318123 - With lots of tabs, tab chevron doesn't pop up menu with selected tab visible

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(Camino Graveyard :: Tabbed Browsing, defect)

Description

[timeless]

steps:
1. look at this bug using a mac browser (safari if you must, camino unless it's broken)
2. look at the os: field
3. click the os field popup menu
3' a popup menu should appear in front of the field, and the selected item should be macosx, and it should be in the same position as the control of the popup, and it should be checked
4. load bug 106386
5. right click each lxr link and select open in new tab (you can drag the links to the right edge of the tab bar too, whichever)
5' this should give you 100+ tabs
6. click on the first tab in your window
7. cmd-option-left
8. click the chevron

expected results:
the active/selected tab should be visible in the popup menu (near the chevron?)

actual results:
the active/selected tab is offscreen (if it isn't offscreen then you didn't open enough tabs [perhaps you have a screen you'd like to donate my way?], repeat step 5 and try again).
the menu shows the first n overflowed tabs.

Comment 1

[Simon Fraser [no longer active]]

Does clicking the "OS" field popup really have anything to do with the problem?

Comment 2

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

(In reply to comment #1)
> Does clicking the "OS" field popup really have anything to do with the problem?
> 

I think it's more to show how timeless thinks the behavior "should" be. I'm still not certain what we should be doing in this case though...

Comment 3

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

The question is whether the chevron (overflow menu) is a menu or a popup, I think.  Regular menus always start from the top and popups (should) always open at the currently-selected item.

I think it's a regular menu and not a popup, although I seem timeless's point.  I also think, though, that timeless's situation and the one time I've experienced this in real life are not common real-world use-cases ;)

Comment 4

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

(In reply to comment #3)
> I also think, though, that timeless's situation and the one time I've
> experienced this in real life are not common real-world use-cases ;)

I also completely understand why this can be an issue, although I'm undecided as to whether the chevron is a popup or a regular menu. My gut says "popup", though. "Regular" menus are in the menu bar.

cl

Comment 5

[Bruce Davidson]

I'm not sure whether the overflow tab list is a "regular menu" or a "popup menu". I do know however that when switching between tabs I almost always want a tab quite close to the one I'm on. It would therefore be more useful if it behaved like a popup, as per timeless's description. However I very rarely have so many tabs open that this is actually a problem for me, and I think I'd rather see a sliding tab bar with chevrons at both ends, so that my current tab is always on the tab bar. (I think there's another bug for this somewhere.)

Comment 6

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

(In reply to comment #5)
> rather see a sliding tab bar with chevrons at both ends, so that my current tab
> is always on the tab bar. (I think there's another bug for this somewhere.)

Bug 319777, and there seems to be a growing consensus that sliding-with-double-overflow is what should be done.  Any objections to WONTFIXing this in favor of that bug?

Comment 7

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

Yeah, I agree with WONTFIXing this bug in favor of this other.

Josh, if you disagree (which I don't think you will), feel free to reopen.