335888 - Tabbed browsing lacks intuitive features, suggestions

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 187573

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, enhancement)

Description

[Binary_Digit_09]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.2) Gecko/20060308 Firefox/1.5.0.2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.2) Gecko/20060308 Firefox/1.5.0.2

Hello!  I was unable to find the proper avenue in the Feedback section to submit two suggestions for improving the Firefox browser.  So I thought a bug report would be an appropriate alternative, since more critical users could feasably consider these as bugs.  I think these ideas will probably be easy to implement and will significantly improve Firefox's tabbed browsing experience. 

First, when the user right-clicks on some arbitrary link and selects "Open Link in a New Tab" from the popup menu, the new Tab should become the active tab.  In other words, select the new tab for me so I can view the new page without having to select it myself.  Currently, the existing page stays active and I have to click on the new tab to view the new page I just opened.  I think it's reasonable to assume that the user wants to see the new page immediately when she opens it in a new tab.

My second suggestion has to do with opening a new tab from scratch, either by selecting File->New Tab from the main browser window or by using the Ctrl+N hotkey mneumonic.  The current version of Firefox defaults to a blank page, but I think there should be three options: 1. blank page,  2. current page, and  3. home page.  The option could be set globally in the Tabs section of the Options dialog, so that every new tab will default to the current page, home page, or a blank page, whatever the user has specified.

I hope these suggestions are helpful and find their way into a futre revision of Firefox.  Thanks for considering them, and thanks for helping to pioneer the way toward viable alternatives to Microsoft products.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.a. Right-click any hyperlink and select "Open Link in a New Tab".
1.b. Observe that the new tab with the new web page is not active, you have to select that tab to see the new page.

2.a. Select File->New Tab (or press Ctrl+N).
2.b. Observe that the new tab only opens a blank page, and no options exist to default to the current page or the user's home page instead.

Comment 1

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

For the first part of this bug there is a preference: Tools > Options > Tabs > Select new tabs opened from links.
The second part is basically bug 187573.
You can middle-click on your Home icon, and probably here is also an extension for more possibilities.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 187573 ***

Comment 2

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Clone Window extension: http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=25&hl=new+window