't you add a pref setting for this? This way you might prevent a
counter action to re insert the menu item :-)
Very funny.
As always :-)

Q1: can a handfull of people vote for removal of features, or do you say that
every single mozilla user should visit bugzilla and vote for handy features, to
prevent the removal of them?

A1: it has nothing to do with a handful of users. I as owner of this module am
being the nasty dictator who says this feature is doing more harm than good and
is going to be removed unless someone can convince me we really need this feature.
Comment on attachment 93290 [details] [diff] [review]
Remove "Close Other Tabs" menuitem.

r=caillon.  Heil jag, übel führer!
Attachment #93290 - Flags: review+
Comment on attachment 93290 [details] [diff] [review]
Remove "Close Other Tabs" menuitem.

sr=bryner
Attachment #93290 - Flags: review+ → superreview+
Comment on attachment 93290 [details] [diff] [review]
Remove "Close Other Tabs" menuitem.

a=asa (on behalf of drivers) for checkin to 1.1
Attachment #93290 - Flags: approval+
Well, there goes democracy :-)

Jag, I was trying to convince you, but that doesn't work for dictators as it
seems. Other possible options are also mentioned here, a simple confirmation
window for example, but that also doesn't work for you. So what do you need to
be convinced?

Eh, tell me something, how do you close 10 or more tabs?
The ability to close multiple tabs is being conflated with the placement of the
"close all tabs" feature. The two are not the same. In fact, the very title of
this bug proves useful -- "'close all tabs' is in a dangerous position on tab
context menu." It's all about the Placement and about the fact that no warning
is given the user. I concur with Justin, mozbugs, and 95% of the other posters
on this thread: this feature is placed in a position that makes hurting yourself
easy. Basic GUI principles state over and over again that the user shouldn't be
able to perform catastrophic actions accidentally. That logic hasn't been
refuted from what I've read so far. Finally, how do I close 10 tabs? I close
them one at a time, making sure I've hit splat-D to bookmark the URL first.    
HJ: I'll refer people to MultiZilla if they have a dire need to "Close Other
Tabs" :-)
Uhm, any reason this hasn't been checked in yet?
Maybe a bit late but anyway: 
Wouldn't it be better to remove "close tab" instead from the context menu, since
this can be achived by two other means (ctrl-w and the "close tab"-button)?
QA Contact: sairuh → pmac
I just blew away about twenty tabs with this, which reminded me of just how
shocked I was the first time this happenned to me, shortly after tabs were
introduced.

Torben: The 'Close Tab' on the context menu is necessary to close a tab without
moving it into the foreground, which (unlike 'close other tabs') is used often
enough to justify its existence.

The patch on this bug had sr= and a= three months ago. Any reason it's been
sitting on the sidelines since?
I too am curious why this hasn't been checked in yet! Also, someone needs to
change the Platform and the OS fields above. It affects Macs as well, and I
still see this issue in Moz 1.2beta Mac OS 9.1.


There are ways to close all but one tab that don't involve a dangerous "close
other tabs" context menu item:

1. Right-click on a tab and select "move tab to a new window" (bug 102132), or
double-click a tab to do the same thing.
2. Close the original window.

1. Copy the url into a new window using Ctrl+(LC N LV).
2. Close the original window.
Re comment 53:
bug 102132 has no patches and probably will not be solved for a long time

Copying the URL to a new window requires lot of clicking, takes time, and will
force the page to reload, so any changes made to eg a form will be lost.

I think the best solution would be to have the "close tab" entry change to
"close all tabs" when you hit a modifier key (eg shift on win and option on
mac), the bug that prevented such behaviour should be fixed AFAIK.
I just got bit by this issue again (accidentally closed a bunch of tabs), so I
thought I'd stop by and revisit it. To my surprise, it STILL hasn't been fixed. 

This issue to me is very simple: good GUI design tells me that it should not be
so easy for the user to do something catostrophic (accidentally killing all tabs). 

I can only assume nobody who has the power to change this works on a laptop. If
you did, you would find that it is quite easy to hit the wrong menu item when
you are using a touchpad or pointer instead of a mouse. 

The goal is to mainstream Mozilla and to get it in front of a larger userbase,
right? If so, **** like this just has to be changed. It isn't the user's fault,
so stop blaming the user and blame the bad GUI that makes it so easy to screw up
in the first place! 
*** Bug 184024 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Step 1 would be acknowledging the problem. 
I just downloaded 1.3a.

"Close other tabs" is STILL right next to "close tab". 

