482097 - Cannot middle click to close tab when it is the only one in a window

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 997681

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

Description

[Cameron McCormack (:heycam)]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090304 Minefield/3.2a1pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090304 Minefield/3.2a1pre

When there is only a single tab in a window, I cannot middle click the tab to close it (and the window), and its "X" button isn't visible.  Also, the "Close Tab" menu item in the tab's context menu is disabled.  Despite this, the "Close Tab" menu item in the File window is enabled.  I find it very convenient to close tabs by middle clicking on them, and I would expect this to work even if there is only a single tab left.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create a new window with a single tab.
2. Middle click the tab.
Actual Results:  
Nothing happens.

Expected Results:  
The tab should be closed, and the window closed too.

Comment 1

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

This was an intentional decision, see bug 456382. You can close the last tab with a middle click if you set browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab to false, however. Given that, I'd say this is probably INVALID, but feel free to reopen if you think that should be reconsidered.

I suppose we should be disabling the File->Close tab menu item in that case, though...

Comment 2

[Cameron McCormack (:heycam)]

I wasn't aware of that preference, but it doesn't seem to do what I want (i.e., close the tab and the window).  Instead it opens a new blank tab when I close the last tab, which seems to be what Opera does.

If the File -> Close Tab menu item were disabled, I guess that would also disable the Ctrl+W keyboard shortcut.  That would be consistent with disabling the other tab-close UI mechanisms, but would be more annoying than not being able to middle-click-close the tab, IMO.

I would be happy with a preference that allows me to get the desired behaviour; it doesn't need to be the default.  Perhaps:

  b.t.closeWindowWithLastTab = true and b.t.showCloseBoxOnLastTab = true
    => the behaviour I want
  b.t.closeWindowWithLastTab = true and b.t.showCloseBoxOnLastTab = false
    => the current behaviour
  b.t.closeWindowWithLastTab = false and b.t.showCloseBoxOnLastTab = true
    => the Opera behaviour
  b.t.closeWindowWithLastTab = false and b.t.showCloseBoxOnLastTab = false
    => the last tab simply can't be closed, disable File -> Close Tab too

Reopened the bug for such a preference (should I change the title?).

Comment 3

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

(In reply to comment #2)
> If the File -> Close Tab menu item were disabled, I guess that would also
> disable the Ctrl+W keyboard shortcut.

Well, not necessarily. The point of bug 456382 was that closing the entire window when closing a tab *with the mouse* was strange. Ctrl+W already varies between closing the window or tab, so you could say that that's more natural or expected.

> I would be happy with a preference that allows me to get the desired behaviour;
> it doesn't need to be the default.

I don't think we're going to be adding a preference for what seems to be a relatively uncommon feature request.

Comment 4

[Florian]

I would like to have the old Firefox 3.0 behavior back, should I fill a separate bug for that?

Use cases:
1.) You have configured Firefox to always restore the session. Before exiting you close the tabs with middle click to make sure that they don't get loaded at next startup. Now with the new behavior you can't close the last tab: So at next startup the browser will unnecessarily load the previous tab. In this use case it would be okay, if the browser closes with the last tab.

2.) You have some resource hungry webpage in the last tab and want to get the ressources back. A youtube page for example may use your network to download a video. In Firefox 3.0 you can close the last tab with a middle click to stop the youtube page from using your network resources. In Firefox 3.2 you can't close the last tab. I don't see any reason why Firefox 3.2 should not do it like Firefox 3.0: If a user closes the last tab it gets replaced by a resource friendly about:blank tab.

Comment 5

[j]

I also middle-click close the last tab. Short of making a poll question out of this preference to see how common this use case is, why not leave the behaviour the way it was? I am using FF 3.5 b4.

Comment 6

[fergofrog]

I just transitioned from FF3.1b4 to 3.5b99. With 3.1 I used a plugin that when I close using the top right X it just minimizes to an icon in the tray, to close FF fully (or just that active window) I would Middle-Click the window with my mouse (useful when not very close to my keyboard) otherwise I would Ctrl-W. Now I have to move to my keyboard to close the active window.

Please just an option in about:config to allow closing the final tab with middle click would be fantastic.

Comment 7

[Art K]

Just the opposite of Cameron McCormack's 2009-03-07 post: middle click DOES now close the last tab. However, the rest of his post remains true (no close button & close-tab disabled on the right-click menu). [Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1) Gecko/20090624 Firefox/3.5]
browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab = false

I was not aware of the middle-click option so was not able to close the last button at all - a PITA. I always use right-click - with the tab-kit extension  there are more options than to just close a tab. I would like v3.5 to behave the same as v3.0: Display the close button ("X"), on the last tab, enable close-tab in the right-click menu, and close the last tab but leave the window open. Having the close button always available is best and the most convenient.

There are many reasons for closing the last button. Not the least is to clear the button history and start afresh.

Comment 8

[severinbreuer]

Supporting reverting to the old behavior.

In my mind, ctrl+w and a middle-clicking on a tab are the same thing: they close the tab. If I have set FF to close the browser when I close the last tab, it shouldn't matter how I close said tab.

Ctrl+w still closes the last tab and thus the program, and the File menu still lists "Close Tab (ctrl+w)". So it makes no sense that the same menu item is missing from the tabbar context menu, nor that something which is generally understood to be equivalent to ctrl+w doesn't do the same thing in certain circumstances.

Comment 9

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Reporter, are you still seeing this issue with Firefox 3.6.13 or later in safe mode or a fresh profile? If not, please close. These links can help you in your testing.
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles

Comment 10

[Cameron McCormack (:heycam)]

Indeed I am seeing this issue still, but I guess it is by design.  (And by now I've trained myself not to middle click on the last tab to close it.)  Should the bug be WONTFIXed?

Comment 11

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Yes, this is by design,

Comment 13

[ypeels]

"Regression" as of Firefox 31 (tested on Windows 8.1 x64 in Safe Mode). The OP's Expected Results are now the same as the Actual Results.

Should this be marked as FIXED instead, now?

I am guessing the "regression" is related to bug 865826 ("Remove the browser.tabs.closeButtons pref"), which was rolled out in Firefox 31?  Close buttons are now always shown on all tabs, including the last one, which I'm guessing was the reason for the "regression"?  

Don't get me wrong, I prefer middle-clicking to close the last tab and even wrote an add-on just to implement it!  It's nice to see, since this is the default behavior for both Chrome and IE.

Comment 14

[ypeels]

Also, I think this "regression" affects bug 456382.