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Firefox bad design decisions?

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  Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-04-30 00:54 -0400
    Re: Firefox bad design decisions? VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-04-30 01:00 -0500
      Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-04-30 02:24 -0400
        Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> - 2025-04-30 07:53 +0100
          Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Nobody <jock@soccer.com> - 2025-04-30 08:18 -0700
          Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-01 02:24 -0400
            Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> - 2025-05-01 09:25 +0200
              Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-01 04:39 -0400
            Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-05-01 12:35 +0100
              Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-01 11:47 -0400
            Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Mark Lloyd <not.email@all.invalid> - 2025-05-01 16:31 +0000
              Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-01 14:48 -0400
                Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Mark Lloyd <not.email@all.invalid> - 2025-05-02 17:26 +0000
                  Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-03 04:38 -0400
                    Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Mark Lloyd <not.email@all.invalid> - 2025-05-03 19:02 +0000
                      Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-04 02:28 -0400
            Re: Firefox bad design decisions? VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-05-01 14:13 -0500
              Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-02 03:26 -0400
                Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-05-02 08:30 +0100
                Re: Firefox bad design decisions? VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-05-02 05:16 -0500
                  Re: Firefox bad design decisions? VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-05-02 05:18 -0500
                    Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-03 04:38 -0400
                      Re: Firefox bad design decisions? VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-05-03 13:05 -0500
                        Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-04 03:46 -0400
                  Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-03 04:38 -0400
        Re: Firefox bad design decisions? VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-04-30 04:45 -0500
        Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> - 2025-04-30 21:11 +1000
    Re: Firefox bad design decisions? T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2025-04-29 23:48 -0700
    Re: Firefox bad design decisions? "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> - 2025-04-30 16:15 +0000
    Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> - 2025-04-30 10:18 -0700
    Re: Firefox bad design decisions? candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> - 2025-04-30 20:00 +0000
      Re: Firefox bad design decisions? "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> - 2025-04-30 21:26 +0000
        Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-01 02:36 -0400
          Re: Firefox bad design decisions? Mark Lloyd <not.email@all.invalid> - 2025-05-01 16:12 +0000
          Re: Firefox bad design decisions? VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-05-01 13:49 -0500
    Re: Firefox “bad” design decisions? Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-05-01 00:04 +0000
      Re: Firefox “bad” design decisions? Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> - 2025-05-01 02:39 -0400
        Re: Firefox “bad” design decisions? Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> - 2025-05-01 09:52 +0200

Page 2 of 2 — ← Prev page 1 [2]

#13267

VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:

> Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote:
> 
>> When you run a search for "ACME widgets", how many hits do you get?
> 
> One at a time.  ...

I *open* one hit at a time, because *I* can only view one at a time.

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#13282

On Fri, 2 May 2025 05:18:18 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

>>> When you run a search for "ACME widgets", how many hits do you get?
>> 
>> One at a time.  ...
> 
> I *open* one hit at a time, because *I* can only view one at a time.

I'm having trouble comprehending how inefficient your process must be
compared to what everyone else likely uses when running searches.

Let's assume we both run a google search & let's assume we both found 20
hits which seem like they'll be useful (the actual number doesn't matter).

So I controlclick on 20 links (so that's 20 clicks) & then I focus, one at
a time, on each tab (so that's another 20 clicks) each of which was
preloaded (so I don't have to wait) & then I decide I only need one tab so
now, with the extension, I right click on the one tab I want to keep to
select "Close Other Tabs."

That's 42 clicks for me.

How many clicks is it for you?

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#13286

Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
<Did not bother to restore the deleted attribution lines.>
> 
>>>> When you run a search for "ACME widgets", how many hits do you get?
>>> 
>>> One at a time.  ...
>> 
>> I *open* one hit at a time, because *I* can only view one at a time.
> 
> I'm having trouble comprehending how inefficient your process must be
> compared to what everyone else likely uses when running searches.

