Monday, November 07, 2005

Firefox and tabs

When I tell you to open new indows in a new tab, I don't mean open a new browswer with a single tab in it. I mean open a new tab in the current browser. that's what tabbed browsing is. Opening a new window destroys the entire purpose of tabs.

And no mouse gestures. I hate this browser.

7 Comments:

At 4:18 p.m., Blogger -Matt said...

Clearly, you haven't configured it properly. Middle click on a link and it opens into a new tab. Or download the "TabBrowser Preferences" extension.

Mouse gestures are retarded. They're for people who don't buy a good mouse. One with back and forward buttons.

Mmmm... back & forward buttons.

 
At 7:04 p.m., Blogger Scotty said...

I have the back and forward buttons and they piss me off. I always hit one when I don't want to and it messes everything up. It's impossible to accidently make a mouse gesture.

As for tabs, I expect it to do something that makes sense. Tabbed browser == new window opens in a tab. Who thinks to middle click on a link to open it in a tab? Communists, that's who.

And don't get me started on extensions. Why should I have to go through a lot of extra trouble to find, download, and install things just to make the browser work like it should right out of the box?

Answer that, o paragon of all browsers.

 
At 8:43 p.m., Blogger kgray said...

Hey Scott...you leave the middle-click alone. It never hurt anyone!

I have to agree with Kirkey, the middle-click is a god-send. I recently started a new job and they use firefox, but the default browser didn't have the middle-click setup right, so I felt lost.

Also, perhaps I've been living under a rock, but what are mouse gestures?

kg

 
At 2:56 a.m., Blogger Scotty said...

It's basically a shortcut that you do by moving the mouse. I don't know how the firefox extension does it, but with Opera you hold the right mouse button down and move the mouse, and the way you move it performs and action.

For example, holding the button and moving it left goes back, moving down opens a blank tab, and moving down then right (like an L) closes the current tab. It's a bit awkward at first, but you fall into the habit of using them in no time. Or at least I did.

and I'm not saying the middle click is a bad thing, it just doesn't make sense to me.

 
At 12:13 p.m., Blogger -Matt said...

It's all about efficiency. It's way more efficient to middle click than to hold a button and draw a cock with your mouse, or what have you.

 
At 1:27 p.m., Blogger Scotty said...

You don't use the mouse gesture to open a link in a tab, you click on it. If the link is set to open in a new window, it'll open in a new tab.

Firefox is apparently incapabale of doing that. It behaves in ways that are mysterious and scary to me, and it makes want to never use the browser again.

I'm looking at it from the viewpoint of an average user, the type who expects their software to work properly with a minimum of effort. Firefox didn't provide that, and Opera does. I had to change one option to get the new tab thing working the way I expected it to. Compare that to the 15 minutes I spent trying to decypher the Firefox options and still being unable to set the way I wanted and tell me which browser is easier to use.

You've never actually used Opera, have you?

 
At 5:00 a.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Firefox 1.0.x is a pain for tabs. I remember that much. If you're willing to try in-beta software, grab Firefox 1.5 RC2 and go Edit --> Preferences --> Tabs.

Everything you need should be right there.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home