437686 - Firefox 3.0rc2 "Open All in Tabs" clobbers current tab with focus, creates new tabs just to right of this

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

Description

[Frank]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0

System:
* AMD64 3000+/2GB RAM/80GB HD
* Windows XP SP3 with all patches
* Firefox 3.0rc2

I recently uninstalled Firefox 2.0.0.14 and installed 3.0rc2 to test it out.  Thus far it works well except for two issues (the other I will document elsewhere).

A feature I use daily is the 'Open All In Tabs' feature.  In Firefox 2.x, I recall in earlier versions having to tweak some preference setting in about:config to make sure that opening a folder of bookmarks did not replace the currently opened tabs (I notice this preference is still there and set correctly).  But what I am seeing is that if I right-click a folder in my bookmarks menu or toolbar and select 'Open All in Tabs', the currently selected tab is replaced with the first bookmark from that folder, and then new tabs are added just to the right of the currently selected tab, pushing existing tabs that may have been there further to the right.  The key problem is the clobbering of an existing page vs. just creating a new tab for the first bookmark in the folder.

I tried disabling what few addons I use by running in Safe Mode, but same problem.  I created a new profile and tried it there with the default set of bookmarks which include a folder of bookmarks, and same problem.

I have dug through about:config, even comparing v2.0.0.14 to v3.0rc2, and while I have found a few entries that exist in v2 that are not in v3, creating/mimicking them did not help.

This appears to be a bug.  And not sure if the intention is for new tabs to be created right after the currently selected tab.  In Firefox v2, regardless of which tab has focus, doing an 'Open All in Tabs' caused all bookmarks to open in new tabs at the right end of the list of tabs, NOT just after the tab with focus.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.  Create new profile in Firefox (firefox.exe --ProfileManager) (for completeness).
2.  Once launched, have two tabs open to pages of your choice.
3.  Click Bookmarks, scroll down to folder, right-click, and select 'Open All in Tabs'.
4.  Watch fiasco unfold.

Actual Results:  
Page in tab with focus is replaced by first bookmark in folder.
Remaining bookmarks open in new tabs created just to the right of the tab that had focus when 'Open All in Tabs' was selected.

Expected Results:  
Page in tab with focus is left alone, each bookmark in folder from which 'Open All in Tabs' selected--including the first one--are loaded in new tabs which are created at the right end of the current list of tabs.

If the intention in v3 is for new tabs to be created just after the current tab with focus, it might be nice to offer users the option to have v2 functionality.


If you need any further testing done, please do not hesitate to ask.

Comment 1

[Paul Craciunoiu [:paulc]]

Confirmed on
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.4; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008053008 Firefox/3.0

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008060309 Firefox/3.0

Indeed, focused tab is replaced by first bookmark link.

(Good stuff:
- Works well with tabs open relative
- Opens all the other links in new tabs)

Comment 2

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

This behaviour is intended.  The default in Firefox 2 was to replace the entire current tabset with the set of tabs in the bookmark.  There were unsupported hidden prefs and extensions which modified this behaviour, but lack of those behaviours isn't a blocker.

Comment 3

[Frank]

(In reply to comment #2)
> This behaviour is intended.  The default in Firefox 2 was to replace the entire
> current tabset with the set of tabs in the bookmark.  There were unsupported
> hidden prefs and extensions which modified this behaviour, but lack of those
> behaviours isn't a blocker.
> 

"This behaviour is intended"?  Yes, in FF2 it would replace the current tabset with those in the bookmark folder, but there was an option to NOT have it do so.  The fact the menu option reads "Open ALL IN NEW TABS" belies this functionality, as not ALL are opened in NEW TABS...the first bookmark clobbers an existing tabs contents.  If this is intended behavior, maybe it would be wise to rename the menu option.  It is confusing and, frankly, if this IS, in fact, the intended behavior, it is a poor choice.

Comment 4

[frederik]

Why is this bug marked "RESOLVED INVALID"? I just got bitten by it as well. "Open All in Tabs" in the Library bookmark view clobbers existing tabs. Yes I can press "back" on 17 tabs but that is not the desired behavior. Why would any user want to combine "open a bunch of links" with "clobber my existing tabs"? If the existing tabs are open, the user was probably reading them. If he is done with them, he would close them one by one. Overwriting them all at once is unintuitive and annoying. Ideally the "Open All in Tabs" item would create a new window, append to the existing tabs list, or at least bring up a dialog box warning the user that something difficult to reverse is about to happen. Thank you.