You click on hundreds of links in a search.  How many at a time can
*YOU* view?  Yep, just 1.  All those other tabs you open sit there idle
until you get around to viewing them, but when viewing them then you
aren't simultaneously viewing other tabs.  You have the program open
more docs than you can view.  You end up opening tabs that end up not
pertinent or duplicate other docs you opened.

> Let's assume we both run a google search & let's assume we both found 20
> hits which seem like they'll be useful (the actual number doesn't matter).
> 
> So I controlclick on 20 links (so that's 20 clicks) & then I focus, one at
> a time, on each tab (so that's another 20 clicks) each of which was
> preloaded (so I don't have to wait) & then I decide I only need one tab so
> now, with the extension, I right click on the one tab I want to keep to
> select "Close Other Tabs."

So, your objective is to have the docs preloaded eliminating the time to
load those docs when you choose to select a tab.  That assumes a lot,
like none of the docs intercede with a prompt before they let you see
their web doc, that a doc takes a shorter time for response from the
server than how long for when you visit the tab, that you have gobs of
memory for gobs of tabs to consume with tabs that even you admit turn
out to be unwanted, that you do NOT allow the web browser to "sleep" the
idle tabs since it's going to take you time to read through all the
other tabs, and so on.

Plus, you just said that after preloading those tabs that you eventually
visit them to decide you don't want or need their content, but you leave
them open until you find a tab with the content you want.  Well, you
were already on the tab you decided you didn't want, so why not close
that tab when you were there?  Why wait until later to do cleanup?  Just
middle-click on the tab close it when you found it didn't have what you
want.

Your scenario dictates that only 1 tab is wanted, and you've wasted time
opening tabs you end up deciding later are unwanted.

> That's 42 clicks for me.

Your way:
1. 20 clicks on 20 search hits to open 20 tabs. (*)
     - You consume memory for 19 tabs you discover later you don't want. 
     - For dynamic web pages, you waste CPU cycles on 19 unwanted tabs.
2. 1 click to change focus to one of the new tabs to review its content.
3. Go to step 5 when you find the tab with wanted content.
4. Go to step 2.
5. 1 right-click to get into the wanted tab's context menu.
6. 1 click on Close other tabs.

(*) Presumably you configured Firefox to open new tabs in the 
    background; else, on each search hit click, a new tab gets focus, 
    and you have to click back on the tab with search results.  You'd 
    end up with 40 clicks just for step 1.
    
Click count: 20 for step 1, 1 to 20 for step 2, 1 for step 5, and 1 for
step 6.  
Total: 23 to 42 clicks.

My way:
1. 1 click on a search hit.  
     - New tab opens, and gets focus (**).  No click to get to new tab.
     - 1 new tab consumes less memory than 20 new tabs.
     - For dynamic web pages, 1 tab consumes less CPU cycles than 20.
2. Stop when the new tab has the wanted content.
3. 1 middle-click to close a tab with unwanted content.
4. Go to step 1 to repeat up to 20 times.

(**) I configure Firefox to focus on a newly opened tab.

Click count: (1 click on search hit, 1 middle-click to close tab with
unwanted content) times 1 to 20 times to find wanted content.
Total: 2 to 40 clicks.

My scheme has the potential of far fewer mouse clicks than yours.  My
way is more efficient, consumes less memory, and uses less CPU cycles,
especially for dynamic (scripted) web pages.

If you want to keep doing it your way, investigate how to keep tabs from
going inactive; else, you could incur the wait (to reload) a tab that
you wanted to avoid when pre-loading lots of tabs.  Go into about:config
to set:

browser.tabs.unloadOnLowMemory = false

See: 
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/unload-inactive-tabs-save-system-memory-firefox

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#13302

On Sat, 3 May 2025 13:05:41 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

>> I'm having trouble comprehending how inefficient your process must be
>> compared to what everyone else likely uses when running searches.
> 
> You click on hundreds of links in a search. 

Maybe not hundreds, but if I'm seeking out a complex, interpretive search
result to grasp an understanding of Nagumo's Dilemma, it will take scores.

