Firefox and New Tabs

June 9, 2005 7:25 AM

I have my preferences set to open links in a new window, but this should only apply to external links right? When I click [!] on a post, the flag form appears in the same tab (using Firefox obviously, on Windows), but when I hit the "Flag this post" button on the form, the result (including the redirect back to the thread) opens a new tab. I've noticed other situations too where internal metafilter links open in a new tab. Minor, but an annoyance of note.
posted by If I Had An Anus to Bugs at 7:25 AM (9 comments total)

It also happens when you make the final click adding someone as a contact. That opens a new window for me, and leaves the original window unchanged.
posted by OmieWise at 7:35 AM on June 9, 2005

So maybe it's just form submissions, not anchor tags.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 7:38 AM on June 9, 2005

Both of those things happen to me as well. I hadn't considered it being related to my preferences. But I also have "open links in new window" selected. Do people without that preference have the same results?
posted by raedyn at 10:56 AM on June 9, 2005

If you have open in a new window in your prefs, that means everything on the site opens in a new window, but I have to remember that all internal links open in the same windows. I frequently forget to tell forms to target the same window.

I'm kind of getting to the point where I'd much rather do away with the link preference, instead letting people control their browser to get the behavior they want (hold down shift while clicking to get a new window, control click for a tab, etc).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:04 PM on June 9, 2005

In my humble opinion, the link preferences are dumb. Doing away with them means you'll never have to hear people ask for a new-tab link preference either one more time.
posted by grouse at 2:52 PM on June 9, 2005

matt-I think that's a great idea, especially with the prevalence of tabbed browsing. I frequently circumvent my link preference to get the link to open in a tab instead.
posted by OmieWise at 5:22 PM on June 9, 2005

D'oh! But it's almost perfect. (Generally I use the middle button to open links in a new tab, but) MetaFilter is nice that I don't even need to bother with that. If it's part of the redesign to remove the preference, so be it...but please don't take it away just becuase I whined a little.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:52 PM on June 9, 2005

Well, on second thought, I'm not sure what my browsing preference should have to do with how MetaFilter works. It was a moment of over-exuberance when I posted. That's all. Over-exuberance.
posted by OmieWise at 6:12 AM on June 10, 2005

I agree.
posted by gramschmidt at 12:40 PM on June 27, 2005