Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with tabs

Firefox opening all those startup tabs again and again

gijsvs — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:38:09 -0800

Firefox: Multiple-tab-homepage opens a bunch of new tabs every time I click "home", even if 4 out of 5 are still open -- how do I prevent this? On startup, I want Firefox to open my 5 default morning/all-day websites: google, calendar, newspaper, askmefi etc. That works fine. But when I navigate away from e.g. the google page, and I want it back, I hit home -- now here's my google page in the current tab, and 4 new tabs (even if those pages were already open) with my other startup pages. Result: 9 tabs, one google, and 4 doubles with calendar, newspaper etc.
I cannot find anyone complaining about this behavior, and although it looks like complete expected, I would like FF to check if one of the startup pages was loaded already, and then just reload it if it is... Any ideas/add-ons to accomplish this?

Help solve the mystery of the missing extension.

cirrostratus — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:10:07 -0800

After reformatting my old reliable xp machine I lost a very useful firefox extension. How can I track it down again? I've been unable to find the extension on either Google or Firefox's website, mostly because I can't remember what it was called.

Basically, all the extension did was let you draw a rectangle on a page and then every link within that rectangle would open in a new tab.

Firefox normally lets you highlight things and open them in new tabs but this extension was better because it let you draw a rectangle instead of highlighting.

Any ideas what this extension was called?

Best firefox add-on for previewing tabs?

shivohum — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:23:14 -0800

What's the best firefox add-on for previewing/managing a bunch of tabs that are on the same site and look alike in thumbnails, but can be distinguished by their text? I have bunches of tabs open and the tab bar becomes utterly useless, so I need an add-on (not just thumbnail-based) that can do much better.

Make FF 3.5 like 3.0

aerotive — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:24:06 -0800

With Firefox 3 you could drag a tab from one FF window to the another with the tab bar closed. Is there any way to get 3.5 to do that? So with a bit more detail: On my system (vista) if I have say two FF 3.5 windows open and drag a tab from one to the other (with the tab bar closed), instead of opening in the second window a third, new window opens.

I've looked around and found a way to disable tab tearing/dragging completely, but that's not what I'm looking for. And I know 3.5 will work the way I want with the tab bar visible, but I'd like to avoid that if at all possible.

I'll take any kind of fix, be it an extension, registry edit, about:config tweak, whatever.

Examples of global sibling-site tabs?

roscopcoletrane — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:29:59 -0800

I'm looking for examples of families of websites that have tabs along the top of each page that give universal access to sibling sites. Examples I've seen: Gap, Sears, and Threadless. Anyone seen any others?

Note Tab

FunkyHelix — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:40:00 -0800

I'm looking for a Firefox add-on that would open a note pad into a new tab. I tend to write in a program called Notetab Plus. But I'll write a couple minutes, my mind wanders, and then I'm checking e-mail and surfing the web. Eventually I save my work and close out the writing program because I get irrationally annoyed at running a browser and another program.

What I'd like is just a plain note pad add-on that would throw up a tab to type away in. Then I could go do something else and come back to the writing. I think I'd be more productive.

I know I could just open something like Google docs in a tab and then protect the tab. But I don't want Google docs. I just want a little notepad. A big blank tab that I can just write in.

I've tried searching through the add-ons, but I'm not seeing anything like this. Maybe you know of an add-on, though, or something like it?

Firefox has a mind of it's own.

daHIFI — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:47:24 -0800

Why does Firefox randomly break out one of my tabs in a new window? I usually keep several tabs opened at once, and since the 3.5 update I've been having problems, either when switching between windows or tabs, even sometimes when I'm placing the cursor in a text box. It doesn't happen every day but it's annoying the hell out of me. I thought it might be some kind of keyboard shortcut or some unknown mouse gesture that's doing it. So far my google-fu has failed me.

Using FF on WinXP

Any ideas?

Car insurance coverage with expired tabs

mcstayinskool — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:30:27 -0800

Will car insurance still cover a car with expired tabs? asking this for a friend:

Am I covered by my car insurance if I drive with expired tabs? I recently moved from WA to MN. In the process my vehicle tabs expired and my vehicle title was lost. I can't re-register in WA because I don't have an address there. I can't register in MN because I haven't received the replacement title yet. I realize that by driving the vehicle I am risking a fine for tabs, but if I get in an accident will my insurance still cover me?

Should links open in a new window?

Stephen Elliott — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:09:47 -0800

Is it better to have links open in a new window, or to open in the same window? Maybe this belongs in projects, but I'll ask here. When I launched my magazine site in January, I had links opening in a new window. But then, I noticed that the sites I liked the most, like Kottke and Metafilter, didn't do this. Instead of opening a new window they had links go straight to the page they were linking to. But recently some people have complained. They don't want to have to go back to the page, because you follow one link, and then another. They said they'd prefer if the original window remained and the link opened in a new window. So, I'm wondering if there's a reason metafilter and Kottke do this, and if people prefer one linking system or another?