> How many at a time can *YOU* view?  Yep, just 1.  

Of course. We agree that you can only view one result at any given time. 

> All those other tabs you open sit there idle
> until you get around to viewing them, but when viewing them then you
> aren't simultaneously viewing other tabs.

Doesn't your Firefox browser employ intelligent background preloading?

>   You have the program open more docs than you can view.  

Unless the website itself hinders preloads with lazy-loading strategies, 
doesn't Firefox balance performance and resource usage via preloading?

> You end up opening tabs that end up not pertinent or duplicate other docs you opened.

As I had explained to Mark Lloyd, your searches are perhaps of the more
definitive form such as "How many time zones does China have?" while mine
are more of the form of "What is happening in the world right now?"

>> Let's assume we both run a google search & let's assume we both found 20
>> hits which seem like they'll be useful (the actual number doesn't matter).
>> 
>> So I controlclick on 20 links (so that's 20 clicks) & then I focus, one at
>> a time, on each tab (so that's another 20 clicks) each of which was
>> preloaded (so I don't have to wait) & then I decide I only need one tab so
>> now, with the extension, I right click on the one tab I want to keep to
>> select "Close Other Tabs."
> 
> So, your objective is to have the docs preloaded eliminating the time to
> load those docs when you choose to select a tab.  That assumes a lot,
> like none of the docs intercede with a prompt before they let you see
> their web doc, that a doc takes a shorter time for response from the
> server than how long for when you visit the tab, that you have gobs of
> memory for gobs of tabs to consume with tabs that even you admit turn
> out to be unwanted, that you do NOT allow the web browser to "sleep" the
> idle tabs since it's going to take you time to read through all the
> other tabs, and so on.

While many web sites implement lazy loading (which won't happen in the
background) Firefox has about:config "network.prefetch-next" settings
which load web resources even before you click on the search links.

There's also about:config "network.dns.disablePrefetch" DNS prefetching,
and "browser.urlbar.speculativeConnect.enabled" and even the long-winded
"browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts.prefetch".

I want as much "work" to be done in the background as Firefox possibly can.
If you know of other better ways to improve FF's bg prefetch, let me know.

> Plus, you just said that after preloading those tabs that you eventually
> visit them to decide you don't want or need their content, but you leave
> them open until you find a tab with the content you want.  Well, you
> were already on the tab you decided you didn't want, so why not close
> that tab when you were there?  Why wait until later to do cleanup?  Just
> middle-click on the tab close it when you found it didn't have what you
> want.

I think you're assuming a simple search result such as whether it was
Barber or Lanphier who downed the Betty bomber over Bougainville jungles.

Unlike a simple search such as that above, my search results tend to
contain conflicting accounts due to lack of definitive evidence such as
what Fred Noonan's role was in the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

Essentially, there is a contrast in searches for factual unknowns with
searches whose results are shrouded in uncertainty and subject to ongoing
debate due to missing or ambiguous information. The dichotomy results in
fundamentally different types of search methods - one aiming for a singular
truth, the other navigating a landscape of competing possibilities.
 
> Your scenario dictates that only 1 tab is wanted, and you've wasted time
> opening tabs you end up deciding later are unwanted.

A search to understand the contrast between Yamaguchi's dilemma versus
Nagumo's dilemma requires exploring a complex interplay of historical
facts, strategic considerations, psychological pressures, and subsequent
interpretations to understand the difficult situation they faced and the
choices they made. 

Searches to better understanding pivotal events in history require looking
at search results through multiple lenses, where your searches seem to be
more of a factual nature such as at what precise point in time did Nagumo
and Yamaguchi each make the fateful decision that they eventually made.

Same topic. Same location. Same battle. Same side. Same ships. Same day. 
Yet, a completely different number of tabs are required to understand it.

> 
>> That's 42 clicks for me.
> 
> Your way:
> 1. 20 clicks on 20 search hits to open 20 tabs. (*)

I'm not sure why I need to defend my search topics which necessitates
analyzing events through multiple lenses, moving beyond purely factual
searches for precise timings, so I will stop defending them to you.