I guess no one cares that users frequently lose a whole screen of tabs to this
stupid UI decision that no one can be bothered to fix. 
By the definitions on <http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/bug_status.html#severity> and
<http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?format=guided>, crashing and dataloss
bugs are of critical or possibly higher severity.  Only changing open bugs to
minimize unnecessary spam.  Keywords to trigger this would be crash, topcrash,
topcrash+, zt4newcrash, dataloss.
Severity: normal → critical
Yes, please remove it. 
since jag has obviously forgotten about this bug, taking.
Assignee: jaggernaut → bzbarsky
Priority: -- → P1
Summary: "close other tabs" is in a dangerous position on tab context menu → [FIX]"close other tabs" is in a dangerous position on tab context menu
Target Milestone: mozilla1.0.1 → mozilla1.3beta
Comment on attachment 93290 [details] [diff] [review]
Remove "Close Other Tabs" menuitem.

This patch got approved for 1.1 but never landed.... could it be reapproved for
1.3b?
Attachment #93290 - Flags: approval1.3b?
OS: Windows 2000 → All
Hardware: PC → All
Whiteboard: WONTFIX
Today is January 30, 2003. That is 14 MONTHS since this problem was first
reported. It would be a very simple change to remove "close other tabs" or make
some other effort to "fix" it. It is very disappointing. It is clearly a
problem, yet no one cares. 

If you had a button that said "erase hard drive?", would you blame the user for
accidentally clicking it? Of course not... so why blame the user when they
accidentally click "close all tabs" ? 

"Close other tabs" is in a STUPID location. Please REMOVE it or otherwise make
it not so easy to accidentally click. 
Justin, in light of the fact that I am wasting (since I never use tabs) my time
getting approval for this bug and checking this patch in, I resent the statement
that "no one cares".

Try not to insult people doing you a favor too much, ok?  It never pays off.

And for the record, if any piece of software I ever produce has a "Erase Hard
Drive" button, I will damn well blame any idiot who clicks it.
Your work is greatly appreciated, do not mistake my "nagging" as an insult!

It seemed to me that this was forgotten, passed over, etc. I just lost another
screen of tabs tonight to this bug which brought it back to the forefront for
me. Unfortunately, I'm not a coder and don't have the ability to contribute in
that manner. 

To be frank, if by "nagging", I have generated enough interest to actually get
this fixed, I sort of feel like I contributed! Would this have got done otherwise??
Yes, since your nagging had nothing to do with me noticing this bug....
Comment on attachment 93290 [details] [diff] [review]
Remove "Close Other Tabs" menuitem.

Thanks bz. a=asa (on behalf of drivers) for checkin to 1.3beta.
Attachment #93290 - Flags: approval1.3b? → approval1.3b+
fixed.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 22 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
my cvs build of Phoenix for today tripped over this, since
toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml is still looking for &closeOtherTabs.label;
in xpfe/global/resources/locale/en-US/tabbrowser.dtd

startup error :
-=-=-

XML Parsing Error: undefined entity
Location: jar:resource:///chrome/toolkit.jar!/content/global/widgets/tabbrowser.xml
Line Number 75, Column 34:

---------------------------------^



just thought people ought to know
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Why do you have to rightclick and then choose Close Tab? Why can't you just
middle click or rightclick on tab + press C or Ctrl+W or click on the close tab
button on the right?

I had Close Other Tabs accelerator changed from O to S (why? because left hand
is on asdf and pressing S is helluva lot faster than going for the O char),
rightclick on tab, press S, other tabs close. Simple and elegant.

Why I want Close Other Tabs? Lets suppose new kewl Mozilla plugin is released
and there are screenshots of it on the site, middle click to open the
screenshots in tabs, view them, cycle back & forth between text and screenshots,
well I think I've seen enough, rightclick on the text tab, press S, and the
screenshots are gone, nice and fast aint it?

IMHO people who "accidentally" click on close other tabs should blame their
clumsy fingers or smth not bad UI design, this was perfect as it was, well to be
honest the Close Tab & New Tab menu items were almost never used by me.

The .diffs for making Mozilla UI usable just keep on growing... :(
I went ahead and did this on Phoenix as well, just so the XML error wouldn't happen.
Grrr. Wish I knew there was heated discussion going on about removing this
feature. I think I could have had some useful input into the discussion.

Too late.

I use it every day, and will miss it dearly.
Yes, it is dangerous (I know to my cost) but I for one find is extremely useful.
Time to open an rfe bug to request is goes back in :-(
Excuse me?  The module owner made a decision.  This menuitem is gone.  I'm not
sure what you think filing a bug to reverse this decision will do, other than
waste everyone's time.

mkaply, thanks for fixing the phoenix bustage.
just to let you know that I miss "Close other tabs" 
I use it very often, and it was a useful feature to me
Is there a keyboard shortcut for that, even if the context menu is gone ?

It reminds me of the grippies removal ...
I look forward to see this option back in very soon

OK.  Enough inane spam.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: FIXED → ---
.
Assignee: bzbarsky → nobody
Status: REOPENED → NEW
.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 22 years ago → 22 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
QA Contact: pmac → sairuh
OK.
Won't open another bug... should probably see what other users think as they
begin to use the new version, before considering such action. (Use the newsgroups?)