Firefox focus and link problems

whatzit — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:51:37 -0800

Firefox Fail: Sometimes I cannot click links on the tab that is in focus. Hovering over links does not make finger images or clickable links. Hovering over (current tab's) blank spaces, which are linked areas on the tab below, makes those lower links active (yes, I can click on them). Grah! It can be fixed by alt-tabbing to a different program and back (another FF window is insufficient) or restarting Firefox. This is Firefox 3.0.9 on Windows XP. The active extensions are adblockplus, foxyproxy, and downloadhelper. This does not seem to affect keyboard input or scrolling (e.g., I can tab to navigate).

I cannot for the life of me come up with appropriate non-generic search terms, nor can I identify the conditions under which these episodes start.

Classical Guitar Tab Recommendations

starman — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:52:47 -0800

Suggestions for classical guitar tab? I'm looking for some "standards" of classical music that are fun to play on guitar. For example, these two from Bach are recognizable but I'm not saavy enough to have searched for them by name.

Thanks!

Navigating Safari 4 tabs with Firefox shortcuts?

mck9235 — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:29:00 -0800

Looking for a way to use Firefox keyboard shortcuts with Safari 4 on the Mac I'm trying to ditch Firefox (which acts as if I'm doing some type of fancy 3D rendering everytime I open up more than a few tabs) but find myself lost without the ability to switch to a specific tab with Command - #, # being the number of the tab.

I know that in Safari 4, it is Command + Shift + { or } to go left or right through tabs, but I'm really partial to the Firefox way of doing things. Currently, Command + # in Safari takes me to a specific bookmark from the navigation bar...

So -- is there any way to change this behavior in a secret settings panel or with a 3rd party app? (btw, I'm on a Mac w/ Leopard).

Thanks for any suggestions

chad vangaalen's echo trian

madmamasmith — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:20:56 -0800

does anyone know the guitar chords/ tab for Chad Vangaalen's echo train? PLease....

Can CSS tab along?

ijsbrand — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:56:22 -0800

Is there any way with CSS to position text with regular distances on lines; just like the old tabulator stop did on a typewriter, or does in a wordprocessor? Or is it back to tables to get this trick done? And yes, I know about text indents. I just would like to use some functions that spew out text, and I like to position that text automatically on a webpage.

Not that I mind using tables. It's just that Firefox refuses to align normally in tables, and I would need to write a whole lot more CSS and code to correct this.

I like my start tabs, but not that much!

pdb — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:43:33 -0800

Why is Firefox duplicating my tabs? I have Firefox 3.0.5 running on Mac OS X 10.5.6, and for a good long while (I think it started with 3.0.1 but I didn't keep specifics), when I open Firefox, it has "doubled" my start tabs - I have five tabs as my startup state in FF, but when I start FF I get 10 tabs - each of my five tabs appears twice.

I have no idea why this is happening. I've disabled my add-ons and re-enabled them one by one, and nothing seems to affect this behavior - no matter what I try, FF duplicates my startup tabs. When I open a new tab from within an existing session of FF, it does not duplicate; it's only doing this at startup.

Anybody have any idea why Firefox is doing this, and what I can do about it?

Tabs with No Ads

ageispolis — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:35:37 -0800

What are your favourite non-general guitar tab/chord sites? I'm tired of the inaccuracy of fretplay, ultimate-guitar, and all of that other shit out there that litters every google search and usually leads to:

1. the tab you're looking for, but completely off the mark in transcription
2. the tab, albeit incomplete and hidden underneath a blanket of ads
3. some video of a guy teaching you how to play a james blunt song

etc, etc.

For example, www.dylanchords.info offers excellent transcriptions of almost every Bob Dylan song. Anyone know of any other resources like this? I'm specifically looking for a Rolling Stones one, or any blues/folk for that matter. But any site that's not 911tabs, or any of those other sites, is welcome, be it classical, spanish, or what have you.

Opening multiple links at once?

auralcoral — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:14:35 -0800

Are there any browsers that will allow me to open multiple links in one click? I'm using Firefox now and I can only open one link in a new tab at a time. My ideal browser would have a tabbed interface and also allow me to highlight a list of links and then be able to open all of them in new, separate tabs with one click. Does this exist/is this possible?

If you build it, they will shred.

bondcliff — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:49:09 -0800

I'm looking for guitar tablature sites similar to Dansm's that are created by one person out of a labor of love, as opposed to OLGA-type "tab archives" like Ultimate-guitar.com. Anther good example would be Justinguitar.com.

