468535 - Option to disable page "tearing" (3.1b2)

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Settings UI, enhancement)

Description

[K. Austers]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1b2) Gecko/20081201 Firefox/3.1b2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1b2) Gecko/20081201 Firefox/3.1b2

I think that there should be an option to disable page "tearing" (introducted in 3.1b2) because I, for example, don't use the feature (just 1 big open window w/ a lot of tabs) and found that it interferes with my usage habits (like dropping the tab in a bookmark folder).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.

Comment 1

[Sylvain Pasche]

It would be better to fix the actual issues/regressions instead of introducing a new preference.  For instance:
 * Bug 468553 - Dragging tab to bookmarks sidebar should bookmark not tear it (3.1b2)
 * Bug 465184 - Dropping a tab on itself shouldn't detach it
 * Bug 465346 - tab drag and drop (dnd, detach) to new window should have a bigger threshold to prevent accidental detaching

Comment 2

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

(In reply to comment #1)
> It would be better to fix the actual issues/regressions instead of introducing
> a new preference.

Even in that case I think the most desired behavior of dragging a tab to a new window (or use the Open in New Window feature) is to duplicate it, not to cut it, because you also cut away the relation with the other tabs.
I wonder BTW if such a pref as suggested in comment 0 would be technically feasible.

Comment 3

[WildcatRay]

Hopefully, it will be technically possible because the comments in the Mozillazine forums indicate that many people do not want the D&D functionality to interfere with their browsing.

Just consider that Bug 225680 started as a "Would be nice to be seen in firebird..." desire (yes, it is that old) and it's implementation has resulted in double-digit "Depend on" bugs. Perhaps the breakdown was trying to do tab detaching WITH D&D at the same time.

Tab detaching, I would think, could have been implemented in a fairly bug-free fashion. From there, D&D could have been explored via, say, an extension to see and address the issues it revealed. 

For a supposedly highly customizable browser, to not add a (non-security) feature that can also be disabled if the user desires is, well, not wise.

Comment 4

[Scott]

Not sure it this is valid here but I find myself accidentally tearing away a tab when selecting it or when I'm giving focus back to FF from another application. Is there a level of sensitivity or something that can be modified for when a tab will be detached?

Comment 5

[Brian Carpenter [:geeknik]]

@Scott(#4), what build are you using? The problems with tab tearing in Firefox 3.1b2 have been fixed in the Firefox 3.1b3pre builds and Firefox 3.1b3 should be released by the end of March if not sooner.

Comment 6

[Scott]

@Brian(In reply to comment #5)
I'm using 3.1b2. I guess I'll deal with it until b3 is out.

Comment 7

[Steve]

I've encountered the same problem as Brian.  There appears to be a limit of moving the mouse 3 pixels while clicking.  Any more, and turns it into a "Make New Window" operation.  I definitely like the idea of being able to do this, but have it somewhat less sensitive.

If I keep the mouse button down, with the "ghost" window showing that it has been torn off, the intuitive thing of pressing escape on my keyboard doesn't cancel the operation.  Compare this to drag+drop in Windows Explorer - hitting escape while still dragging will cancel the operation.

Comment 8

[eyal gruss]

scott and steve:

these have been fixed in the latest builds:

bug 465184 - Dropping a tab on itself shouldn't detach it
bug 465346 - tab drag and drop (dnd, detach) to new window should have a bigger threshold to prevent accidental detaching 
bug 465608 - pressing esc while dragging a tab should cancel the drag / detach operation (on windows)

this bug is specifically about adding an option to completely disable tab detaching

Comment 9

[Steve]

Ah, good to hear.  I did a search before commenting here, but didn't find those other (fixed) bugs.  Sorry - I'm a new to using bugzilla.

Comment 10

[Nochum Sossonko [:Natch]]

Confirming as an enhancement and adding uiwanted.

Comment 11

[Nikita Popov]

People, the last comment on this bug is from more than a year ago. Even though I don't know, how this brainfucked idea of tab tearing w/o option to disable it got ui approval in the first place, it definitely should be fixed by now. I'm not even talking about a UI option, I'm talking about an option in about:config.

Comment 12

[RDL]

In the meantime, this extension by White Alice0775 allows one to disable tab tearing.

bug489729 (Disable detach and tear off tab) :: Add-ons for Firefox

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12276/

Comment 13

[Jon]

I use a Wacom tablet and about 30% of the time when I change tabs I end up tearing it away.  The faster I'm trying to work, the more likely it is going to happen.  It takes about 5 seconds for the action to complete, which usually is enough time that I'm already into another task when suddenly my windows start moving around.  I had installed Alice's extension but in FF4, Alice's extension does not yet work, so when I upgraded, I re-discovered this forgotten issue..

You should not have to install an extension to hack out of an unwanted feature.  This is a polarizing enough feature that it seems clear to me that it should be optional, if not through the preferences then at least through about:config.

Comment 14

[Jon]

Just as a follow-up to this, both Safari and Chrome have tearaway tabs but the act of tearing a tab away must be very deliberate, so I find myself not tearing away tabs on those browsers.  To that end, I'm going to switch over and start using Chrome and see if it serves my needs better.

I am making this comment, even though I am going to guess that you don't care, because I want to let the developers know that a FireFox user - indeed, one that has used FireFox literally since it became 'FireFox' - is leaving because of this "feature."  I presume there are many more users who don't care enough about FireFox to let you know that is what they are doing.  From the most recent graphs I've seen about browser usage, Chrome appears to be stealing FireFox's stealing of Internet Explorer's market share; maybe they actually do have a better browser.  I do know that I'll be more productive in Chrome because my tabs won't constantly be tearing away.

Anyway, I don't mean to belabor this, I just wanted to let you all know what my decision is and you can decide whether I represent any percentage of your target user base.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Comment 15

[Alex Limi (:limi) — Firefox UX Team]

We do care quite a bit about this, but it didn't make Firefox 4.

There's currently a patch being reviewed that fixes the animation when dragging and detaching tabs, and I believe it fixes the tear-off threshold too — but Frank Yan (who wrote the patch, and I just CCed) can comment on that.

The goal is to land it on Nightly ASAP, then the next Aurora (likely what will become Firefox 6), which isn't as far away as it sounds with the new accelerated release schedule. :)

Comment 16

[Frank Yan (:fryn)]

Limi, would you agree this is a WONTFIX? The primary issue here is the current lack of ux-userfeedback.

Comment 18

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

We don't have plans to add this ability to the browser. Tab dragging and tearing off is a fundamental part of the tabbed browsing experience, and adding the ability to disable core functionality makes it harder to test and maintain the software in the future.

Comment 19

[Eric Carlson]

I haven't had any issues with accidental tearing in years, so it seems a lot better than it was when I first voted for this bug. And tearing on purpose works fine too. So I don't know if this is still an issue for anyone anyway.