P.S.
As this bug is now marked fixed again, where should I post my usability
findings related to this change?

I don't want to waste people's time I *want* to be constructive.
Ok, apparently lots of people hate this feature, and lots of people dont want to
live without it. Why is that not a good enough reason to make it a CHOOSABLE
pref?!?!?!?!
It's the same problem with bug 131500 and bug 39057, though "File | Work
offline" and "File | Exit" had not been removed, thx god !

Here the problem is serious, the feature has gone, it's not simply 
the fact that the context menu item was removed but that there's no way to
achieve the same functionality ! There's no global menu option "Close other tabs"

For me the correct way to go would be to keep the context menu item and add a
confirmation that can be disabled ("X) Don't ask me again")
Bug 191492 filed to request the behaviour suggested in comment 54.
The people that can't live without it argue from their own personal preference,
and NOT from GUI design. The fact that they type perfectly every time in no way
negates the Megabytes of data lost by people who, whether distracted, or by some
other accident, pressed the wrong key. Also, the "blame the user" syndrome is
invoked to support functionality that causes data loss without confirmation. The
latter is simply atrocious GUI design and must be noted, punishes the user for
human (read: common) errors. To act as though all users never messed up and
furthermore, to expect them to never mess up, because your product expects it is
again, projecting the laziness of the programmer onto the characteristics of the
audience. Again, unrealistic and false. None of the aforementioned arguments
rest upon logic nor principle, and thus, all must be dismissed as inappropriate
reasons to keep functionality that causes data loss without confirmation. You
simply must back up what you see with solid logic and not emotional screeds.
 
Rob, if there are usability findings (as opposed to just idle speculation), they
should either go in a bug (at that point a bug is appropriate) or in the
netscape.public.mozilla.ui newsgroup.

Thank you for taking the time to do some testing here.
There are at least 5 different ways to close a tab and now not a single one for
closing the other tabs, hows that for a good usability.
Removing "Close Other Tabs" has *severly* limited the usefulness of tabs! The
whole point of tabs is to easily have many of them, and also to just as easily
remove then once they are no longer needed.

I agree that the previous implemetation was too risky - closing all other tabs
by accident was too likely. So what to do? 

I don't like the "modifier" idea in bug 191492 because it is undiscoverable and
I've never seen context menus change with modifier keys (in windows).

S U G G E S T E D   S O L U T I O N:
I suggest to reverse the "fix" for this bug and instead when someone
(accidentally) choses "Close other Tabs" there would be a confirmation dialog
(similar to when you "delete" stuff. It would be fairly unobtrusive because the
user could just hit <spacebar> or <ESC> to accept or deny the confirmation. That
would be sufficient safety while being discoverable and unobtrusive.

Please consider this suggestion.
I'd vote for restoring Close Other Tabs and removing Close Tab as it still
leaves 4 different ways to close the tab.
I just filed bug 191578 ("Close All Tabs" Needs a Confirmation Dialog) which is
a superior solution to getting this useful feature back. Please CC yourself and
vote there if you agree.
*** Bug 191587 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
There is a discussion to fix this aweful removal of "Close Other Tabs" in the
General" Newsgroup. Some of the *good examples* of why "Close Other Tabs" is
useful are linked here too (just open all links in tabs using SHIFT+Middleclick,
and when your done, close them all with ... oh, you can't anymore):

The fitting Title: how to get "close other tabs" back !!!
news://news.mozilla.org:119/3e3ae2ba$0$227$626a54ce@news.free.fr
news://news.mozilla.org:119/b1hn80$lvq1@ripley.netscape.com
news://news.mozilla.org:119/3e3c6e5d$0$29924$fa0fcedb@lovejoy.zen.co.uk
To all the "close other tabs" supporters - no one is saying that feature can't
exist if there is desire for it. 

Again, the reason it's hated is not because of what is does, but because its
placement makes it way too easy for the user to make a catostrophic error. 
I'm against reintroducing "close all other tab", anyway i think
this function is very useful, and should be restored in another way.

My suggestion is:
As well as "close tab" can be invoked using mid-button click 
on a tab, "close other tab" should be invoked using <CTRL> modifier
on middle button clicking..

mid-button --> Close tab
<CTRL> + mid-button --> Close all other tabs

This is pretty easy to remember, and very easy to document.
Also, it's elegant and safe. (the usage of a key modifier requires effort)



Thanks to this "fix" I've now lost several of the one and only window that I
wanted open. I've also got hands that are cramping up after having to hit Alt-W
25 times to close all of the tabs I don't want open any more.

