165584 - change default pref for Ctrl+Enter to open page in new tab (also middle-click)

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(Core :: DOM: UI Events & Focus Handling, enhancement)

Description

[Aaron Leventhal]

There is a pref for Ctrl+Enter, whether it should open in a new page or a new tab.

Right now the default is for it to open in a new page.
I think the default pref should be to open in a new tab - tab browsing is our
killer feature, we should make it as convenient as possible for new users to get
the most out of it. It's faster than loading in a new page, it's just awesome. 

I think it should be made more convenient for keyboard users. Having Ctrl+Enter
open a link in a new tab is especially useful for keyboard users.

I'd like to solicit opinions on this. Do people agree?

Comment 1

[Aaron Leventhal]

Either that or we should give up on the idea of using Alt+Enter for properties
(which is standard in Windows), and use it for open in new tab. Properties are
available via the context menu anyway (Shift+F10 or Ctrl+Space for context menu).

Comment 2

[Jeff Thieleke]

I think this is a great idea.  I think that, at first, just following the
existing Control+Enter pref would be good.  But adding another option like:

  Keyboard 'enter' opens links:
   X In a new tab
   O In current window
   O In a new window

would be useful as well.  Perhaps if tabbed browsing is enabled, default to
"open in new tab", otherwise use the current "open in current window".  

Comment 3

[Jesse Ruderman]

I'd like to make shift+enter and shift+click Open Link in New Window (bug 85169)
for compatibility with IE for Windows and ctrl+enter and ctrl+click Open Link in
New Tab.  I am opposed to simply changing the default ctrl+click pref without
adding shift+click for Open Link in New Window because I think windows are
better than tabs in most cases.

Comment 4

[jag (Peter Annema)]

I don't think we should use alt+enter to open in a tab. I like the idea of
making ctrl+enter by default open in a new tab instead of in a new window (do we
support this yet?), so this should be a one line patch. Comment 2 is something
for a new bug (doubt we'll do that anytime soon though, if ever).

Comment 5

[Aaron Leventhal]

Jag, why are you opposed to Alt+Enter for this?

Comment 6

[Mats Palmgren (inactive)]

I agree that tabbed browsing should be the default. Everyone I have asked thinks
that tabbed browsing in Mozilla is just awesome, they love it!

I assume this bug also covers making "Middle-click or control-click..." also
being on per default?

Comment 7

[Aaron Leventhal]

Attachment: I think we should do this -- default both Ctrl+Enter related prefs to opening tabs (also affects middle click)

Comment 8

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Please don't break middle-click to fix a keyboard nav problem.  You're changing
a behavior that's been in place for going on 8-10 years now....

Comment 9

[Aaron Leventhal]

Sounds like the middle click folks prefer new window, keeping it the same.
That means we'll have to add a new pref that works separately from middle click.

Comment 10

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

Please do not change middle-click to open a tab.
ctrl+enter, maybe, but not middleclick.

Comment 11

[Aaron Leventhal]

Here are the prefs we have:

|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| Open Tabs instead of Windows for:                         |
|  [x] Middle-click or control-click on links in a Web page |
|  [x] Control+Enter in the Location bar                    |
|------------------------------------------------------------

People who don't know that Control+Enter will do what middle-click and
control-click do, won't realize that the first pref is what needs to get checked
if they want this.

Why do middle-click and control-click need to do the same thing?

I'm not even sure how to fix this bug any more ... if people don't want the
default for middle-click to change, then we'll need to add a new pref that
explicitly sets what Control+Enter does. Either that, or we can make Alt+Enter
the key to open in a new tab.

Comment 12

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

> Why do middle-click and control-click need to do the same thing?

It seemed natural to make them do the same thing, seeing as they both already
did "open in new window" before tabbrowser appeared.

Comment 13

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

see also bug 123414 (and bug 123415).

Comment 14

[Aaron Leventhal]

But if 

Control+Enter == Control+Click
and middle+click == control+click

then either all 3 need to be the same, or we need to make middle+click use a
different pref from control+click.

At least the prefs text should be specific about which of them affects
control+enter. The user doesn't necessarily know they're equivalent.

Comment 15

[Aaron Leventhal]

Here's my suggestion:

Open Tabs instead of Windows for:  
[x] Control+enter in the Location bar

would change to
Open Tabs instead of Windows for:  
[x] Control+enter in the Location bar or on links in a web page

The pref would default to checked.

Comment 16

[Aaron Leventhal]

As it turns out, we can't really change this without adding another pref --
separating out middle click from ctrl-click/enter. That's because mod+enter is
hard coded to literally simulate a mod+click.

I'm going to suggest we mark this WONTFIX because of that.

I'd like to file a new bug to make the INSERT key open a link in a new tab in
the background. Shift+insert would open something in a new tab in the
foreground. That way there will be a ready-made shortcut no matter what the user
prefers.

Comment 17

[Aaron Leventhal]

Marking WONTFIX, now that bug 185270 has been checked in, allowing
Insert/Shift+Insert to open a link in a new tab, no matter what the prefs are.

Comment 18

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

v wf.