Use Left Click to Open New Tab

Hopefully someone can help me change a setting in Firefox...
I want to be able to use left click instead of ctrl + left click to open a tab.

Specifically I want to reverse the usage so that left click opens a new tab and when I ctrl + left click I want it to open a link in the existing window. Finally, I want new windows (not referring to tabs) to always open in the background, rather than the foreground as they are now.

I have installed Tabbrowser Preferences 1.2.2 but I was unable to find Tabbrowser Extensions 1.12. I also went through "about: config" (limiting my search to "tab ") and didn't see anything relevant to this. Can it be done? And if so, how?

Thanks
Steve

 

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the BBS, and to the forum!

Tabbrowser Extensions can be found here, but I'm not sure that even TBE can do exactly what you want. It offers many different configurations, though, and I'd suggest looking in the "Gestures" section first.

The best way I've found to install it is to right-click on TBE's download link and save it to your hard drive. Close Firefox, double-click on the saved .xpi file, and select FF as the program you wish to install TBE with. FF should open and install the program. You'll have to close FF and reopen it but, when you do, you should have a Tab menu between Bookmarks and Tools ... at the very bottom is Tabbrowser Extensions Preferences...

You can also access it from Tools > Extensions > Tabbrowser Extensions > Options.

HTH.

 

Thank you very much. After installing, yes it has the option I want! It successfully does what I want it to... most of the time. Very strange... sometimes it loads a new tab by only left clicking (and the opposite for ctrl + click). However sometimes it loads as per Firefox defaults. BTW: yes, I'm testing it out on links I know what they do normally.

I was very leery of installing it after reading the disadvantages, but I really really wanted to switch click and ctrl + click. I like a lot of it's functions even though most of the good ones are available elsewhere.

Two things I don't like about it is that (as warned) there is a noticeable slowdown in loading pages. By the bandwidth tester extension it is a 17.6% bandwidth slowdown over what I was getting before installing it. Not a minor reduction in speed. The other thing is that it highlights each tab in its own colour. I can see why someone would like that, but I find it fairly ugly.

If I could trust it to switch click and ctrl + click all the time, I would be willing to live with the disadvantages, or if it did that only some of the time and didn't have the disadvantages, I would also keep it. But sadly I just can't keep TBE as it is now.

But at I know now it *is* at least possible. Given that Firefox popularity is soaring it is only a matter of time before someone comes up with extension(s) that do exactly what I want. So if anyone finds a way of doing this, please email me fupdh6ds02 (at) sneakemail.com

Steve

 

Welcome to the Forum, tab_addict!

tab_addict,

I too am addicted to the tabbed browsing feature of Firefox, and all the other Gecko browsers as well! I'm glad that you did take note of the warning on the Tab Browser Extension page:

It is also highly recommended that you do not run this extension with Tabbrowser Preferences, as it usually breaks one or the other, or sometimes both.

You are correct, however, in assuming that it won't be long before one of the mighty Mozilla Firefox developers will come up with an extension that does exactly what you wish to accomplish in tabbed browsing.

Happy Tabbing!

Ramona

 

Hi Steve,

Hmmm, that doesn't happen on my system, and never has. If it did, I think I'd find it ugly, too.

Because I use the Windows Classic display, I switched to the Windows XP (Luna) display to check. The only difference I saw was that the active tab had an orange border along the top edge, giving it a three dimensional appearance.

The only way I'm able to get TBE to color the tabs is to select Tab > Edit Context Menu... and check Change Tab Color.... Then, I have to do it manually ... there's nothing automatic about it.

Despite all the warnings about TBE, I have never had a problem with it, and have no reason to believe that it has compromised my use of Firefox in any way. I try to keep the number of extensions I use to a minimum, but TBE is the one extension I won't be without.