I consider this patch a regression that needs to be removed. The right click tab
menu has been the same from day one, anyone who accidentally closed all of the
tabs more than once either needs a remedial reading lesson or help on using the
mouse.

What's it going to take to get this back?
Compromise solutions that don't involve a confirmation dialog:

1. Move "close tab" to the top of the context menu (comment 37 and bug 191826).
 Then it would be safer for "close other tabs" to be on the menu.  "Close other
tabs" could either be just below "close tab" or at the bottom of the menu.  

Both positions would still be somewhat dangerous.  Next to "close tab" would
still be somewhat dangerous because of mouse movement errors, but not as
dangerous as before because you wouldn't be moving the mouse as much to reach
"close tab".  At the bottom would still be somewhat dangerous because scanning
for a "close" command could lead you to click "close other tabs" (description
error), especially if you expect the "close" command to be at the bottom of the
menu.

2. Make it possible to move a tab into a new window (comment 53 and bug 102132).
 Then you could close other tabs in two steps: pull out the tab you want to
keep, close the old window.
3. Make it possible to select multiple tabs (bug 132674).  Add "Select all tabs"
and "Invert selection" to the context menu, and make ctrl+click and maybe
ctrl+drag add to the selection.  With multiple tabs selected, "Close selected
tabs" would be the first item on the context menu.  (Also suggested by Rob
North, comment 14.)
.
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
Two things, and then I'll shut up and go away... 

First, the new Konqueror in kde 3.1 has a "Close Other Tabs." There's a
separator between it and the "Close Tab" menu item, something worth considering
I suppose... Screenshot here:

http://promo.kde.org/3.1/screenshots.php?scr=3

Second, the tabbed browsing extension still includes "Close Other Tabs" so for
now I'll use that.

http://white.sakura.ne.jp/~piro/xul/_tabextensions.html.en
The subject of this bug is highly misleading! It mentions "dangerous position"
and thus implies that the *Close Other Tabs* function should be moved to a less
dangerous location. However, this bug was (unfortunately) "fixed" by removing
the useful function alltogether. 

Suggest to either put *Close Other Tabs* back into Mozilla (there were many good
suggestions how to do this while actually conforming to the bug's subject), or
change to subject to reflect what this bug actually did, namely "Remove *Close
Other Tabs* from tab context menu (because it is in a dangerous location for
some users and we prefer not to implemet the better solutions)."
Sorry for not speaking up sooner, I haven't been reading bugmail and have had my
focus on other things. The reason I didn't check this patch in is because I
realized that the functionality was useful, though its place in the context menu
(near "Close Tab") was dangerous. I was going to spend some time on finding a
better way of providing this functionality (either by moving the menu item away
from "Close Tab" or by removing it completely and providing it in the File Menu,
at the loss of having an extra step because you have to first focus the tab you
want to keep). Unfortunately good intentions aren't always enough. Just to
clarify, I'm not at all blaming bzbarsky for checking this in; since I hadn't
left any comments in this bug noting why I hadn't checked that patch in, it's
quite understandable that it looked like I had just forgotten about it.

I would like to change the context menu to look like this (I was thinking about
leaving "Close Other Tabs" at the end, but see comment 93 and bug 191826):

+------------------+
| Close Tab        |
| Close Other Tabs |
+------------------+
| New Tab          |
+------------------+
| Reload Tab       |
| Reload All Tabs  |
+------------------+

I'm leaving this bug as is, please don't discuss this in here, but keep an eye
on bug 191826 instead.
Jag wrote: "I would like to change the context menu to look like this (I was 
thinking about leaving "Close Other Tabs" at the end, but see comment 93 and 
bug 191826):

+------------------+
| Close Tab        |
| Close Other Tabs |
+------------------+
| New Tab          |
+------------------+
| Reload Tab       |
| Reload All Tabs  |
+------------------+
"

That's your solution? You're just moving the problem around...
ignoring the title of this bug for just one second to clean up the whole menu.
based on some usability finding we'd like to possibly add the bookmarking set.
so maybe the final menu could look this way:

+-----------------------------+
| Close Tab                   |
+-----------------------------+
| New Tab                     |
+-----------------------------+
| Bookmark this Tab           |
|[Bookmark this Group of Tabs]|
+-----------------------------+
| Close Other Tabs            |
+-----------------------------+

Having the two close features at opposite ends works better because they're
quicker and safer to access that way, being items which are used more frequently.

I recommend removing the reload set. it's not apparent why reload is needed in a
tab context menu, or why user wouldn't just click on the reload button in the
toolbar which is already familiar. i think the reload toolbar button is
extremely visible. [Reload all tabs] should be in the [View] main menu in
addition to or in place of the context menu.
All of the suggested positions for this item still leave it easy to hit
by mistake, because in all cases it is next to something non-destructive.
(A single separator bar is not adequate separation given the imprecision
of most consumer pointing devices.)  The only real solution for putting it
back safely is a confirmation dialog.  (There will still be users who frob
"Yes" and then wish they hadn't, but there's no help for that.  A misclick
is unavoidable in many cases, and we can help by confirming; a misthink has
to be the user's responsibility.)

