675510 - Thunderbird Fails to Use Default Browser for Pages from RSS Feeds and from Add-ons Details

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, defect)

Description

[David E. Ross]

My default browser is SeaMonkey.  If I select an RSS message, however, I get the Web page in Thunderbird.  The same is true if I select the More button for an add-on on Thunderbird's Add-ons Manager tab and then select a link in the displayed result.  

This is a problem because my preferences and add-ons in Thunderbird do not reflect the preferences and add-ons I have in SeaMonkey.

Comment 1

[Jo Hermans]

maybe bug 276117 ? See bug 276117 comment 6

Comment 2

[David E. Ross]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:5.0) Gecko/20110624 Thunderbird/5.0

In my configuration, Thunderbird does recognize SeaMonkey as my default browser for links in E-mail and newsgroup messages.  This bug is about not recognizing SeaMonkey as my default browser for RSS and Add-ons Manager.  

Furthermore, I would have no problem if Thunderbird did not have an alternative default different from my system default as proposed in bug #276117.  Indeed, if the capability requested in bug #276117 were implemented, I would likely not use it.

Comment 3

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> My default browser is SeaMonkey.  If I select an RSS message, however, I get
> the Web page in Thunderbird.

So you select just the message (not any links) in the thread pane, and you expect it to load in SeaMonkey? Surely that would be counter-intuitive because you'd select the message, and immediately be taken to another app?

> The same is true if I select the More button
> for an add-on on Thunderbird's Add-ons Manager tab and then select a link in
> the displayed result.

This is a different use-case. We explicitly decided to keep AMO links in the Add-on manager to within Thunderbird, the reason being is that you can then browse AMO and install add-ons from AMO directly into Thunderbird without having to go the old route of external browser -> save add-on -> install add-on.

Note that if you click on a link within the AMO site that takes you to a non-AMO site, then you'll get redirected to the external browser.

Comment 4

[David E. Ross]

Saying that this is per design does not make this correct.  

I have preferences set via the Preferences user interface and even PrefBar installed in SeaMonkey to enhance how I view Web pages.  None of this is available in Thunderbird.  Yes, I can set preferences via the Config Editor; but that is not a user interface in the way checkboxes, radio buttons, etc constitute a user interface.  

Furthermore, the theme I chose for SeaMonkey is not available for Thunderbird.  This too affects the Web experience.  

If a Web page opens in Thunderbird from an RSS message and I follow a link on that page to another page, how do I bookmark that second page?  How do I copy its URI when Thunderbird does not have an address area (URI bar)?  

If I select a link on an AMO page to another AMO page, the same questions apply.  How do I bookmark that second AMO page?  How do I copy its URI?  

If nothing else, there must be a user option to route all such displays to the user's default browser.

Comment 5

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

(In reply to comment #4)
> If a Web page opens in Thunderbird from an RSS message and I follow a link
> on that page to another page, how do I bookmark that second page?  How do I
> copy its URI when Thunderbird does not have an address area (URI bar)?  

Hang on, let's take a step back here. What are your precise steps to repeat? Your comment 0 implies:

1) Subscribe to RSS feed
2) Select an RSS item in that feed
3) Ensure that View -> Feed Message Body As -> Web Page is selected (if not already).

Which you say should load the page in SeaMonkey not in Thunderbird?

Is that correct, or is there an additional step here?

> If I select a link on an AMO page to another AMO page, the same questions
> apply.  How do I bookmark that second AMO page?  How do I copy its URI?  

At the moment, you can right-click and select "Open in browser". It is possible we'll add something more later, though I don't know what yet.

Comment 6

[David E. Ross]

I did the following:  
1.  Subscribe to RSS feed.  
2.  Set [View > Feed Message Body As > Summary] 
3.  Select an RSS item in that feed by double-clicking
The result is a Web page displayed by Thunderbird in a new window.

Comment 7

[David Rees]

(In reply to Mark Banner (:standard8) from comment #5)
> > If I select a link on an AMO page to another AMO page, the same questions
> > apply.  How do I bookmark that second AMO page?  How do I copy its URI?  
> 
> At the moment, you can right-click and select "Open in browser". It is
> possible we'll add something more later, though I don't know what yet.

I'm sorry, I can't find the "Open in browser", where is it exactly? I feel like I have right-clicked everything I can.

The launching internal for AMO is driving me up the wall also. I want to browse pages in my browser (Firefox), not Thunderbird. In addition to bookmarking I am missing my login information, lastpass, sync, greasemonkey/stylish scripts, history, other addons, etc.

I can see launching the details page since it has the addon link, but after that when I click on a the Homepage or Reviews links that should launch that in the browser. At the very least there should be some way of launching it in the browser. I don't see the context menu item you mentioned and shift-click isn't working either. In fact every link (including author, home page, reviews, and Check for Updates) has a context menu with disable/remove/options/find updates/about. I'm assuming that isn't really the desighn but a side effect? Thx.

Comment 8

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

(In reply to David Rees from comment #7)
> (In reply to Mark Banner (:standard8) from comment #5)
> > > If I select a link on an AMO page to another AMO page, the same questions
> > > apply.  How do I bookmark that second AMO page?  How do I copy its URI?  
> > 
> > At the moment, you can right-click and select "Open in browser". It is
> > possible we'll add something more later, though I don't know what yet.
> 
> I'm sorry, I can't find the "Open in browser", where is it exactly? I feel
> like I have right-clicked everything I can.

1) Click a link
2) Go to the newly-created tab
3) Right click and select "Open in browser"

For links from anywhere but the "Extensions" tab, you can also right click them and select "Open Link in Browser".

Comment 9

[David Rees]

(In reply to Jim Porter (:squib) from comment #8)
> (In reply to David Rees from comment #7)
> > (In reply to Mark Banner (:standard8) from comment #5)
> > > > If I select a link on an AMO page to another AMO page, the same questions
> > > > apply.  How do I bookmark that second AMO page?  How do I copy its URI?  
> > > 
> > > At the moment, you can right-click and select "Open in browser". It is
> > > possible we'll add something more later, though I don't know what yet.
> > 
> > I'm sorry, I can't find the "Open in browser", where is it exactly? I feel
> > like I have right-clicked everything I can.
> 
> 1) Click a link
> 2) Go to the newly-created tab
> 3) Right click and select "Open in browser"
> 
> For links from anywhere but the "Extensions" tab, you can also right click
> them and select "Open Link in Browser".

Ah, I had tried the tab and the link, not the background/document. I also didn't realize it didn't apply to the Add-ons Manager tab.

I think I still stand by suggestion in comment 7 though, if a link isn't an addon link it should open in the browser (essentially any link that would open another tab should actually open to the browser).

I also now think in the addon tab you should be able to do "open in browser" against the background and "open in browser" against links like you can everywhere else.

Thanks,
d

Comment 10

[alta88]

(In reply to David E. Ross from comment #6)
> I did the following:  
> 1.  Subscribe to RSS feed.  
> 2.  Set [View > Feed Message Body As > Summary] 
> 3.  Select an RSS item in that feed by double-clicking
> The result is a Web page displayed by Thunderbird in a new window.

the action taken on a feed message (doubleclick or enter) in threadpane is governed by the Message->Open Feed Message global pref.

and if you click the Website in the header, it opens in a browser.  there used to be an extension Linkify that turned the subject into a link, and a number of extensions provide that too.  i find WAT particularly useful.

Comment 11

[alta88]

this report is invalid for feeds.  open a new one clarifying the specific problem.