Super Drag And Don't Go?

December 10, 2008 8:08 AM

In Firefox, I use an addon called Super Drag And Go to change whether or not a link opens in a new tab or a background tab. I want to have this same functionality in Thunderbird.

I want to be able to control, on a link by link basis, whether a new tab is opened, thereby bringing the Firefox window to the front, or a background tab is opened, which leaves the Thunderbird window in the forefront.

I've found this method of altering Firefox so that all new tabs are opened in the background, but that's not what I want. I want to be able to choose, link by link, which type of tab is used, the same was as I can with Super Drag And Go.

I'm not concerned about how I get this functionality (click+drag, right click + "open in background tab", etc), more that I am able to choose on a case by case basis.

I've tried Googling, but addons.mozilla.org seems to assume that Firefox addons will work in Thunderbird, but this isn't the case.

Is there an addon/tweak that will let me do this? And if so, where?

posted by Solomon to Computers & Internet (1 answer total)

Best answer: As far as I know the rendering engine in Thunderbird is the same as in Firefox but doesn't implement the same options. I use a custom "Mail Start" page, a BBC newsfeed from my server. While Thunderbird happily displays the page when starting up, I can't make Thunderbird do anything with it except send links to Firefox. Right-clicking anywhere doesn't give me the same options as it would in Firefox. The engine is there, but the framework isn't. Even in the TB3 betas, Firefox-ish actions like alt-Home don't do anything - no quick return to Mail Start page, no ctrl-click to open message in a new tab, nothing. I don't know why the functionality isn't there. Seems like it should be. I think that unless the program has these actions there, you can't send commands to Firefox from Thunderbird except "open this link". The inability to specify "open this link in this way" is either a limitation of Thunderbird, or more likely a security issue.
posted by caution live frogs at 1:01 PM on December 10, 2008