That does add an extra action (click or keypress) to the process of closing
all tabs, but the added action is constant, regardless of the number of tabs
so closed, so in cases where the user is closing large numbers of tabs it
would still be a very significant shortcut over closing each tab individually.
But putting the feature back in without confirmation would lead to DATALOSS,
which is why this bug was filed in the first place.  

It is also notable that all (err, both) of the people who said they don't 
want a confirmation dialog also don't use the close-all-tabs feature.
(Neither, as far as that goes, do I; I close each tab when I'm finished
with it.)  As near as I can determine, the people who want it back would
be willing to click a single confirm button in exchange for not having to
close many tabs individually.

The other way to go is a pref; that would be fine with me too, but you will
find other people who are against adding prefs.
Yes, a confirmation would be superior to a menuitem for *Close Other Tabs*.

Confirmation: 2 clicks (*at* the mouse location):   Close other > OK
Menuitem:     2 clicks (*away from* curser loc.): File > Close Other Tabs

+-- Close Other Tabs? ----------------------------------+
|                                                       |
| Do you really want to close the other tabs?           |
| Closing Other Tabs will loose all data in those tabs. |
|                                                       |
| [  ] Don't ask me this again                          |
|                                                       |
|                                    [[ yes ]]  [ no ]  |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
Terribly sad to lose this very useful functionality.  Perhaps this could be
opened as a separate vote item?
Reopening. With the fix for bug 191826, things are now, IMO, *worse* than they
were before.  Not only is Close Other Tabs back underneath Close Tabs again
(actually, I don't mind that but this bug does) but now both are at the TOP of
the context menu.  Not only is it now easier to click on Close Other Tabs
(because it's closer to where your mouse is after a right-click) but it's also
easier to click on Close Tabs by mistake.

Any argument about accidental dataloss is now even stronger than before.
Status: VERIFIED → REOPENED
Keywords: regression
Resolution: FIXED → ---
As I see it, there are two issues here.

1. The fact that Close All Tabs is right next to Close tabs.  That has not been
fixed by bug 191826 - now both have been moved (in their same relative position)
to the top of the menu rather than the bottom, where they were originally.

2. It's too easy to click on a "close" option because it's either at the top of
bottom of the list.

So, a proposal to fix *both* of these issues, and to also keep functions as
consistent as possible, would be:

+------------------+
| New Tab          |
| Close Tab        |
| Reload Tab       |
+------------------+
| Close Other Tabs |        |
| Reload All Tabs  |
+------------------+

Single tab actions are at the top, multiple tab actions are at the bottom;  
Neither the topmost *nor* the bottom-most entry does anything descructive; *AND*
Close All Tabs is no longer located next to Close Tabs.
This also follows the "menu item standard" of having New/Open at the top and
Close/Exit at the bottom.  Since "Reload" is something that doesn't appear in
the regular menus, it's isn't going to go against any convention to put it where
we want.
Well, to have New/Open at the top and Close/Exit at the bottom, it should look
like this:

+------------------+
| New Tab          |
| Reload Tab       |
| Close Tab        |
+------------------+
| Reload All Tabs  |
| Close Other Tabs |
+------------------+
The suggestions in comment #100, comment #105, and comment #107 all pull related
functions ("close", "reload") apart, thus making the layout disjointed and
confusing. My preferred solution is as suggested in bug 191826 comment #8:

+------------------+
| New Tab          |
+------------------+
| Close Tab        |
| Close Other Tabs |
+------------------+
| Reload Tab       |
| Reload All Tabs  |
+------------------+

In any case, just about every conceivable combination has now been suggested.
> ...all pull related functions ("close", "reload") apart, thus making the layout
> disjointed and confusing.

It is the goal of this bug to pull those related functions ("close" and "close
other") apart. Otherwise it would be best to leave the menu as it has been all
the time (up to 1.2.1).
Please re-read comment 105.

Stefan: Your solution has "Close Other Tabs" at the bottom which "exposes" it to
a jerk of the hand.  (It's much easier to select something at the top of a list
or the bottom of a list, than it is to select something buried in the middle of
a list.)  While I understand the desire to remain in keeping with other menu
components that have close/exit at the bottom, I think that it's a matter of the
lesser of two evils, and preventing accidental dataloss is more important here
than being 100% strict in terms of that positioning.

