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Why isn't disabling tabs a user control?

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NOT being able to disable tabs is downright user unfriendly. I'm a Mac user and tabs are an annoying nuisance.

What is so technically difficult about offering this as a selectable option?

Scott Novak

NOT being able to disable tabs is downright user unfriendly. I'm a Mac user and tabs are an annoying nuisance. What is so technically difficult about offering this as a selectable option? Scott Novak

الحل المُختار

Hi buzz_, thanks for reporting back. I'll glad to hear it* works on Linux (an OS I didn't test).

(* https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/i-hate-tabs-sdi-for-firefox/ )

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (10)

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User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; PPC Mac OS X 10.5; FPR4; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/45.0 TenFourFox/7450

That is a 3rd party web browser that was created from an ancient version of Firefox 45.0; and isn't supported by Mozilla or by this support forum.

TenFourFox has its own support fora over here: Support URL: http://www.tenfourfox.com/helpr/45.13.1/en-US/

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Hey Scott, I don't expect this to ever be a built-in feature.

The developers tell us that every time you create an alternative UI design, it increases the work of adding features and fixing bugs, because often different changes are required for each design, and there's double the testing. The variations keep accumulating over time until the whole project bogs down.

So more likely it will be an option for add-ons to move tabs to a new window as soon as they appear. Seems possible using the move method (for Firefox 46+). But I am not an add-on developer.

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@the-edmeister: That is a 3rd party web browser that was created from an ancient version of Firefox 45.0; and isn't supported by Mozilla or by this support forum.

The browser that I am using to view this site is irrelevant. Don't sidestep the question. As far as I have been able to determine none of the newer versions of Firefox will allow you to disable tabs.

I've got a 27" screen large enough to host multiple windows at the same time, which makes editing and such much easier than trying to switch back and forth between tabs.

The tab bar reduces my viewing area.

When I grab try to grab the screen to move it, quite often I click on the add tab + button by accident and it opens a tab that I need to close.

Tabbed browsing is a big step backwards. You'd think it was Bill gates that designed Firefox in his usual my way or the highway approach to software.

Why on earth would anyone want to use tabbed browsing and make their browsing experience unfriendly?

Scott Novak

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Hi Scott, most people seem to prefer tabbed browsing.

If you decide to use a modern version of Firefox, you could consider using a custom style rule to "squash" the tab bar down to 6 pixels or so, and have it open when you hover over it. Example screenshot comparison attached.

/* Squash tab bar to 6px unless a tab is hovered */
#TabsToolbar, 
#TabsToolbar .tabbrowser-tab {
  height: 29px !important; /* 29px compact, 33px normal, YMMV */
  min-height: 29px !important;
  max-height: 29px !important;
  transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out;
} 
#TabsToolbar:not(:hover), 
#TabsToolbar:not(:hover) .tabbrowser-tab[selected] {
  height: 6px !important;
  min-height: 6px !important;
  max-height: 6px !important;
  transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out;
}
#TabsToolbar:not(:hover) .tabbrowser-tab[selected] .tab-content {
  display: none;
}

(You apply custom style rules to Firefox using a userChrome.css file. See: https://www.userchrome.org/ and https://vimeo.com/245560075.)

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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Scott_Novak said

Why on earth would anyone want to use tabbed browsing and make their browsing experience unfriendly?

For me using a separate browser Window for each tab would make using Firefox and SeaMonkey very annoying to use. Using a window for each tab only really works if you only have a small number open normally. I can have multiple windows with its own set of tabs in each for example.

Modified by James

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James said

For me using a separate browser Window for each tab would make using Firefox and SeaMonkey very annoying to use. Using a window for each tab only really works if you only have a small number open normally. I can have multiple windows with its own set of tabs in each for example.

Hi James, for guy's like Scott and I the opposite is true. I'm wondering if, like me, Scott is a Linux user.

I was brought up using multiple desktops to organise my work. You flip between work spaces using Ctrl + Fn keys and between open windows using Alt + Tab. This means your key combinations are not application dependent. I can have a couple of browser windows open on desktop one with a word process and or spreadsheet, and whole bunch of other browser windows on other desktops. Each desktop a different subject or job.

Don't get me wrong, Mozilla Firefox does a lot of things really well, which is why I keep coming back to it, but being able to easily modify the bookmarks menu, the right click context menu and make it single document interface would make it awesome for those that like browsing as I do.

My thanks to the developers. At the moment Firefox appears to be the best of breed, and I do appreciate that generally it supports Linux, but it is a shame it can't be a bit more flexible in the user interface department.

Buzz

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jscher2000 said

So more likely it will be an option for add-ons to move tabs to a new window as soon as they appear. Seems possible using the move method (for Firefox 46+). But I am not an add-on developer.

I am still not an add-on developer, but on second look, it seems these are the main ingredients:

(1) Set up a function to watch for new tabs being created

https://developer.mozilla.org/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/tabs/onCreated

(2) Have the function create a new window and move that new tab to it, taking care to observe whether it is coming from a regular window or a private window so that can be set correctly (incognito property).

Optionally, observe whether the tab was opened as the new active tab or in the background, and position the new window accordingly (focused property).

https://developer.mozilla.org/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/windows/create

There probably are other subtleties, but those seem to make possible a future "I Hate Tabs, Give Me SDI" extension. Now you just need to recruit an (aspiring) add-on developer.

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As of this evening, I guess I'm an add-on developer.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/i-hate-tabs-sdi-for-firefox/

If you try it, let me know what you think.

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jscher2000 said

As of this evening, I guess I'm an add-on developer. https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/i-hate-tabs-sdi-for-firefox/ If you try it, let me know what you think.

I've been using it since you posted the link. Looks like excellent work to me.

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الحل المُختار

Hi buzz_, thanks for reporting back. I'll glad to hear it* works on Linux (an OS I didn't test).

(* https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/i-hate-tabs-sdi-for-firefox/ )

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer