243893 - Open in Tab is unusable when menus are not present (tab bar is hidden in popup windows, leads to invisible tabs, esp for external apps, 'search web for...' broken in popup windows)

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect, P2)

Description

[Ali Ebrahim]

When menus are not present, you can middle click on a link to open in a new tab,
or you can right-click and select "Open Link in New Tab". However, since there
are no menubars, the tab loads into nothingness. It loads, but you can't see it,
and there is no way to get to it (save for Ctrl+Tab).

Steps to Repro:
1. Visit http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/
2. Click on any comments link
3. Open a link in new tab

When someone tries to do this, we should do one of two things:
a) Show the tabs bar so that user can select tabs.
b) Open link in a new window instead.

The current method of loading into nothingness is unacceptable. We can't rely on
users to navigate tabs using only keyboard shortcuts with no visual cues.

Comment 1

[mmortal03]

I agree.  I run into this problem when browsing pop up windows all the time.  Is
there no way to even add menus and the like to these pop up windows?  At the
moment, no context menu is present when right clicking these windows to
customize or add menu bars.

Comment 2

[Aaron P]

This is more of a workaround then a fix, but you can disable a site's ability to
hide the menubars by setting the pref dom.disable_window_open_feature.menubar to
true. Of course, this may mess up window resizing done with the expectation of
no menu bars, but that is a different issue.

Comment 3

[Jesse Ruderman]

See also bug 143866 (for Seamonkey).

Comment 4

[Michael Favia]

This is also a common problem for me. Can we trigger the addition of a menu bar
upon creation of a new tab (if it isn't up already of course)? i think that this
will be the most elegant solution and cause the least amount of trouble for
existing sites and users. It also seems like it just makes sense to do it this
way. Additionally those who dont wish for the added functionality lose nothing
because they couldnt load it in a new tab in the first place. If we cant fix
this problem for this release can we temporarily remove the "new tab" menu item
if menubar isnt visable? Then we are missing a feature not adopting a bug.

Comment 5

[Ali Ebrahim]

*** Bug 217113 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 6

[Mathieu Johnson]

I found that by setting the value of the following boolean user_pref to TRUE,
the problem is fixed completely for people who do not use the navigation toolbar
(all my toolbar buttons are on the menu toolbar).

user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.location", true);

For people who uses the navigation toolbar (the majority I suppose), this
navigation toolbar appears in popup windows but they can open tabs. So this is
yet another workaround for those people.

I don't know if it's possible to "un-hook" the tab-bar to any other bar without
causing too much damage or adding a more specific pref to browse with tabs in
those special case windows.

Comment 7

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

*** Bug 258765 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 8

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

*** Bug 253736 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 9

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Tweaking summary to catch dupes.

Comment 10

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

p4 priority - not a blocker. if a fully reviewed patch materializes, please
nominate for aviary approval. 

Comment 11

[Jesse Ruderman]

*** Bug 265171 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 12

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 274353 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 13

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 275264 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 14

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Adding bug 143866 as depends. That bug, while being in the Core component, is
implementing a solution for Seamonkey. It's patch can likely be ported to
Firefox when it's done.

Comment 15

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

*** Bug 244410 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 16

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

*** Bug 277748 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 17

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

*** Bug 280723 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 18

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

*** Bug 281940 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 19

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

*** Bug 267655 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 20

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

Since it seems from a couple of the dupes and Gavin Sharp's comments in other
bugs that "External apps open tabs in crippled windows" bugs should also be
duped to this bug, can "external apps" be worked into the summary to make this
bug easier to find for that sub-issue?

Comment 21

[Kevin Brosnan]

*** Bug 284208 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 22

[PikeUK]

*** Bug 266475 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 23

[Alex T.]

Dear Developer
I suggest to add -- in the floating menu (right click on the mouse) -- one Item
(e.g.: 'Tabs') that opens the tab-names like 'Flashgot options...' or ' This
Frame' to switch between the tabs....