Peter: Your solution does not separate "Close Tab" from "Close Other Tabs" - one
is still right below the other.  This also is what many people here are
complaining about because when they are "aiming" for "Close Tab" they hit "Close
Other Tabs" by mistake.  Further, comment 105 and comment 106 do not pull
functions apart - they just group them logically in a different way: all single
tab actions at the top, all multiple tab actions at the bottom.  In fact,
depending on how you look at it, it's more logical to do it that way.
> Your solution has "Close Other Tabs" at the bottom which "exposes" it to
> a jerk of the hand.

I dont't think so. The only way to open this menu is right-clicking onto the tab
bar, isn't it? The tab bar is located at the top of the browser window,
therefore the menu will always open below the mouse cursor. So it is easy to hit
the topmost menu entry by mistake, but not the last one.
Remove "Close other tabs" because someone may click it by error is as stupid as
remove close window button [X] because someone may click it when trying to
maximize de window.

It's better to teach all mousetupid people to close tabs pressing Ctrl + F4 or
clicking the button at end of tabs row.
> So it is easy to hit the topmost menu entry by mistake, but
> not the last one.

It's easier to hit either the top OR the bottom item than it is to hit 
something in the middle.

> Remove "Close other tabs" because someone may click it by error

I don't think that this bug is advocating the removal of the context menu item 
(although it was once resolved that way - to much dissension) - just moving to 
a less dangerous position within the menu.
QA Contact: sairuh → nobody
Removing "[FIX]" in summary as it no longer applies.
Summary: [FIX]"close other tabs" is in a dangerous position on tab context menu → "close other tabs" is in a dangerous position on tab context menu
With the resolution of bug 195486, and what should (now) be the logical
resolution of bug 177397, I'm revising the context menu I proposed in comment
105 to the following, which can now place "close" more toward the traditional
end-point of the menu (all previous justications still apply):

+-----------------------------+
| New Tab                     |
| Reload Tab                  |
| Close Tab                   |
| Bookmark Tab                |
+-----------------------------+
| Reload All Tabs             |
| Close Other Tabs            |
| Bookmark This Group of Tabs |
+-----------------------------+
RE comment #115: Please no! From the users' standpoint grouping by "all vs one"
is less relevant than grouping by "close vs reload vs bookmark". The user is
thinking "close tab" before thinking "all".
I have yet to see any other suggestion that groups the functions in a logical
fashion, while keeping in mind the following:

1. Close and Close Other should not be next to each other.
2. Neither Close nor Close Other should be in the top-most or bottom-most position.

Remember - this bug is about preventing dataloss.  I would think that anybody
who's following this bug on that basis would find THAT the most important
priority here.  Grouping should be secondary.
> 1. The fact that Close All Tabs is right next to Close tabs.  That has not 
> been fixed by bug 191826 - now both have been moved (in their same relative 
> position to the top of the menu rather than the bottom, where they were 
> originally.

Are you (or someone else) actually clicking "Close Other Tabs" in its current
position while trying to click "Close Tab", or are you just speculating?  While
"Close Other Tabs" and "Close Tabs" are slightly closer than they were before,
the ratio of the distances from the corner of the context menu to "Close Other
Tabs" and "Close Tab" and is now much larger.

> 2. It's too easy to click on a "close" option because it's either at the top 
> of bottom of the list.

It *should* be easy to click "Close Tab". It's by far the most useful command on
the tab context menu, and it's also "more context-sensitive" than most of the
other commands in the menu.

By the way, I don't think "easy to click" is always the same as "easy to click
accidentally".
Here's a quote from comment 0 - the reason that this bug was filed in the first
place:

"Having two actions with destuctively oposite effects right next to each other
is not a good idea.  Many times I have accidentally clicked "Close Other Tabs"
when intending "Close Tab"

The reporter of this bug intended that Close Tab and Close Other Tabs not appear
vertically adjacent to each other.  What I'm saying is that any patch that
purports to "fix" this particular bug, has to address the issue around which the
bug was specifically filed (making "Close Tab" and "Close Other Tabs" NOT be
right next to each other).  Other considerations can/should also apply, but one
requirement of resolving the bug as originally reported is just that.

> Are you (or someone else) actually clicking "Close Other Tabs" in its
> current position while trying to click "Close Tab", or are you just 
> speculating?

Personally, I've never accidentally clicked Close Other Tabs, regardless of
*how* the context menus have been arranged.  I have no *personal* stake in this
bug at all.  (Although I do have a passing interest in how the context menus
should look.)  However, I am trying to keep it on course in terms of its entry
in the Bugzilla database.

> It *should* be easy to click "Close Tab".

Perhaps.  (Although, what we want to do here is *not* make dataloss easy.  I'm
sure that people could argue that even the single "Close Tab", while being the
most likely thing people select, should still not be the easiest.)  However,
that's not the main point here.  The main point is that it *shouldn't* be easy
to click "Close Other Tabs" - and especially not easy to do so when somebody's
intention is to click *only* "Close Tab".  (Clicking the other by mistake causes
the exact opposite of the behaviour that was originally intended.)