You do your searches how you like to do them.
I'll do mine the way I like to do them.

Luckily, this problem was solved a few days ago with suggested extensions.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-other-tabs-menu/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-tabs-right/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-tabs-left/

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#13281

On Fri, 2 May 2025 05:16:50 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

>> When you run a search for "ACME widgets", how many hits do you get?
> 
> One at a time.  Even with you clicking on dozens or hundreds of
> hyperlinks, YOU can only review then one tab at a time.

I didn't expect this thread to go further than the solution provided, but
since this is a Firefox group, it's probably a good idea to count clicks.

It never occurred to me that people would be that inefficient as to go back
and forth, back and forth, back and forth, on & on, the way you must do it.

I apologize for not thinking that there was another way in that if I open a
score of links into pre-fed tabs, not only do I not need to go back and
forth a score of times like you must be doing, but the tabs are preloaded.

Since you're already clicking twenty times more than I am, it's no wonder
you don't mind a few extra clicks to close any given tabs you opened.

Thanks for explaining your use model (which I never would have thought of).

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#13216

Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
> 
>> I've used many programs that add shell extensions to File Explorer, and
>> they add their entries at the root level of the context menu. 
> 
> That's kind of what I'm hoping to find. Something that makes Firefox close
> all but the one tab in less than three steps, given you do it a lot.

I thought about a keyboard shortcut that would close all other tabs
except the current one in focus.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts-perform-firefox-tasks-quickly#w_windows-tabs

Nope, didn't see that choice.  It would be handy to have a key shortcut
to quickly close all other tabs except the one in focus.  I did find and
add-on that might do what you want:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-all-tabs-webextension/

which has the option:

  Close all tabs except the current tab.

It adds a toolbar button, so just 1 click to close all other tabs.  I
didn't bother to hunt around for any other add-ons to add the behavior
you want.  If you don't like that one, hunt through the tab add-ons for
Firefox to see if some have the "close all other tabs" feature.

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#13217

Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote:
> Something that makes Firefox close all but the one tab
> in less than three steps, given you do it a lot.

I've never done it. I want to be sure what tabs I'm closing by
doing it manually.

You can left-click and drag the tab down to the page-view area to
move it to a new window, then just close the old window with the
other tabs. Perhaps that's easier?

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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#13213

On 4/29/25 9:54 PM, Wolf Greenblatt wrote:
> What is wrong with Firefox developers always making bad design decisions?
> 
> Firefox:
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close multiple tabs
> (3) Left click on close other tabs

That is what I am seeing:
     https://imgur.com/S5DwiAz.png
And I like it.

Are you complaining about one extra click?

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#13221

This is not crossposted off topic to the Windows 11 newsgroup. Please
participate in the Firefox newsgroup.

Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote:

>What is wrong with Firefox developers always making bad design decisions?

>Firefox: 
>(1) Right click on any tab
>(2) Left click on close multiple tabs
>(3) Left click on close other tabs

The command you want to use was moved from the context menu to this
submenu many versions back. Yes, it's annoying.

This unmonitored extension restores it to the context menu but it
doesn't underline a letter to activate the command with the keyboard.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-other-tabs-menu/

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#13223

On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:54:37 -0400, Wolf Greenblatt wrote:
> What is wrong with Firefox developers always making bad design decisions?
> 

This is a Firefox issue, and you quite rightly posted it to the 
Firefox newsgroup. But why would you spoil your good work by 
crossposting it to the Windows 11 newsgroup?

(inappropriate crossposting removed)

-- 
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA         https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

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#13229

Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote at 04:54 this Wednesday (GMT):
> What is wrong with Firefox developers always making bad design decisions?
>
> Firefox: 
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close multiple tabs
> (3) Left click on close other tabs
>
> A user-friendly efficient browser: {Pale Moon}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> A user-friendly efficient browser: {SRWare Iron}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> A user-friendly efficient browser: {Sea Monkey}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Ice Dragon}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Epic}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Opera}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Chromium}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Brave}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Ice Weasel}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Iridium}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Vivaldi}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Another user-friendly efficient browser: {Microsoft Edge}
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close other tabs
>
> Is there any way to get Firefox to be more user friendly?