Thank you in advance,

best regards

ALEX

Comment 24

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 286749 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 25

[José Jeria]

*** Bug 286919 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 26

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

I'm not sure there's actually a dependency on bug 143866, as there's two
affected but seperate use-cases here:

1) User explicitly requests a new tab (CTRL+T)
2) User clicks on a link in some external app (tbird), and it opens a new tab

Case 1 is the covered by bug 143866, and while it's similar to Case 2, it
represents a different mindset. In this use-case, the user is staring at the
chromeless window and takes an explicit action (a keyboard accelerator action at
that, CTRL+L) to open a new tab in the existing window -- it feels to me like
that's asking for another tab to pop in that window, and for a tabstrip (and
perhaps even a full chrome enablement as per bug 26353) to appear. See bug
143866, comment 73 for a sample (although admittedly edge) use-case scenario.

Case 2 can happen accidentally. Example: a user browses around, hits a JS popup
(ie: a blog comment window), flips over to their IM client and clicks on that
cool link they just got from a buddy. Currently, that link gets loaded in a tab
in that chromeless popup, which makes it look like a control-ess window and also
like they've browsed away from the comment page. In this use-case, the UI focus
wasn't on the chromeless window, and I don't think we should assume that was the
target for the link. What "feels" right for me is for the link to be sent to the
last chromed window, and for UI focus to be given to that window.

Comment 27

[Alex Hirzel]

*** Bug 287794 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 28

[José Jeria]

*** Bug 291317 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 29

[Gids Goldberg]

*** Bug 292439 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 30

[Jaime Mitchell (use [e-mail] for email)]

*** Bug 293526 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 31

[Gids Goldberg]

Any chance someone sufficently permission-laden could change the summary to read 
... esp for external apps and 'search web for...' to catch more dupes? 

Comment 32

[Eugene Savitsky]

Write the complete correct summary, I'll change it.

Comment 33

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

*** Bug 276411 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 34

[John King]

The basis of the hidden tab-bar problem lies in the fact that popups normally
hide all menu, tool, tab, system, etc. bars. Opening a link from outside FireFox
or middle click a link might end up in the popup window, instead of in the
"main" window. Maxthon has solved this problem quite elegantly by opening popups
also inside the main window. Thereby all the bars are still accesible. A newly
opened link (either from outside, or (middle-click) inside will simply open up
as an additional tab and still be accesible. IMHO this is the only way to solve
this problem. How else is Firefox to know in which window to open the new tab?

Comment 35

[Mathias Wittlock]

(In reply to comment #34)
*snip*
> IMHO this is the only way to solve this problem.

Sometimes it's desireable to be able to open up popups. I've restircted popups
heavily with extensions, but for example ICQ2Go (webbased ICQ-client) I still
want in a separate window. It's one of those few cases when I want that.

> How else is Firefox to know in which window to open the new tab?

Well, either the browser could check if the window is displaying the menubar (or
whatever bar is needed to show tabs), and if the window doesn't, look for
another window. If no other window exists, use the first one anwyay. Or just
keep track of the "main window" somehow.

Launching several windows only generates one task in Windows, which to me
suggests that even multiple windows are still just one instance of the
application, so it should be possible to do either of these.

Comment 36

[Jaime Mitchell (use [e-mail] for email)]

*** Bug 295965 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 37

[James Rome]

The real solution to this is to allow users to disable the ability to open bare
windows. Let them open up, but always display the toolbars and tabs. Tabs are
nopt the only issue here. I would like to access the other toolbars also.

Comment 38

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

*** Bug 297452 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 39

[Jaime Mitchell (use [e-mail] for email)]

*** Bug 298905 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 40

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

Attachment: toolkit port of the xpfe patch

Comment 41

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

Checking in toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml;
/cvsroot/mozilla/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml,v  <--  tabbrowser.xml
new revision: 1.91; previous revision: 1.90
done
Checking in browser/base/content/browser.js;
/cvsroot/mozilla/browser/base/content/browser.js,v  <--  browser.js
new revision: 1.452; previous revision: 1.451
done

Comment 42

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

a bit mor tweaking is going is needed.

Comment 43

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

s/is going/

Comment 44

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

Attachment: Additional fix

(After some discussion with Neil, also see the seamonkey version of this bug)

If we're in popup window and the "Hide on one tab" preference is off *and* if
we have already opened a second tab, don't hide the tabbar if we're (again)
left with one tab open.

