455616 - Detach tab from bug 225680 should not only work for "drag to content part"

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 225680

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

Description

[Klaas Heidstra]

Bug 225680 adds the ability to detach a tab by dragging it to the content part of the current window. However this detaching should also work when you drag a tab to places where currently appears a "not possible"-icon. In addition, when you currently drag a tab to the desktop this creates a shortcut on the desktop, this should also be replaced by the detach-tab behavior. 

The reason I've split this up in a separate bug is because this comment from 225680:
From bug 225680 comment #75:
>> This is exactly how I intended to implement it, but the problem is that the
>> code that handles this is I think in C++. That makes it much harder to
>> implement it in that way. Maybe there could be filed a followup bug to make it
>> work like that.
>
>That's fine, and Jim Mathies (cc'd on this bug already) has said that he'd be
>interested in helping out. Jim: what's needed here?

Comment 1

[Jim Mathies [:jimm]]

>Bug 225680 adds the ability to detach a tab by dragging it to the content part
>of the current window. However this detaching should also work when you drag a
>tab to places where currently appears a "not possible"-icon. In addition, when
>you currently drag a tab to the desktop this creates a shortcut on the desktop,
>this should also be replaced by the detach-tab behavior. 

Windows specific - My feeling is that normal drag and drop to the desktop or 3rd party app should remain unchanged. If we messed with this I'm pretty sure a lot of users would be quite upset as the generic "drag a url via a tab" is useful and heavily used. My feeling is we'll attach this to a hot key, control, or shift, or alt, so that when pressed the default behavior is overridden and a new window is opened.

Also, shouldn't we split this up into three bugs - one for each platform, or is this a windows only enhancement?

Comment 2

[Klaas Heidstra]

(In reply to comment #1)
> > ... 
> 
> Windows specific - My feeling is that normal drag and drop to the desktop or
> 3rd party app should remain unchanged. If we messed with this I'm pretty sure a
> lot of users would be quite upset as the generic "drag a url via a tab" is
> useful and heavily used. My feeling is we'll attach this to a hot key, control,
> or shift, or alt, so that when pressed the default behavior is overridden and a
> new window is opened.
In Chrome and Safari you can detach a tab by dragging it anywhere outside the tabbar, this isn't an option for Firefox because that would override bookmarking by dragging a tab and other actions. But the one thing that can be overridden is the drag to desktop part, because I think creating a desktop shortcut isn't as important as detaching a tab (see also: bug 225680 comment #75). Dragging links or bookmarks to the desktop could still just create a shortcut. 
Dragging to 3rd party apps should remain unchanged I agree, but for dragging a tab to parts on the screen where currently nothing happens (and a disabled icon appears) it would be much nicer if the tab is detached.
About the hotkey I don't think that would be necessary (Safari, Chrome and Opera don't use a hotkey), it would only make it less discoverable, also I think pressing ctrl/option while d&d-ing a tab should clone that tab to a new window (that's what my patch in bug 225680 does).

> Also, shouldn't we split this up into three bugs - one for each platform, or is
> this a windows only enhancement?
This bug applies to all platforms, so maybe this could be used as a tracking bug, and spin off a separate bug for windows, mac and linux, I don't think it should be windows only (but I don't know how technically difficult this is to implement on all platforms).

Comment 3

[Jim Mathies [:jimm]]

>bookmarking by dragging a tab and other actions. But the one thing that can be
>overridden is the drag to desktop part, because I think creating a desktop
>shortcut isn't as important as detaching a tab (see also: bug 225680 comment
>#75). Dragging links or bookmarks to the desktop could still just create a
>shortcut. 

I guess I'll just throw out that I use the drag tab to desktop option every time I want a link, so I think there will be some users who are surprised by the new functionality. Which isn't to say they can't be taught other ways of doing it.

Comment 4

[Klaas Heidstra]

(In reply to comment #3)
> I guess I'll just throw out that I use the drag tab to desktop option every
> time I want a link, so I think there will be some users who are surprised by
> the new functionality. Which isn't to say they can't be taught other ways of
> doing it.

You can still create a link on the desktop by just dragging the url of that tab to the desktop.

Comment 5

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

See my comments in the other bug (talked to Jim as well).