Switching to new tabs
Please, please, for the love of Odin, can someone PLEASE help me... Asking here, is my absolute last resort. Usually, I work at finding solutions to my own problems when it comes to computer stuff like this, as it helps me to learn; but here, I'm pretty well stumped... I want to set up my Firefox Android browser to switch AUTOMATICALLY to new tabs that I have just opened from the Open link in a new tab option, found within the long-press context menu. Currently, when I select that option, the new tab opens in the background, and I get the standard New tab opened - Switch infobox/button... What I actually want however, is for Firefox to automatically switch to the newly opned tab, rather than me having to hit the Switch button before it times out, or press the tabs button on the top-right, and then select the new tab, from the tab view window.
There are few add-ons for Firefox Android in any case, and one that achieves my aim is just not there. There is also, rather irritatingly, no option to do this in Firefox-Android's settings menu... I've searched online for info that relates to any solution that can be achieved through about:config options, but I just kind find an option to do this... browser.tabs.loadInBackground seemed to be the one I needed, if set to False but my version of FF Android, doesn't have that option available.
I'm using the current version of Firefox nightly (because the standard FF Android, doesn't let you access about:config)
Can someone please help me?
Athraithe ag Nils ar
All Replies (4)
Hi
It looks like this has already been filed as a feature request for our developers to look into. You can follow progress and add comments at:
Hi Seburo,
Thanks for your reply... Often, text messages like this, don't convey genuine sincerity very well, so when I say, I genuinely do appreciate your response, please be assured that I actually do mean it.
I'm really not trying to be rude to you here, but putting in a feature request for this option, really is a wish too far... This is the sort of feature that is genuinely a no-brainer. This is a simple option that would make a basic function of tabbed browsing, a one-click step, rather than the multi-click pain in the butt that it currently is... If the devs need this sort of obvious feature pointing out to them, then why are they even in the development team in the first place... This is even more of a stark observation, when I point out to people who may not be aware of it, but this WAS a feature in Firefox, and was removed from the Android version... only the devs involved themselves, know what their thought processes were on that particular spark of developmental genius.
I've been using FF for decades... I was using FF back when 99% of people didn't know there even was an alternative to IE, let alone what it was called or how to install it. .. back then, most people really did believe the big blue "e" was just the button for the Internet... The desktop version of Firefox is still my browser of choice, but the devs of FF-Android are making it increasingly difficult for even a die-hard fanboy to stay loyal.
For some reason the development team working in the Android section of the office, seem to have got it into their heads, that stripping basic, but essential, features from the application, is what constitutes "development" or improvements to it. Making something idiot-proof, is also not the same as making something only fit for idiots... And by "idiots" I don't mean the differently abled, I mean people who are technophobes or are I.T. neophytes etc... I can only presume that the development team for mobile platforms, think they need to make Firefox for Android more "fit-for-dummies." I can only go on to presume further, that this is because THEY think, or believe, that mobile device users are generally far less savvy than desktop or laptop users.
Making an application smaller and less complex, does not equal making it less functional and/or less feature rich... Proper devs know that real development is about making smaller and less complex apps without removing functionality, features, and usability!
/rant
Look, is there anybody out there, please, who can answer my original question... Is there a way of configuring FF Nightly on Android (probably in about:config) to automatically switch to a newly opened tab from the long-press/right-click menus Open link in a new tab option?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer, and I'm also sorry about the rant... If, like me, you've been using Firefox since the very early days, you'll likely be able to feel me better than some... But either way, I'm sorry for the lecture... it's out of love, not derision, I promise.
I fully understand.
That link is to an existing open issue, not to something to raise a feature request.
The people who answer questions here, for the most part, are other users volunteering their time (like me), not Mozilla employees or Firefox developers. If you want to leave feedback for Firefox developers, you can go to the this link. Your feedback gets collected by a team of people who read it and gather data about the most common issues.
@Nils
I wrote an addon to do this, back in the days of Fennec https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/android_new_tabs_in_foreground/
Since you're using Nightly you can use it, though it involves jumping through some hoops: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/
There are also some glitches and gotchas in the procedure, some of which have been discussed here: https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/add-on-support-in-new-firefox-for-android/53488/
(The addon doesn't always work in recent nightlies for some reason, though it mostly does. Which is why I found this question. I suspect a timing issue.)