294261 - Closing last tab does not really close tab, just loads about:blank instead.

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 281012

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

Description

[Parker Coates]

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

This bug only really makes sense if the "Hide the tab bar when only one website
is open" option is uncheck.

When closing the last tab (through any closing method) the tab is made blank
(thanks to fix for Bug 248987). However, the tab itself is never actually
removed. Instead about:blank is loaded into the tab, leaving it's history and
any per tab settings that had been set intact. There are several issues with this:

a) It is inconsistent. No other closed tab gets to keep its settings and
history. This functionality has the potential to confuse users, especially if
per tab settings are "copied" to the new blank tab.
b) It causes issues with reopen-closed-tabs extensions. Since the tab was never
actually closed, these extensions cannot add it to their list of closed tabs. If
two tabs were open, then both were closed, reopening the "last" closed tab
actually opens the second last closed tab.
c) It seems somewhat dishonest. Users hit the close tab button, expecting the
tab to be closed, but currently it only appears that the tab was closed.

The solution seems like a simple one. When the last tab is told to close a new
blank tab should be created an instant before closing the old one.
 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Uncheck "Hide tab bar.." option.
2. Open some tabs.
3. Close all but last tab.
4. Close last tab, making it blank.
5. Check Back button history.

Actual Results:  
Histroy of the last tab closed is listed under back button.

Expected Results:  
Fresh new tab with no history and greyed out Back button.

Comment 1

[Kevin Brosnan]

*** Bug 300365 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 2

[Grey Nicholson (they/them)]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 281012 ***