> I don't think "easy to click" is always the same as "easy to click
> accidentally"

Perhaps not.  If "Close Tab" were at the very top (as it currently is) and
"Close Other Tabs" were at the very bottom it would be almost impossible to
"accidentally" click on one when intending the other.  It would still be easy to
click on "Close Other Tabs" but it would be a lot less accidental than it is
currently when both are sitting right next to each other.

An argument in favour of the sectioning off of Single vs. All tab functions is
that it makes you have to really think about what you're doing.  It's almost
impossible to accidentally click on a single vs. all function by mistake - and
the all tab functions, which hold the greatest possibility of dire consequences,
 are the least likely to be hit on by mistake if the "ones at your fingertips"
are all only single tab related.
+-----------------------------+
| Close Tab                   |
+-----------------------------+
| New Tab                     |
| Reload Tab                  |
| Bookmark Tab                |
+-----------------------------+
| Close Other Tabs            |
| Reload All Tabs             |
| Bookmark This Group of Tabs |
+-----------------------------+

At the risk of adding yet another combination I personally prefer this. I
most often use close tab; this is the most accessable position for it, yet
separated off so I shouldn't hit it by mistake.
I *have* hit 'Close Other' by mistake (please, if you quickly click on
something it can be done, ok!) - therefore I agree that its a bit dangerous
next to Close Tab. Personally I would also like it to a have a confirmation
box as talked about before as its such a destructive option. This layout
separates single and all actions and IMHO into one that I would hit by mistake
 least! I also liked the submenu suggestion in bug 191826, comment 9

Aaaack!! Put it back! Having "Close Tab" at the top, where "New tab" was has
totally thrown me (and I'm sure many others) completely off! The "new tab"
button is way too far over to the left to be useful to me (a right-side centric
browser), so now I have to hunt around after the "new tab" menu item, frustrated
that a good tab has been closed. Is there a different bug for this ordering? I'd
love to vote to get it put back the way it was pre-1.3.
If nobody actually has a problem with Close Tab at the top, and people think
that, despite possible dataloss, the most frequently used command *should* be at
the top, then comment 120 seems reasonable.  The original layout didn't work, so
whatever we come up with will be different than it was.  This is as good as any.
comment 120 does not seem reasonable. And there IS indeed a problem with the
close item at top of the context menu. It simply doesn't belong there. It is NOT
the most important thing you do with a tab. Before you can close a tab, you have
to OPEN a tab. Thus: The very first item should logically be "New tab" - just
like the "New" item is the first item in the File menu on browser menubar.
> Before you can close a tab, you have to OPEN a tab.

In my browsing experience, 95% of the time that I open a new tab it's by doing a
Ctrl-click on a link. (AFAIK, I've never *once* used the tab context menu to
open a new tab - rather I use the new tab button at the left of the tab bar or
hit Ctrl-T.)  Also, 99% of the time that I've actually used the tab context
menus it's been to close a tab different from the one that I'm actually viewing.

So, in my experience anyway, Close Tab is definitely the most important thing I
do the tab context menu.  (Which is, BTW, quite different from the most
important thing I do with tabs in general.)
Why does everybody consider the "close tab" option to be the most important? You
can close a tab with a middle mouse click. I've never used the context menu to
close a tab...  ;-)
I think it is wrong to sort menu entries by the frequency they are used. Not to
mention that everybody has its own opinion about what is the most frequently
used command. The menu entries should have a logical order according to common
GUI design conventions. That means: "new" at the top, "close" at the bottom.
I've never seen a single menu having "close/exit" at the top.
The intention of this bug was to separate "close" from "close other". This can
be done by grouping into single-tab and multiple-tab sections. So I would prefer

+-----------------------------+
| New Tab                     |
| Reload Tab                  |
| Bookmark Tab                |
| Close Tab                   |
+-----------------------------+
| Reload All Tabs             |
| Bookmark This Group of Tabs |
| Close Other Tabs            |
+-----------------------------+

Or, alternatively, the suggestion from comment #115, if Jason thinks it is too
dangerous to have "close other" at the very bottom.
> The intention of this bug was to separate "close" from "close other".

Agreed.  That is the single-most important thing here.  *This* bug could be
resolved as fixed (although no doubt another one would be opened, albeit one
without a dataloss keyword) if we simply took the existing existing context menu
and bumped Close Other Tabs down two places.  We shouldn't get too hung up on
precise layout here.  (Particularly since it seems it's impossible to come to a
concensus.)
I agree with comment #121 - I use the right-click route to new tabs all the time
when opening a bunch of bookmarks. Having "Close" means it's much more difficult
to do that (i.e. you actually have to look to make sure you hit the right menu
item). I've changed my toolkit.jar back to make "New" be at the top once more -
much easier to use. 
Dare I raise the "All Tabs" submenu discussion again?  It was mentioned in bug
191826 comment 9, and I also made an aborted attempt to introduce it in bug
191587 at a time when the only "all tab" action was "reload" - so closed it
myself since it made no sense during the current menus.  Now, however, the
picture has change since there are currently 3 "all tab" actions allowed and it
would seem to make sense again.

