sole blank tab stays empty, not getting used when pages are opened.
I have FF set up so that it starts with a blank tab page. It somehow has decided that it does not want to use this tab for anything. When I click on a link in an email, a new tab is opened and the page is loaded there but the browser focus stays on the blank tab. I have to manually close it or switch to the just-opened page. Same thing when I open a bookmark folder with several bookmarks. If there are four bookmarks, four new tabs are opened but the focus stays on the blank tab.
What should happen is when the only tab is blank, the email link page should appear in that previously-blank tab and the first of a set of bookmarks should appear in that tab.
There is nothing good to be said about a blank tab page whose only function is to waste my time by making me close it or switch away.
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You can check some prefs on the about:config page that deal with loading bookmarks and with setting focus.
- browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs
- browser.tabs.loadInBackground (normal links)
- browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground (javascript and external links)
- browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground (bookmarks)
- browser.search.context.loadInBackground
See also the settings in "Options/Preferences -> Home".
Thanks. Can you give me some clues what those switches do or point me somewhere where they are documented? Assuming they are binary, there are 32 possible combinations, so a PITA to just go in there and make changes by guesswork.
Maybe first check for issues caused by one of your extensions.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is is causing the problem.
- switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Appearance
- do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window
cor-el, thanks for your guesses but I am hoping to find someone who is familiar with the bug. I want to avoid a lot of dinging around and experimentation if I can.
I take it that you don't know what those five parameters do?
I know what they do, but I'm not sure I fully understand your problem.
browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs determines whether to open a link in the current tab if this is a blank tab (i.e. reuse the current tab) or always open a link in a new tab.
The other prefs are about setting focus to a new tab when you open a link in a new tab or stay in the current tab and do not move the focus.
If browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs is currently true then try to toggle this pref with a double-click on the about:config page.
It is quite possible that an extension is somehow causing this problem and is preventing that first tab from getting used, so try Firefox Safe Mode as a quick test.
The functions you mentioned -- opening a link from an external application, and using Open All in Tabs for a bookmark folder -- do not replace the page in any currently open tab. I can see your point that if the page is blank, why not make an exception? But I'm not aware of any setting for that.
You can submit feature suggestions through one or more of the following links:
- Feedback: https://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/FirefoxInput/
- Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/
- Discourse: https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/firefox-development
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/firefox
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Firefox
Regarding whether the new tab is made the active tab, please see the boolean (true/false, not binary) preferences cor-el mentioned that contain InBack to see whether flipping those gives you the behavior you prefer.
Thanks, @jescher2000. The sad thing is that TabMix Plus has had this function and many other useful functions for years! All the developers would have had to do would be to have implemented functions that were right under their noses.
Really, this rewrite of FF has given me nothing but grief as they casually killed several of my familiar and useful add-ons.