What a stunningly stupid thing to do. You want to *promote* using the tabbed interface? Is there a competition? Was the tabbed interface losing? Do you have a vested interest in promoting one over the other?

What you have done is 'broken' the user experience for everyone who habitually uses the context menu. And for no good reason.

It is not understandable this silly wish. The New Tab and New Window positions in the menu are much more logical then the reverse. When you open a new tab you do it inside the present browser window, so that it is in the open window context; when we open a new window we are starting a new context. Also almost everyone try not to have lots of windows open, so the New Tab is more used and better on the top.

No, it's exactly the opposite. Because when you are opening a new tab, you are doing it under the interface which contains the new tab, a window. Therefore switching the context menu to having a new window below the tab is completely counter-intuitive to the way the browser has been set up. I don't think it should matter which option is used more often, the classic setup was intuitive and matched the way the browser had been designed. The new setup may suit some people more, but the people that didn't even notice won't care, and the newer users could have gotten used to having the tab option below the window option (just like people using firefox for YEARS had done), while anyone that has been a regular and power user that was used to the old setup is incredibly frustrated and annoyed by such a small, yet noticeable change.

My point being, the only real result that comes of this is annoying those users. If they had NOT changed the context menu setup, how many people would be complaining that the tab option was below the window option? Anyone? I highly doubt it would have been as strong of an outcry as there has been regarding the current interface.

I guess they won't change it back and I am also quite annoyed with this "feature". I have to use FF 3.5 in one place and I upgraded my FF to 4.0 in another place recently and at first I just didn't understood what happened. Why links opened always as new windows? It's really already reflex or muscle memory. I just right-click on the link and automatically move mouse cursor to the place where the "new tab" should be. Now I must slow myself down and really look to where I move my mouse cursor. Or use two hands and use the ctrl+mouse click. It's really annoying. It's really small change but I guess it's gonna be the most annoying "feature".

I had the audacity to complain about this and the status bar (lack of), a while back and just argued with some pinf back and forth...basically the gist of it was that out of the millions who use firefox I was but one of a handful that didn't like it. So ..uninstall and back to previous version.....like i tried to say back then - I don't want to install all these new add-ons and IF IT AINT BROKEN DON'T FIX IT!! But hear this like many IT companies and individuals over the years they all know what I want whether I do or not. You patronising barstools I am sick of ye...

I'll be kind and say that you appear to be designing your user interface for smaller screens (tablets, cell phones, etc.). You have moved things that I knew how to find to places that I now have to hunt for. But, in the process, you are abandoning your desktop users. We have been getting larger and larger screens over the years. We don't need small screen footprints. We need easy one click access to all the things that have always had one click access. We don't need to have to perform multiple tweaks just to get the interface that we know and love.

I installed FF5 on my Vista laptop and was immediately sorry. A week or two later, I was stymied on something I was trying to do (don't remember what, now) so I tried Chrome. Similar problems. Even Opera is caught up in this silliness. My Linux box still has 3.6.18 and probably will continue to have it until the 3 series is no longer supported.

What makes you think that people aren't using tabbed browsing? I embraced it.

Regardless of how many of the changes are more logical that what was there before (and I question this), the Dvorak keyboard is more logical than the querty arragment, but, just try to get people to use it.

And what makes you think that the millions, who aren't complaining to you, find the changes acceptable? Silence does not mean acceptance. I'll bet that many of them are moving to Chrome and/or Safari. It's getting harder to tell one from the other. You used to be innovators.

Keeping up with your release schedule is like trying to board a bus that doesn't slow and stop for passengers. You get hurt every time you try. You appear to be panicking in the face of competition. I suspect that you don't really need a warp speed release cycle. I know that when I hurry, I mess up.

How about just a single click and maybe a verifying click to set up a classic interface? Please, don't lose your uniqueness.

I have always been suspicious of a 'forced' upgrade policy, this is the policy that Microsots (sic) impose on their user base, always changing the goalposts and causing people to have to buy new versions of their apps just because they change the underlying o/s. I say if it works then stick with it. I have stuck to Firefox through thick and thin so far. The one thing I won't accept is a forced change to the UI. The UI is the thing I use to access the whole internet, change it and run the risk of alienating me. I now have downgraded all my machines to FF3.6 and intend on keeping it that way until I get a configuration option in FF4 to display the context menu option order the way I am used to it displaying. Remember, I don't need to learn any new way of doing things, the way I am doing it is just fine. FF market share peaked and then stopped growing. We only need a small push to move us to Chromium and then that market share will start to fall. Give us what we want in buckets and keep layering it on but don't tell us what we want and how we should be doing things. Your greatest asset is your user base, don't alienate people. These things may seem small but they are fundamental to the user experience.

