23Oct 09

Fixing Firefox 3.6's tab blunder

Posted by Chris Duckett @ 16:10 11 comments

I've been playing around with a beta build of Firefox's 3.6 browser for some time, and while it's been completely stable, its new tab behaviour has annoyed me.

When opening a link in a new tab, by default the tab will appear next to or near the tab in which the link was selected. Think Internet Explorer or Chrome tab behaviour.

Since IE, Chrome and now Firefox do this, it'll probably become de facto for browsers, but if you wish to remain a new-tab Luddite like me and restore Firefox's previous tab behaviour (where all new tabs appear on the far right of the tab bar), follow the following steps:

Type into the address bar about:config and hit enter.

The about:config page should look something like this.
Once there, enter into the filter browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent
When you see the browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent entry, double click on it to toggle the entry from true to false.

And you're done. Enjoy your new browser experience of knowing where to find the tabs you opened.

Talkback 11 comments

New tabs Anonymous -- 24/10/09

Sounds like you are whinging for the sake of whinging.

You can make it do what you want it to... mike smith -- 26/10/09 (in reply to #320389518)

So what, exactly, is the problem?

Pot, meet kettle! Chris Sherlock -- 28/10/09 (in reply to #320389518)

I think it's a bit rich that this commentator says that he's whinging. Especially given he's merely expressing a personal preference - and not only that he's given a solution to the issue!

A case of the pot calling the kettle black methinks.

New tabs should be on the far right Anonymous -- 24/10/09

Not that I've used Firefox 3.6 but I agree that new tabs should be on the far right. They should be interspersed with existing tabs.

TabKit Anonymous -- 26/10/09

Stop whining like a spoiled child and install the TabKit addon.
It actually makes tabs useful (compared to any browser's default tab behavior anyway) and much better uses the real estate of the widescreen monitors everyone now has.

He's not whining? Anonymous -- 28/10/09 (in reply to #320389628)

He's not actually whining... perhaps it might be good to read the article as he gives a solution to something that he doesn't have a preference for.

And on the plus side of things, he doesn't have to install addon.

What whinging? Anonymous -- 26/10/09

Chris, like a lot of us have a pet hate for tabs opening up right next to the tab you're in.

I set my first few tabs out the same way each time, email, google wave, twitter and facebook...the rest can be whatever. This happens in chrome (which I use) and I am forever moving tabs around.

But for firefox users Chris has had his beef and also found a solution so why pick on the author?

CTRL+TAB darrel b -- 27/10/09

One feature i'd really like with using the shortuct "ctrl+tab" in firefox (and chrome/ie) is the ability to toggle between 2 tabs like opera does. So many times I need to copy/paste from one tab to another, or simply reference another tab, and will need to manually cycle through to each tab or manually click :)

<ctrl>+<shift>+<tab> Anonymous -- 29/10/09 (in reply to #320389785)

<ctrl>+<tab> cycles forward one tab
<ctrl>+<shift>+<tab> cycles backward one tab

<ctrl>+<1,2,3,4...> Chris -- 02/11/09 (in reply to #320389785)

you can hit ctrl and the tab number to get to the tabs you need.

eg: if you want to copy and paste from tab 2 to tab 4, hit ctrl+2, then ctrl+4

The word "blunder" is the issue Anonymous -- 29/10/09

Just because the author has personal preference for tabs open on the far right it doesn't make Firefox's decision to open them elsewhere a blunder. It is pure sensationalism and detracts from an otherwise good article.

Chris Duckett

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Null Pointer by Chris Duckett

Fixing Firefox 3.6's tab blunder