Since it's obvious that "what is the most commonly used item" is *not*
objective, there's little point in doing anything other than sticking with the
commonly accepted standard for menu items, with new/open at the top and
close/exit at the bottom.  I think it also makes sense to group the "dataloss"
functions close and reload.  So:

+-------------------+
| New Tab           |
+-------------------+
| Bookmark This Tab |
+-------------------+
| Reload Tab        |
| Close Tab         |
+-------------------+
| All Tabs        > |+-----------------------------+
+-------------------+| Bookmark This Group of Tabs |
                     +-----------------------------+
                     | Reload All Tabs             |
                     | Close Other Tabs            |
                     +-----------------------------+

I can't imagine anybody accidentally losing data with this in place.
*** Bug 198045 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
How about making "close other tabs" an undoable operation, as it should be since
it's so destructive. Then if you did the wrong one (as I do all the time, which
finally brought me here), it would be a simple matter to restore your settings.
That should be done regardless, since even with physical space between the
menus, it still certainly possible to make a mistake. And it's far less
obstrusive and won't be ignored like a confirmation dialog box would be.
If the intent of this bug is to separate "Close Tab" and "Close Other Tabs" then
WONTFIX.
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 22 years ago → 21 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
I'll confirm that that was the intent, and also verify the module owner
resolution given that.  (Further discussion will have to take place outside of
this bug.)
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
Okay fair enough, splitting the options doesn't look great.
However how would I go about getting bug 191578 (Confirmation box for close
other tabs) reopened? This would seem to solve (at least for me) the problem -
possible dataloss.
So would it be necessary to open a new bug to get "New Tab" put back at the top
of the list?
I love being able to have multiple tabs open, and i use them all the time. It
drives me crazy when I lose 10 tabs by accidentally hitting the "Close Other
Tabs" button. I probably hit it accidentally 1 out of every 100 times I'm going
for the "Close Tab" button. Probably once every other day or so. Not all the
time, but frequently enough to be a serious usability problem. 

That said, it's apparent from this thread that attempts to fix this interface
problem are in deadlock.  

My suggestion: Why not enable Undo for "Close other Tabs".  So when the user
accidentally invokes the "Close other Tabs" feature, s/he can just ctrl-z to
restore all of them.

This enables people who love the "Close other Tabs" feature to keep it just the
way it is, and users who invoke it accidently have a way to restore their context.  


*** Bug 204323 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 207134 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 199803 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 211522 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Since the layout is now unacceptable to a wide array of users, could a pref be
added to order the menu as the user chooses, a la OpenOffice.org? I've been
manually editing the XUL file to put it back in a usable order (for me) each
time I upgrade Mozilla, which I've been doing far less frequently due to the hassle.
Good news: there's now a confirmation dialog preference, at least for window
closing.  See Bug 218517, Bug 191578. browser.tabs.warnOnClose exists and
defaults to true in browsers after 1.4.
I still lose data because of this. STILL.

*** Bug 228552 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 229525 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 236383 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml includes a separator between
Close Tab and Close Other Tabs as of CVS version 1.22.  The fix is still in as
of Mozilla 1.7a, which is nice.  It would be nicer if they were at opposite ends
of the menu, but at least they're not actually directly adjacent anymore.  Maybe
this could be tagged as fixed;  in any case, it's pretty damn user-hostile to
tag something like this WONTFIX.

Personally, I don't consider that putting a separator is the right fix. I don't
understand what is the big problem to put the two options on opposite sides of
the popup menu, this is how was on previous versions of Mozilla (don't remember
exactly what version...)


Regards,
        Lucas
I've got a trivial local patch that just changes the context menu to go like this:

Close Tab
Reload Tab
New Tab
====
Bookmark This Group Of Tabs
Reload All Tabs
Close All Tabs

I'm a newbie here, but a bug that's this old and marked WONTFIX makes me think
it isn't worth the trouble of jumping through the appropriate hoops to get a
patch work.  Am I wrong?

I stand behind comment #140. A small pref would make this bug die forever.
A pref would satisfy you and me, but I don't think the set of users who are
willing to edit obscure prefs is that much bigger than the set of users who are
willing to edit XUL, and I don't think it includes anything like a majority of
the people who are getting screwed by this bug a few times a week each.


*** Bug 242664 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 246684 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 247502 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 265057 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 308141 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Product: Core → SeaMonkey
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