Open Bug 378814 Opened 18 years ago Updated 3 years ago

Cmd+clicking a link doesn't bring Firefox in front of other apps

Categories

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, defect)

Product:
Core
Component:
Widget: Cocoa
Platform:
x86
macOS
Type:
defect

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: jruderman, Unassigned)

References

Details

Steps to reproduce: 1. With an Adium window in front of Firefox, Cmd+click a link. Result: a new tab opens, but the Adium window is still in front of Firefox. I guess this is kinda standard Mac behavior, but I don't know what its purpose is, and I'm guessing it doesn't make sense when what I Cmd+clicked is a link.
Standard Mac behaviour. I frequently cmd+click on links in Mail.app. They open in the background while I finish reading the email message.
I don't understand comment 1.
(In reply to comment #2) > I don't understand comment 1. > Maybe I misunderstood you... Do you cmd+click a link in Adium, or do you cmd+click a link in the Fx window ? In the second case, WebKit and Safari behave the same way: cmd+click doesn't set the focus on the app.
I'm talking about Cmd+clicking a link in Firefox (while Firefox is a background window). Sorry, I should have made that clear.
It is a standard mac behavior that cmd clicking on a control should not change the current focus. For example, cmd drag a window's title bar while it is in the backroung. You can move it and not bring it to the front. All the controls work, but focus doesn't change. Similarly, as philippe mentioned, cmd clicking a link in Mail.app keeps the current focus on Mail.app and loads the URL in the background. I am very against changing this behavior, as it is new in Cocoa widgets (we may even get it for free) and gives us much more of a Mac feel.
Colin explained to me (in person) why Cmd+clicking most controls doesn't give the window focus: it allows you to interact with a background window without bringing it to the front (and giving it focus). For example, you can use a scrollbar or drag a window to a different location while leaving it in the background. Someone who Cmd+clicks a link in Firefox while Firefox is in a background window is probably expecting one "meaning" from Cmd or the other: they're either expecting Cmd to mean "open in new tab" or "don't focus Firefox". I imagine the former is more likely. (Someone who has memorized the Apple HIG might expect the current behavior of opening a new tab *and* leaving Firefox in the background, but that's too small a minority to design for, IMO.)
The fact that no Firefox 2 users filed bugs about its behavior is one argument that this should be considered a regression and fixed for Firefox 3.
Safari's behavior may be unintentional, by the way. See http://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11547 for an interesting twist.
(In reply to comment #7) > The fact that no Firefox 2 users filed bugs about its behavior is one argument > that this should be considered a regression and fixed for Firefox 3. Just because nobody filed a bug about the behavior does not mean it isn't incorrect. We should behave the way other Mac applications behave. We should think long and very hard before deviating from that behavior, /especially/ when our interaction with other apps is concerned (we would be stealing focus from the frontmost app). (In reply to comment #8) > Safari's behavior may be unintentional, by the way. See > http://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11547 for an interesting twist. What leads you to believe that their behavior is unintentional? The bug is that cmd clicking a link in a background browser window opens a new tab in the frontmost browser window. They're only tangentially related. My guess is that someone made the assumption that when a window is accepting events it's been ordered front, which is not always the case. But I'm not a Safari engineer, and this isn't the right place to discuss bugs in Safari or WebKit.
Non-browser apps like Colloquy also exhibit the "cmd-click on a link in a bg window opens a new tab in said window without bringing the app to front" behavior.
How can I see that behavior in Colloquy?
Don't channels always open in a new tab, though, even if you don't use any modifier keys?
As I mentioned in bug 427436: > Or perhaps it's that Firefox 2 was Carbon; other Carbon browsers (iCab 3, MacIE) > behave like Firefox 2, whereas other Cocoa browsers (Safari, Camino, OmniWeb, > iCab 4) behave like Firefox 3. Can we go ahead and finally mark this INVALID?
Assignee: joshmoz → nobody
Severity: minor → S4
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