You can hover over "close multiple tabs" for a second to have it open
automatically.
-- 
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

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#13232

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:
>Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote at 04:54 this Wednesday (GMT):

>>What is wrong with Firefox developers always making bad design decisions?

>>Firefox: 
>>(1) Right click on any tab
>>(2) Left click on close multiple tabs
>>(3) Left click on close other tabs

>You can hover over "close multiple tabs" for a second to have it open
>automatically.

He's right! Hover over it or click on it, it's still another step!

This intermediate step was added many versions ago. Mozilla said it was
reacting to users who inadvertently clicked on the wrong command on that
context menu.

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#13240

On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 21:26:38 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman wrote:

>>You can hover over "close multiple tabs" for a second to have it open
>>automatically.
> 
> He's right! Hover over it or click on it, it's still another step!
> 
> This intermediate step was added many versions ago. Mozilla said it was
> reacting to users who inadvertently clicked on the wrong command on that
> context menu.

Hovering is even more obnoxious than clicking, so you're right.

I suspect Firefox developers don't actually use it in daily use since it's
something you do a hundred times a day & every other browser does it right.

Two people suggested these extensions to fix this bad-design problem.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-all-tabs-webextension/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-other-tabs-menu/

The first doesn't do what is wanted which is to close all but the one tab.
The second does what's wanted, which is to close all but the current tab.
 https://github.com/constructor-s/close-other-tabs
 The "Close Other Tabs" was removed from the regular location 
 and put in a submenu in Firefox version 78. This extension re-adds
 that menu item back to a more convenient location. 
 See also other siblings of this extension:
 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-tabs-right/
 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-tabs-left/

It's perfect. It puts at the bottom of the rightclick on a tab menu
 "Close Other Tabs"

To see what they do, I tried the other two extensions (right & left).
 "Close Tabs to the Left"
 "Close Tabs to the Right"

Now Firefox is back to being useful again. 
Thanks for the expert help and advice.

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#13250

On Thu, 1 May 2025 02:36:47 -0400, Wolf Greenblatt wrote:

[snip]

> Hovering is even more obnoxious than clicking, so you're right.

and its WORSE when you can't do it. The lack of hover is one of the big 
deficiencies of smartphones. When the only way to find out what a button 
does is press it (and hope there's a way to back out when you find its the 
wrong thing).

[snip]

-- 
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"I am not a number. I am a free man." -- No. 6

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#13254

Wolf Greenblatt <wolf@greenblatt.net> wrote:

> Two people suggested these extensions to fix this bad-design problem.
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-all-tabs-webextension/
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-other-tabs-menu/
> 
> The first doesn't do what is wanted which is to close all but the one
> tab.

Yes, it DOES.  Read the add-on page.  *Read* what actions from which you
can use.  See the one labelled "Close all tabs except the current tab"?

It does not flatten the menu to move Close Other Tabs back one level.
You are complaining 1 extra mouse click, but to get there had you click
to show the menu, click to select the Close Multiple Tabs, and click to
select Close Other Tabs.  That's 3 clicks total.  With the other web
browsers: 1 click to get into menu, another click to Close Other Tabs,
so 2 clicks total.  With the add-on: 1 click on the toolbar button.  

When you multiply by the hundreds of times per day you say you need to
close other tabs, you've reduced from 300 clicks in Firefox, or 200
clicks in other web browsers, to 100 clicks with the Firefox add-on.
So, now Firefox with the add-on is even more easy than those other web
browsers.  3 times easier than Firefox, and twice easier than those
other web browsers.

You want to reduce all the clicking to close other tabs, but you want to
click twice more than what this add-on gives you.  You're arguing that
you want less clicks than 3, but more clicks than the minimum of 1.  You
want 2 clicks.  Instead of 100 clicks per day, you want 200 per day.

