The Consequences of Firefox 2.0 Features and Default Tabs Settings

The Consequences of Firefox 2.0 Features and Default Tabs Settings:

... in previous builds of Firefox, you had the following choices for opening links:

1. Open links from other applications in a new window
2. Open links from other applications in a new tab in the most recent window
3. Open links from other applications in the most recent tab/window
4. Force links that open new windows to open in the same tab/window as the link
5. Force links that open new windows to open in a new tab

In Firefox 2, this all-encompassing list of five different choices has been squeezed down to just two:

1. New pages should be opened in a new window
2. New pages should be opened in a new tab

The problem here is that the type of user who will change these settings [Preferences/Tabs] (power users), let alone those who actually know they exist, will want the larger list of choices from the previous versions of Firefox. Firefox 2 simply doesn't accommodate these power users - ironically, the people giving Firefox the most support.

To add to the confusion for power users, there's another setting for "When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately." Leaving this unchecked, as it is by default, means that when a user intentionally opens a link in another tab, the current Web page will not be affected in any way and will still be in the forefront. But when the other setting for "New pages should be opened in a new tab" is selected, the opposite happens. With this configuration, links intentionally opened in a "new tab" are still done so in the background. Click on a "new window" link, however, and the new tab is opened in the foreground!

If you're a Website designer and want to prevent this from happening to your "new window" links, you'll have to replace your code with javascript links that pass the window features parameter to the window.open method:

Link

or

Link