Comment 45

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

Comment on attachment 189085 [details] [diff] [review]
Additional fix

If this is a Mac-only issue, fix it for mac only.

A+B-B=A is what I expect, other than that is strange.

Comment 46

[Adam Guthrie]

*** Bug 299813 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 47

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 304554 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 48

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 307244 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 49

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 307460 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 50

[Adam Guthrie]

*** Bug 292250 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 51

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 308934 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 52

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 309961 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 53

[Aime Watts]

Resolved? How? I downloaded the latest release today (V 1.0.7), installed it,
and it works exactly the way it did previously, with regard to this bug!

I open the browser, go to www.mlb.com and click on a 'gameday' icon (You'll need
a game-in-progress); a popup opens displaying the desired game (with lots of
Macromedia Flash Player 7 objects). Then I switch to Outlook and click on a
link. The link opens in the popup window, ostensibly in a new tab, and there is
no way to return to the original tab, period. That is the bug! 

(It is clear that there are two tabs when I try to close the popup by the
queries asking if I want to close two tabs.) Prior to closing it I searched for
some controls, I right click at the top and get one menu that is devoid of tab
controls, and I right click in the middle and get a different set of options,
still without tab controls.

This is not fixed nor resolved nor even affected by anything in the new release.
I am not a programmer and have neither desire nor skills to integrate the above
'patches' to work-around this issue. The only workaround that works for me is to
use IE6 to enjoy sites that utilize pop-ups. That works just fine.

Oh great. There is but one radio button here, pre-selected to "leave as RESOLVED
FIXED" - it isn't! Not at all! Nothing was done to resolve this issue!

Comment 54

[Aime Watts]

Resolved? How? I downloaded the latest release today (V 1.0.7), installed it,
and it works exactly the way it did previously, with regard to this bug!

I open the browser, go to www.mlb.com and click on a 'gameday' icon (You'll need
a game-in-progress); a popup opens displaying the desired game (with lots of
Macromedia Flash Player 7 objects). Then I switch to Outlook and click on a
link. The link opens in the popup window, ostensibly in a new tab, and there is
no way to return to the original tab, period. That is the bug! 

(It is clear that there are two tabs when I try to close the popup by the
queries asking if I want to close two tabs.) Prior to closing it I searched for
some controls, I right click at the top and get one menu that is devoid of tab
controls, and I right click in the middle and get a different set of options,
still without tab controls.

This is not fixed nor resolved nor even affected by anything in the new release.
I am not a programmer and have neither desire nor skills to integrate the above
'patches' to work-around this issue. The only workaround that works for me is to
use IE6 to enjoy sites that utilize pop-ups. That works just fine.

Oh great. There is but one radio button here, pre-selected to "leave as RESOLVED
FIXED" - it isn't! Not at all! Nothing was done to resolve this issue!

What does the VOTE mean? There are no choices, no descent, no nothing that says
yes or no - no choice at all. It's like 1970 and voting in Russia!

Firefox isn't the only thing that needs work. I originally did a search on this
problem in Bugzilla withouut a hit; not I'm sent to a link with dozens of
reports on it. Lots of work needs doing here!

Comment 55

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

(In reply to comment #54)
> Resolved? How? I downloaded the latest release today (V 1.0.7), installed it,
> and it works exactly the way it did previously, with regard to this bug!

The 1.0.7 release is a "dot-dot" release that patches a security vulnerability.
This has been fixed on the in-development codebase (specifically the Gecko 1.8
"branch") which will be used to produce Firefox 1.5. In fact, if you download
the Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 release you'll find that your testcase works as you expect.

> yes or no - no choice at all. It's like 1970 and voting in Russia!

You can't hear it over the internet, but my eyes are rolling so forcefully that
they are producing a *sound*.

Comment 56

[dolphinling]

This fails if dom.disable_window_open_feature.toolbar = true.

See bug 313055

Comment 57

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

*** Bug 303807 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 58

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 321441 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 59

[Adam Guthrie]

*** Bug 321858 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 60

[Gérard Talbot]

*** Bug 268194 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 61

[Ryan Flint [:rflint] (ping via IRC for reviews)]

*** Bug 343335 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 62

[Ryan Flint [:rflint] (ping via IRC for reviews)]

*** Bug 360929 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***