Looking for contemporary folk, rock and/or roll (including metal in all its many forms), pop, and classic rock. Not looking for classical, jazz, or traditional folk. The site can be devoted to a single band (though not just a collection of OLGA tabs for one band) or many. Bonus points if performance tips, instructional videos and other commentary is included.

Examples of what I’m not looking for are harmony-central, chordie, x-tab, ultimate-guitar and the rest of those tab archives.

\m/

Tabs, pseudo-columns, and wrapping lines

largecorp — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:11:31 -0800

Name. Tab. Phone number. This creates two columns. One for name and one for phone number, except--when someone has a really long name that goes past the tab setting and impinges on the phone number area. Is there some sort of tab setting that will make that long name wrap around, creating a second line within its own name area? For the record, I know I could use a table to do exactly this, but I'm reformatting a huge amount of text that is already laid out with tabs. Any advice for this poor sap who accepted the job? The text is in an InDesign document, but I can copy it to a word processor or anything that would do the trick. Thanks!

How can I fix my weirdly rendering navigation tabs?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:30:19 -0800

What's wrong with my CSS that makes top the nav render like this or this on some browsers, and how can I fix it? This is an example of a desired rendering, and here's is the CSS. Thanks in advance, guys & gals!

Gmail open link in new tab?

The Dutchman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:54:58 -0800

In Firefox, I use the middle button of my mouse to open links in a new tab. I really wish I could do that with gmail (i.e., middle click on several emails and have them open each in a new tab, or middle click on "compose mail" so that would open in a new tab). Is there any way to do that? Some links actually work already, such as inbox, other folders and labels.

As a somewhat distant second choice, right clicking and selecting "open in a new tab" would be better than nothing.

Tabs in Filemaker not working

cg1 — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:34:19 -0800

When I try to create a tab using Filemaker Pro 8.0v2 on my Mac (OS version 10.4.11), it displays correctly in "edit" mode. But when I enter data-entry mode, FM "sees through" the tab - and displays all fields (from all the tabs) stacked on top of one another. Clicking the other tabs, I see the same thing - all fields stacked. The *first* time I created the tabs, I dragged all the fields into the proper place and went into data-entry mode. It worked properly. I then went back into edit mode and moved the tab window slightly, changed the color of the two tabs to make the display more aesthetic. *Then* it stopped working - and no matter what I do, won't display properly (all fields across tabs are stacked).

After hours of trying to re-create the tabular box and varying little things (not changing color, etc), I never got it to work again. I called my colleague, who I share the database with online, and asked her to try to set it up - thinking it was a problem with my local version of FM. She created the tab and it worked! I then changed one of the fields within the tab and it reverted back to the problem display (stacked fields).

She tried re-creating the tab from scratch... Same problem. Thinking that it only takes the first time created on a machine, we got all fields formatted exactly as we want them, and pulled a third colleague in - thinking we could have her create it for the first time and it work, then just drop all the pre-formatted stuff into the new tab. It didn't work.

I'm at wit's end. Any suggestions?

configuration of vista breadcrumb bar/firefox second tab row

lrodman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:15:34 -0800

Is it possible to trim Vista Breadcrumb sections so that the breadcrumb bar doesn't clip off most of the path in long titles? I.e. anything over say, 10 characters gets cropped, so that long paths can be shown? Also, is there a way to fix the glitchy second row of tabs in firefox? I want the second row of tabs to have the same height as the first, so that graphics don't go all screwy.

Firefox javascript tab closure command?

bbranden1 — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:13:55 -0800

Firefox javascript command: how to close a tab? Last week you helped me create a toolbar bookmark for scrolling down a half page in Firefox using the command javascript:self.scrollBy(0,300); as seen here. Now I'd like to add a second command to that bookmark: a command to close the active tab. The button then would close the active tab and subsequently scroll down a half page of the next tab that appears. In my reading there appears to be some difficulty making using javascript to close tabs in FF 2.0, and not all pre FF 2.0 solutions currently work. Ideas?

How to get scrollwheel-clicking to open links in a new tab in Firefox?

ruwan — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:30:21 -0800

The scrollwheel-click has suddenly stopped working in Firefox. I don't recall making any changes in preferences, but all of a sudden, what used to open up links in new tabs, no longer does so. Instead wheel-clicking on a link does nothing. Any idea how to fix this problem? I feel like I'm browsing with one less finger! (Mac OSX.4.11, Firefox 2.0.0.11, Safari is unaffected by the problem.) I searched google and AskMe, both of which suggested changing settings in about:config, but I was unable to successfully fiddle around with this to get it working.