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Firefox context menu switcharoo

Posted March 23, 2011 at 3:57 a.m.

Awesome, Firefox 4 is out! But please to god explain how things like this get past quality control. Firefox 3.6 is first, then Firefox 4.0:

Firefox 3.6 open in tab Firefox 4.0 open in tab

I don't know about you, but I have muscle memory, and I have opened at least 10 links in windows today instead of tabs because of this change. And yes, I would normally just middle-click but this is on a laptop touchpad with no middle button, so I have always gone to the menu.

I should probably file a bug for this (edit: bug filed), but who knows if it is a big enough deal for anyone to care about...

personal

Comments (16)

Greg on March 23, 2011 at 4:24 a.m.:

Its been "fixed" already. Its a duplicate of https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug... :)

Dan McGee on March 23, 2011 at 4:32 a.m.:

Wow, what a joke! The original bug, and mine just got closed as a dupe anyway, and linked to where the good comments start:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug...

"Reorder menus to promote tabs more" - I've rarely seen a stupider reason to change something like this.

u2ix on March 23, 2011 at 4:52 a.m.:

On laptop use Ctrl & Click, same effect as middle-click

sebastian on March 23, 2011 at 5:13 a.m.:

i think it is cu thats how it looks in chrome?

yoshi314 on March 23, 2011 at 5:40 a.m.:

i welcomed this change once i noticed it.

it was frustrating how many times i accidentally opened a new window instead of new tab before.

i bet many people using test pilot addon on ff4 betas felt the same way.

Mineo on March 23, 2011 at 6:14 a.m.:

Clicking both of your laptops buttons when your cursor is over a link will do a middle-click.

Pascal Lemazurier on March 23, 2011 at 6:43 a.m.:

This evolution isn't a bug, the behavior to use web navigators has radically changed, now there are no more windows, but some tabs, with new navigation and search systems...

And if you want to middle click with a notebook and his touchpad, you can simply configure this touchpad for middle click when the left and the right buttons are clicked, it works very well too... ;)

NB : For the new Firefox 4 final release, the most notable features are the speed, performance and compatibility enhancements, and the new presentation...

bohoomil on March 23, 2011 at 7:05 a.m.:

After 2k attempts, I kicked the thing (Open in New Window) out the field, and added the following to my userChrome.css:

#context-openlink {display: none !important;}

If I need a new window, I can always detach a tab. This happens seldom, though.

Xentac on March 23, 2011 at 10:41 a.m.:

I middle click to open in new tab. Less context menus in general.

karlzt on March 23, 2011 at 11:03 a.m.:

that's not a bug, actually they should have changed that long time ago.

BTW. I just closed this tab and when I went to (history- recently closed tabs) this webpage didn't appear, that's a real bug!

Kevin on March 23, 2011 at 11:45 a.m.:

Menu Editor to the rescue!

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fire...

Jay on March 23, 2011 at 12:20 p.m.:

It probably has been reordered because most people use open in new tab than in new windows. first things first. Sure, as oldtimer you have to get used to it, but you will.
First I noticed this in rekonq, and after a few days trial and error i loved it.

Christian on March 23, 2011 at 1:01 p.m.:

Hey, its only a minor menu reorder. Sure, you will used to it in a few days.
Avoid looking like an old man complaining about changes. ;-)

Truyen nguoi lon on March 23, 2011 at 8:51 p.m.:

Well, when i come back from chrome, i always mis-clicked "Open new window" instead of new tab. Glad that Firefox 4 made the change.

Peter on March 23, 2011 at 9:15 p.m.:

It's simply a matter of opinion. As a Firefox user from the beginning (and the Mozilla Suite from 0.9), it was very easy for me to adjust to the change, and I indeed prefer it the new way as I open links in new tabs a *lot* more frequently than I open links in new windows.

If you open in new windows more frequently than tabs, I can see how it would annoy you, but really, who does these days? Muscle memory can be retrained in a matter of a few days.

Harsh on March 24, 2011 at 11:22 p.m.:

I have muscle memory as well, like all others, and I absolutely hate such changes.

This is why I've tuned myself to use the middle-click (http://www.harshj.com/2011/02/17/the-...) instead, to open up tabs. The context menu process is now a history to my muscles.

Firefox context menu switcharoo

Posted March 23, 2011 at 3:57 a.m.

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