287960 - Middle-click a link where document is unloading doesn't open the page middle-clicked

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Core :: General, defect)

Description

[taxexile]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050321 Firefox/1.0.2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050321 Firefox/1.0.2

When you are unloading a document, and you have the opportunity (i.e. server
replacing page unloading is slow) to middle-click a link in the unloading
document, the link does not open in a tab. I.e. go to
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,170,00.html and click on a link, then
immediately middle-click on another link. A situation can occur where the
middle-clicked link does not open in a tab; however the interface registers it
as a link as the pointer changes to a hand. This has INFURIATED me for ages! The
document is still there and render; even the pointer acknowledges it as a link,
but it cannot be middle-clicked. I do this all the time.... unload a document
but spot a link i want to read, but i have to click "Stop" then "Back" , then
middle-click *again* the link I wanted to read, re-click the link I stopped
loading, and continue.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Go to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,170,00.html
2. Middle click another link
3. Middle clicked link, although interface-acknowledged as a link, does not open

Actual Results:  
Left clicked link eventually opens
Middle clicked link does not even open a tab

Expected Results:  
Left clicked link eventually opens
Middle clicked link eventually opens in another tab

Comment 1

[Jefferson Ietto Novo]

I do agree this behavior is annoying. If(/Until) you can see the page, you
expect to be able to interact to it normally. The fact that there's something
'loading' doesn't change it.

Comment 2

[Samuel Sidler (old account; do not CC)]

Are you still seeing this problem using Firefox 2.0.0.3?

Comment 3

[taxexile]

Yes. I am using Firefox 2.0.0.3 and the behaviour is still present. Just as the page is unloading; links are still active (in that the pointer changes to the 'hand') but middle clicking them does not open the link

Comment 4

[Samuel Sidler (old account; do not CC)]

Hm, this really depends on how fast you click. If you click fast enough, it's fine.

STR:
 1. Load any site (preferably one with two links near each other on the page)
 2. Click link 1
 3. *Immediately* middle click link 2

If you were really fast, link 2 will open in a new tab. If you took just a little bit longer, link 2 won't open in a new tab, though hover affect existed. If you took a long time, the link won't even be there. ;)

This is probably a dupe of something or "invalid", but it's to a dev to decide.

Comment 5

[taxexile]

To describe it another way; a link, visibly described as a link by the 'hand' cursor, is not clickable. I was able to reproduce this last night on digg.com where I had clicked a link, and for over a minute other links on the page were shown to be clickable, but weren't.

I think this bug is considerable because of the dynamic nature of some pages, which cannot be reproduced using the 'back' button (which would reset the state of the page).

Comment 6

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Matti, can you reproduce?  I don't have middlle mouse button

Comment 7

[Andrei Purice]

Marking this as Resolved > Worksforme since the issue no longer is reproducible on the latest versions of Firefox Nightly 95.0a1 (2021-10-18), beta 94.0b7 or release 93.0 on Windows 10.
If anyone can still reproduce the issue either re-open it or file a new one.