December 28, 2004

9:55 AM

When I open a new window in Firefox, it opens to my home page. In Explorer, new windows opened to the same URL as the existing open window, which I much prefer. How can I change my settings so that Firefox will do the same and I'm not forced to trudge back to Explorer?
posted by foxy_hedgehog to (16 comments total)

Dunno. There might be an extension that does it. I'd ask on #firefox on irc.mozilla.net; they know everything there. Let us know if you find out--I'm curious.

I'm not forced to trudge back to Explorer...

Oh, the melodrama.
posted by grouse at 10:05 AM on December 28, 2004

You want the Clone Window extension.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:14 AM on December 28, 2004

It's a trick question. You should open new tabs, not new windows!
posted by cactus at 11:29 AM on December 28, 2004

You want the Clone Window extension.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:14 AM PST on December 28

Worked like a charm! Thanks.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 11:34 AM on December 28, 2004

cactus, new tabs open to blank pages, not to what you have open already... or is there a way to make them open on the existing page too? That would be nice.
posted by goatdog at 11:40 AM on December 28, 2004

The Clone Window extension has an option to allow new tabs to open to the current page, as well. It also pulls over the history of the previous tab/window, which is kind of neat.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 11:42 AM on December 28, 2004

A rather nonsensical practice, bordering on insane. If I open a new document in, say, Microsoft Word, do I get a clone of my current document?

A new document, window, or tab is a blank one. IE/Win's behaviour, like its behaviour with alt text, is wrong and should be avoided, not emulated.
posted by joeclark at 12:11 PM on December 28, 2004

You might check out Tabbrowser Extensions. I wouldn't want to use Firefox without it.

Also, I agree with Joeclark. "They used to call me 'Crazy Joe.' Well, now they can call me 'Batman!'"
posted by box at 12:34 PM on December 28, 2004

Well, now that you've definitively answered the question, joeclark, there's no point in giving the user any say in this, is there?
posted by monju_bosatsu at 12:34 PM on December 28, 2004

I agree with joeclark and box that IE's new window behavior is strange and annoying; it's one of the things I despise most about IE. But monju_bosatsu is right, we weren't asked our opinion of IE
posted by TimeFactor at 1:45 PM on December 28, 2004

I'm using plain mozilla, not firefox, but I think this still applies. I have it set up to open a new tab of the same window by hitting control-enter while focused in the URL entry widget. Actually I think it's configurable to either open a new tab or a new window, but in either case it is supposed to load the current page.

I agree with joeclark that it's an odd default behaviour, but it is occaisonally useful. Actually I'd like to see it as an option in Word. In web usage I do it most often when I wish to preserve my current viewing point but also wish to branch off from it. Having a "copy" in the same browser means I can instally control-pgup back to it, even flip back and forth.
posted by RustyBrooks at 2:02 PM on December 28, 2004

Now that the thread can be considered answered, I'm really curious as to your reasoning, joeclark (random aside: a BRML veteran here, from years ago).

I can see the logic behind not emulating IE's alt text behavior (because it goes contrary to standards and to good coding practice). What's wrong with the new window behavior, though? The Word example strikes me as disanalogous — there is a difference between local documents (i.e. files you are editing, and saving) and web documents (files you are requesting, and reading). While duplicating a new document in Word would get confusing rather quickly, duplicating the history and location in a new browser window seems to offer a measure of utility with no apparent downside.
posted by rafter at 2:22 PM on December 28, 2004

By the way, Word can do this behavior by clicking "New Window" under "Window" on the Menu bar. You may have to click the arrow to show all commands. (Have seen it in 2000 and 2003 on Windows, not sure for other OS or versions.)
posted by ALongDecember at 2:55 PM on December 28, 2004

I'm already looking at a page. Why would I want to look at an exact copy of it? Plus IE's inscrutable caching algorithm means that often IE doesn't just show the same page again, it downloads it again. Even if for some strange reason I want to view the same page again that I'm already looking at, I really don't need to wait for the same page to download. Finally, my home page is a local file with lots of useful stuff on it like forms to submit to just about every search on the web, e.g. all the major search engines, IMDB, rottentomatoes, various dictionaries and translations, white pages, maps, etc. That's a lot more useful to me than looking at a page that I'm already looking at .
posted by TimeFactor at 6:31 PM on December 28, 2004

RustyBrooks hit it on the head. I often like to stay at one part of a (long) page, perhaps a key figure or a legend or other reference, but I want to continue reading down the page. Having it as a tab I can tab back to is convenient.

That said, I'd be adverse to it as a default behavior.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 6:58 PM on December 28, 2004

If it opens a blank tab, you have to type in a URL or click on a bookmark to get what you want. This means extra clickety whether you want a new page or a copy. If it opens a copy of the current page, you have to type in a URL or click on a bookmark if you want a different page (=same amount of work) or you have the copy you wanted sitting there (=less work). Plus, you have the current page there as reference, in case you are just branching out from it but want to keep it around. Since I often (>50% of the time) want a copy, I prefer the default to be a copy.
posted by goatdog at 7:36 PM on December 28, 2004