361157 - Opening files should open them in a new window

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Camino Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[Stuart Morgan]

Opening local files is pretty clearly a document-based workflow, so we should follow the standard behavior for opening documents and have them open in a new window, rather than replacing (part of) the current window content.

Comment 1

[Stuart Morgan]

Attachment: fix

Comment 2

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

I'm kind-of OK with it not replacing stuff (particularly if you open multiple files at once), but it really should respect the tab/window prefs.  If I wanted a new window, I would open one....

Comment 3

[Stuart Morgan]

Fair point. Which pref should we use though?

Comment 4

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

My first thought is the cmd-click one.

Comment 5

[Maximilian Ruderburg [:max] (Arctic Revolution)]

(In reply to comment #4)
> My first thought is the cmd-click one.

I'd agree with that. Since another application isn't the one initiating the open, it wouldn't make sense to use the other pref.

Comment 6

[Torben]

(In reply to comment #4)
> My first thought is the cmd-click one.

Could we please stop reusing existing prefs for something-that-is-a-bit similiar-but-not entirely? Personally I prefer Open File... and Open Location... to do the same (especially since there is no easy way of using the later to open a local file), and I would prefer a new window rather than a new tab (even though I use cmd-click for new tabs).

Comment 7

[froodian (Ian Leue)]

Can we use a new internal pref, but tie it to the Cmd-click pref in the UI (like we have with the "changing, moving, resizing" pref in web features)?

Comment 8

[Stuart Morgan]

Comment on attachment 245903 [details] [diff] [review]
fix

I'll revisit this when we decide how/if we want to do it.

Comment 9

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

I agree with Torben here. We shouldn't have two definitions of "Open" in the same menu, much less the same browser. Opening something, whether a file or a location, should follow the same behavior.

Comment 10

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

To add to what Sam said in comment 9, we shouldn't have multiple definitions of "Open" depending on the context of the invocation, either. Take this instance, discovered while working on bug 353265 this evening:

Invoke Open File with a non-browser window frontmost and a browser window open in the background, and you get the file opened in a new foreground browser window (which, AIUI, is what this bug says should happen all the time).

Do the same thing with a browser window frontmost and you get the content replaced.

Personally, I'd prefer that if it opens a new [content view], that content view be a tab. I don't want a new browser window EVER unless I explicitly ask for one with the New Window command. Maybe make it respect Single-Window Mode?

Sam and Torben raise a good point, though -- either way we go, we end up with a sucky situation. Either we do the Right Thing for a document-based workflow, or we have a consistent definition of "open". Safari does what's proposed in this bug; Firefox does what we currently do.