[QUOTE=if6was9]
Wow, I thought I was the only one. I say that I’ve had tabbed browsing since about 1992… it’s called the taskbar.
[/QUOTE]
Unless you were working in a User Interface laboratory at the time, I doubt that you were using a taskbar in 1992. Windows 95 was the first mass-market product to use it.
But I agree with your basic point that tabs are functionally the same as taskbar buttons. People miss the point about tabbed browsing, though, even the evangelists. It’s not actually about the tabs. It’s about being able to load other pages in the background, with a single click, while you continue to read the current page. Tabbed browsers introduced this innovation, and it has wrongly been associated with the tabs ever since. Current versions of the popular browsers do allow you to background-load pages in new windows, no tabs required.
[QUOTE=Usram]
Now to work out how to re-enable shrink-to-fit tabs…
[/QUOTE]
Put about:config in your address bar.
When the config screen opens, scroll down to browser.tabs.tabMinWidth.
Double-click on the entry, and when the dialog box pops up, change the number to a very small number, e.g. 1. This sets the minimum tab width to 1 pixel, meaning they will shrink to fit in your window rather than overflowing.
I still haven’t switched yet. My main concern is the looks and interface. I’ve gotten used to Firefox 1.5 on a Mac and I wonder how 2 compares. Also, FF is good with RAM but it tends to use up 50% of my G4’s processing power. I was wondering whether te new one is better or worse in that regard.
[QUOTE=Usram]
Unless you were working in a User Interface laboratory at the time, I doubt that you were using a taskbar in 1992. Windows 95 was the first mass-market product to use it.
[/QUOTE]
Well, depending on how you define taskbar, he could have been using Mac OS System 7. But was there a usable browser for OS 7 back then?
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni]
Even though I’ve told FF2 that I want it to open links in new windows, it opens my links in new tabs, and I hate tabs. Yes, I know that I’m a neandertal about this, but I prefer to have windows instead of tabs.
[/QUOTE]
Ook. I hate tabs too, and prefer new windows, instead. So maybe Firefox 2 isn’t for me.
[QUOTE=asterion]
Well, depending on how you define taskbar, he could have been using Mac OS System 7. But was there a usable browser for OS 7 back then?
[/QUOTE]
Nah. I’ve been on the computer since 92. He’s right, taskbar only since Win95. Usram or Mhendo, is there a listing somewhere for all those about:config entries? What each does, and options?
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Ook. I hate tabs too, and prefer new windows, instead. So maybe Firefox 2 isn’t for me.
[/QUOTE]
I just downloaded 2.0 this afternoon. There is an option to open in new window instead of tabs. I clicked it but it still didn’t work. I did the about:config thing.
Scroll down, double-click browser.link.open_newwindow , put a “2” in instead of the “3” that was there. No more nasty tabs.
[QUOTE=Usram]
A little tip - if you hate the fact that they’ve move the Close Tab button to the tab itself, you can go back to the way it was in 1.x by going to about:config and setting browser.tabs.closeButtons to 3.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you!
I kept closing the wrong tab, or closing a tab in error. But I also found History - Recently Closed Tabs, which was helpful, especially when you could reopen the tab and keep the “back” history. (I.e. go back to search results on “new posts” instead of having to rerun the new posts search.)
My wife’s computer asked about the upgrade and I told her I had no idea if she should or not, since I haven’t done it yet. She asked me about what I’d heard, and I said nothing. Apparently, I lied.
I’ve had the upgrade and completely forgotten about it. No problems whatsoever with my computer. I have an HP laptop with Vista: Firefox and Thunderbird are working wonderfully, and I didn’t have to do much of anything. Who knew?
[QUOTE=asterion]
Well, depending on how you define taskbar, he could have been using Mac OS System 7. But was there a usable browser for OS 7 back then?
[/QUOTE]
I can’t see anything here that looks like a taskbar. That thing in the corner I think is called the Launcher, and would appear to be more like Windows’ QuickLaunch buttons.
[QUOTE=asterion]
Well, depending on how you define taskbar, he could have been using Mac OS System 7. But was there a usable browser for OS 7 back then?
[/QUOTE]
Or using RISC-OS, the OS that introduced the taskbar concept.
[QUOTE=if6was9]
I just downloaded 2.0 this afternoon. There is an option to open in new window instead of tabs. I clicked it but it still didn’t work. I did the about:config thing.
Scroll down, double-click browser.link.open_newwindow , put a “2” in instead of the “3” that was there. No more nasty tabs.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you very much! I just did this, and it works. I’m much happier now.
I say that I’ve had tabbed browsing since about 1992… it’s called the taskbar. 
