Tabbed browsing in Firefox PR1 is pretty much, well, not there for the most part. Being an old IE user and hearing people tout previous versions of this Mozilla-based browser and it's tabbed browsing, I had to give it a try. What a let down, everything opened up in a new window and I just did not get it.
Firefox is basically a build-it-your-own-way browser. Whatever functionality you want to add to it, just go find it and add it on. The problem is that there is a myriad of extensions to sift thru. Some good, some horrendously bad. But that was kewl, I am used to building and adding on to phpBB, so no problem there.
Single Window 1.4
Then tabbed browsing got better when I stumbled onto Single Window. This kind of half-assed worked. External programs, such as Outlook, would open another instance of Firefox though. When it did, there was this flashing jerkiness to my screen when the last instance appeared and the new one opened on top of it. What a FUed mess.
Tabbrowser Preferences (TBP)
Then I stumble onto an entry in Chu Yeow's Redemption in a Blog where he mentions Tabbrowser Preferences and wow! This is what the doctor ordered.
TBP allows links from external applications to open in a new tab. Other options for you middle button (or scroll wheel) to open clicked links in a new tab. The Search bar and Address bar can be set to open in a new tab too. Sub-options to open the new tabs in the foreground and background, plus some other little tweaks.
Can it get better? Yes!
Chu mentions that there is new daily build for Firefox that includes a Tabbed Browsing preferences section in Firefox options now. See Chu's post for the rest of details and a screenshot of the new options. He also has tips on how to set them.
Note that this is currently for Windows only. There are patches for Linux and Mac attached and waiting for review, so there’s hope they’ll be fixed pre-1.0 as well.
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