What is REALLY ANNOYING about how Mozilla and how Mozilla has been releasing updates and revisions, is they are doing EXACTLY what other dominant companies in the market have done. They've essentially done what Steve Jobs has done time and time again and said, the hell with the users, this is what I want, what I feel is best for you, and you just need to suck it up!

One of the best examples is when Microsoft released Office and the Ribbon interface. This one change that MS felt was better, threw corporate IT departments into a hellish quagmire that there was no immediate fix for. MS gave neither users nor IT departments the option of switching back to an older layout or version. Users only SOLUTION AVAILABLE EVEN TO THIS DAY are:

1. Purchase an expensive per seat plug-in/add-on that isn't an Official MS product.
2. Uninstall the software you just purchased and install the older version (if you EVEN CAN because Microsoft will invalidate older versions of software when it is done as an UPGRADE rather than a FULL NEW install.
3. Switch to another application, i.e., Firefox to Opera, or Chrome, Safari, etc...

The primary reason I switch to an application or begin using an application is because it solves a problem or is a better solution to a to something I've used previously. Microsoft FORCED ITS USERS - Microsoft Office and "the Ribbon" - Apple/Steve Jobs, TOO MANY to even go there - Google; search preferences, page look and feel (changing colors, fonts, links, login, etc...)

I've found in many cases, rather than fight it and getting pissed off trying to find a FIX, it is in many cases just easier to DUMP THAT APP and start fresh. I've seen this problem even within my own company that the design engineers FORCE a change because they like it, it makes sense for them and all you will hear from them is how it's the only real way to move forward and of course, it is a bunch of BS. It is usually a "my baby isn't ugly" response.

ASK YOUR USERS BEFORE YOU MAKE A CHANGE AND NOT JUST THE 6 GUYS THAT USE THE APPLICATION FOR HONEST INPUT. Look at the replies regarding this ONE SIMPLE SWITCH. I've had it with Firefox and think it's about time to look at any new solution.

I am appalled by the developpers move to switch the positions of 'open in new window' and 'open in new tab'. If they had done it right away, when they introduced the tab functionality in the first place, it would have been without any consequence. Over the last few years I got used to the way it was and - like pretty much everyone else here - I use it without thinking. So it is a de facto standard. Why change that? I mean, nobody switches the colour of traffic lights or the order of the alphabet just for the fun of it. Now I had to spend hours figuring out a way to bypass FF-developpers' upsurge of 'innovation'. I had to do it, because I need Firefox for my work. If it wasn't that good of a piece of software, I would just switch to some concurrence product and tell those responsible to go get lost. I am pissed. You ruined my workflow of the last few days. And I am certainly not alone.

Firefox 3.6 is where I am staying. In later versions of FF we need a configuration option that allows the tab to be replaced in the previous position. This can't, just can't be so difficult to achieve. A plugin or hack is not acceptable.

Other UI changes should also be configurable without hacks or plugins. By all means present your idea of a new UI but give us the option to retain the previous layout.

Just a thank you to jay_ff for the step-by-step solution - my right-click menu is now back to the way I like it! :)

I am lost as to how this change will promote the use of tabs. Can anyone explain to me, in detail, how this change will entice non-tab users to start using them?

Since you do not state where to put this code, I used the suggestion in the next remark and placed it in userchrome.css. It did not work. Still, when I right-click on a link on a web page, I still get a context menu with "open link in New Window."

Curious though, why would you post a reply with a fix, but not tell us where to place the fix?

I know why Mozilla has been makeg so many stupid chagnes lately, they hired a Windows IE mole to work in your coding and client appreciation center. I'll bet Microsoft coders are laughing in their cubicles.

Why do they insist on changing what doesn't need change? Don't you have enough bugs to fix instead of constantly changing the user interface for no good reason?

I solved the problem - Hurrrray!!!!

by moving to Google Chrome.

Hey guys try this out..

Install the Menu Editor add-on from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/menu-editor/ . After the installation, go to Firefox> add-ons (or simply use Ctrl+Shift+A) Go to the Menu Editor "Options" In the "Main context menu," simply grab the "Open link in New Tab" and place it below the "Open Link in New Window" and Voila! You may also change other menu options if you want to!

Firefox developers should take care when playing with people's habits such as this one, it could make Firefox very annoying! Source(s): http://support.mozilla.com/pa-IN/questions/791244#answer-152538