938517 - Ctrl-click to open link in new tab sometimes fails

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Core :: DOM: UI Events & Focus Handling, defect)

Description

[abcdzywx]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; WOW64; rv:25.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/25.0 (Beta/Release)
Build ID: 20131025151332

Steps to reproduce:

Hold the "Ctrl" key while clicking on a hyperlink in order to open it in a new tab.

Occurred since at least Firefox 24, but continuing in version 25.


Actual results:

The hyperlink is erroneously opened in the same tab instead of in a new one.

After the initial failure, the issue is non-repeatable and subsequent Ctrl-clicked links appear to open new tabs; it takes some time and/or state changes, perhaps requiring at least a browser restart, for the error to recur.  Simply immediately restarting Firefox does not seem sufficient to reproduce the error.  (There may be a complex root cause.)


Expected results:

The behavior of using a modifier key should always be consistent.  Control-clicking on a hyperlink should always open it in a new tab.

Comment 1

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (relman/hg->git project)]

Can you replicate this with Firefox in Safe mode?  I gave it a try and wasn't able to reproduce the error. 

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode

Thanks!

Comment 2

[abcdzywx]

I'm not sure if it's related to the use of the touchpad and whether it matters if one CTRL-tap-clicks as opposed to other ways of clicking using the touchpad.  I wasn't able to replicate it in Safe Mode right away, but because it's a stochastic issue, I'll try to see if this is possible sometime.

Comment 3

[abcdzywx]

Just wanted to update with an observation: it seems that this issue occurs consistently and repeatably, without going away, on http://www.fandango.com.  The links are in fact openable in new tabs/windows, but for some reason, control-clicking and control-tapping on the links causes them to open in the same tab instead of a new one.  In addition, shift-clicking and shift-tapping on these links isn't opening a new window either.  The only way I'm able to open a link in a new tab/window is using the right-click context menu.  In contrast, on most sites, the issue with control-clicking/control-tapping seems to be stochastic and transitory.  I'm not sure why fandango.com is different and whether this is the same bug, or if there may be other specific websites out there that display the issue as consistently as fandango.com does.

Comment 4

[Christopher King]

I have had this problem, too.  I hold down control and click the link by tapping on the touchpad, then immediately release the control key, and the link opens in the current tab.  If I click using the button on the touchpad, or wait to release the control key, the link opens in a new tab.  In my case, I think it has to do with the response of the touchpad, rather than Firefox.

Comment 5

[Alec Benson]

Attachment: liasiokeco19728132.txt

Thanks from aboptuse1978.