680605 - Add UI for max_concurrent_tabs=0 and possibly make it the default

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 648683

(Firefox :: General, enhancement)

Description

[Nicolas Barbulesco]

Hello,

See discussion here : bug 561149.

In reply to Philipp von Weitershausen [:philikon] from bug 561149, comment 2

> > Does BarTab use other tricks ?
> 
> Yes. It actually prevents tabs that aren't needed from being loaded. When
> the nsISessionStore service restores tabs, BarTab will let it restore the
> browser object and the attached history, but not load the page itself. You
> can configure it to do the same when you open a link in a new background
> tab. The loading will eventually take place when you visit the tab (though
> other mechanisms would surely work). The initial idea was to reduce the
> number of CPU cycles for browser (re)starts, but it turned out it also helps
> with memory (ok, not too surprising I guess).
> 
> Some BarTab users have also reported other interesting usability side
> effects:
> 
> * A video or audio site won't start playing annoying sounds through your
> speakers when you (re)start the browser. I'm looking at you, YouTube...
> 
> * Some WiFi hotspots redirect all your website accesses to a login page,
> until you have logged in. In such circumstances, starting a browser with X
> number of tabs to restore will yield of you X copies of the login page --
> not fun. With BarTab you'll only get one.

That is interesting.

Here is my typical use of my different Web browsers :

I use to have many windows with many tabs open. Sometimes, a crash. Or a clean quitting. When I re-open the browser, all the pages load. If they load cascaded, this is a bit better, but still, 54 tabs with Flash and videos and music and ads and stuff load. That bloats the memory. And if I were still a poor victim of USB DSL modem connected to Windows PC, that would crash the computer — happily, time has changed. Other annoyance : all the music videos start at the same time, playing a cacophony. I have to, one by one, pause them and put them back at their start. Other annoyance : if the crash occurred because of too many pages loaded in memory or because of some particular page loaded, then the crash will likely re-occur.

So, what do I do ?

When I relaunch my browser, I cut the network connection : turn off Airport or unplug the network cable. So, instead of 54 heavy loaded pages, I have 54 light "Server unreachable" tabs. Happily, their address and history are saved, and they remain saved if there is again a relaunch because of a new crash or clean quitting. When I have put back the network connection, I come across some "Server unreachable" page, I load it, I read it, I come across a second one, I load it, und so weiter.

This satisfies me, except in one situation :
I had many tabs open, as usual. A crash occurred. I cut the network and I relanched Firefox. All the tabs got restored, but the pages did not load ; instead, the tabs contained "Server unreachable". But in one tab, I had written in a form, like Wikipedia editing. Normally, in this case, the new form data saving feature in Firefox rocks and restores the form with each and every comma. Perhaps the form data restoring feature shoud have kicked in, even without network, thanks to the cache. Web browsers now have cache bigger than ever, but have forgotten how to display a recently viewed page when network is down. They did that commonly 10 years ago. Nowadays, when network is off, Web browsers are lost, Safari the worst. Browsers are strange. Anyway, form data restoring feature did not kick in, and I had "Server unreachable". I put the network back, and I clicked "Retry" : the page loaded, without the stuff I had written in the form. Too bad.

So I propose the following behaviour, as an option at least, when I relaunch Firefox after a crash or a clean quitting :
All the tabs get restored, with their address and history, but they don't load. Instead, they contain the message "This tab was restored from the previous session. It is ready to load." and a "Load" button. The address, instead of "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914", is "ready-to-load:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914". When I click "Load", the address becomes "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914" and the tab loads. As it loads in the current session restore feature. Not fresher. With the same use of the cache. And if I had written stuff in the form, the stuff gets restored. :-) And of course, if a restored tab is still in ready-to-load state, because I have not clicked yet on "Load", and quitting — clean or crash — occurs, then, after relaunch, it will get restored in the same state, with its address and history.

Many thanks,

Nicolas

Comment 1

[Roman]

The feature already exists, but there is no UI for it.

It is currently enabled by going to about:config and setting browser.sessionstore.max_concurrent_tabs to 0.

This means the average user is unaware of this very useful option, hence confirming request for visible UI and a rethink of exactly what happens when such a tab is activated.

Comment 2

[Jo Hermans]

This is already implemented in bug 648683, although it's a toggle now (between 0 and 3). browser.sessionstore.max_concurrent_tabs doesn't exists anymore at the moment, but there's some discussion about it.

Comment 3

[Roman]

Hm, indeed - Nicolas, I think this bug can be closed? For the record, at least in Fx 5, any forms you have filled out seem to be restored correctly, just like you requested.

Comment 4

[Nicolas Barbulesco]

The hidden pref browser.sessionstore.max_concurrent_tabs is not documented.
Neither the hidden pref pref browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand.

When does a tab load ? Just when I bring it to the front ?
I prefer more control. In my request, a tab can be to the front and need me to click to load. So, when 100 tabs are restored, I can look for one precisely by going through some of them, without loading them, and, only when I find my wanted tab, I click to load only this one.

Comment 6

[Nicolas Barbulesco]

(In reply to Nicolas Barbulesco from comment #0)

> I use to have many windows with many tabs open. Sometimes, a crash. Or a
> clean quitting. When I re-open the browser, all the pages load. If they load
> cascaded, this is a bit better, but still, 54 tabs with Flash and videos and
> music and ads and stuff load. That bloats the memory. And if I were still a
> poor victim of USB DSL modem connected to Windows PC, that would crash the
> computer — happily, time has changed. Other annoyance : all the music videos
> start at the same time, playing a cacophony. I have to, one by one, pause
> them and put them back at their start. Other annoyance : if the crash
> occurred because of too many pages loaded in memory or because of some
> particular page loaded, then the crash will likely re-occur.

Another annoyance : all the Google searches run at the same time, so Google puts a CAPTCHA in front of me, to be sure that I am not a robot.

Comment 7

[Roman]

Nicholas, is this what you want? http://i.imgur.com/dbrIg.png

It’s been there since Firefox 8.

If not, your best bet is to file a new request, explaining the behaviour you want and why the existing checkbox is not satisfactory.