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#13235 — Re: Firefox “bad” design decisions?

On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:54:37 -0400, Wolf Greenblatt wrote:

> Firefox:
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) Left click on close multiple tabs
> (3) Left click on close other tabs

Or how about

(1) Right click on any tab
(2) mouse over “Close Multiple Tabs”, to get to
(3) Left click on “Close other tabs”.

That’s just 2 clicks, same as any other browser. Or even 1 click, if you 
hold the button down in step (1) and don’t release it until step (3).

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#13241 — Re: Firefox “bad” design decisions?

On Thu, 1 May 2025 00:04:21 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:54:37 -0400, Wolf Greenblatt wrote:
> 
>> Firefox:
>> (1) Right click on any tab
>> (2) Left click on close multiple tabs
>> (3) Left click on close other tabs
> 
> Or how about
> 
> (1) Right click on any tab
> (2) mouse over "Close Multiple Tabs", to get to
> (3) Left click on "Close other tabs".
> 
> That's just 2 clicks, same as any other browser. Or even 1 click, if you 
> hold the button down in step (1) and don't release it until step (3).

Hovering is even more annoying than a simple solid click would be.

I suspect Firefox developers don't actually use FF in daily use since it's
something you do a hundred times a day & every other browser does it right.

Two people on the FF newsgroup suggested these extensions to fix it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-all-tabs-webextension/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-other-tabs-menu/

The first doesn't do what is wanted which is to close all but the one tab.
The second does what's wanted, which is to close all but the current tab.
 https://github.com/constructor-s/close-other-tabs
 The "Close Other Tabs" was removed from the regular location 
 and put in a submenu in Firefox version 78. This extension re-adds
 that menu item back to a more convenient location. 
 See also other siblings of this extension:
 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-tabs-right/
 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/close-tabs-left/

It's perfect. It puts at the bottom of the rightclick on a tab menu
 "Close Other Tabs"

To see what they do, I tried the other two extensions (right & left).
 "Close Tabs to the Left"
 "Close Tabs to the Right"

Now Firefox is back to being useful again. 
Thanks for the expert help and advice."

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#13243 — Re: Firefox “bad” design decisions?

On 01.05.2025 08:39, Wolf Greenblatt wrote:

>>> Firefox:
>>> (1) Right click on any tab
>>> (2) Left click on close multiple tabs
>>> (3) Left click on close other tabs

> I suspect Firefox developers don't actually use FF in daily use since it's
> something you do a hundred times a day & every other browser does it right.

I use Firefox since the days it was called "Netscape 2.0", but I never
wanted to close all tabs with exception of the active one. But it is
important that closing the current tab is simple and fast. Therefore
I use mouse button 4 to close the current tab. No need to move the
mouse pointer, wherever it is, just press button 4 and the tab is closed.
I also use button 5 (instead of the middle mouse button) to open a
link in a new tab and make the new tab the active tab. This way,
with only the thumb, you can open a link in a new tab, do some reading
(scroll with the mouse wheel) and close it. Because the mouse wasn't
moved, you are then back in the original tab with the same mouse pointer
position as before.


> Now Firefox is back to being useful again.
> Thanks for the expert help and advice."

You can't please everyone, everyone has different preferences.

But I like the new way to zoom in Firefox. <CTRL>-mouse_wheel
changes the DPI and therefore font size, but requires a new
rendering of the page which results in a different layout.
I now additional use <ALT>-mouse_wheel to zoom-in like you do
it on a smartphone. A click on the 100% button resets both zooms.

This can be done by opening about:config and changing
"mousewheel.with_alt.action" from 2 to 5.


Valid values:
0: Nothing happens
1: Scrolling contents
2: Go back or go forward, in your history
3: Zoom in or out (reflowing zoom).
4: Treat vertical wheel as horizontal scroll
5: Zoom in or out (pinch zoom).

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