Thinkpads Forum

Have I missed a setting somewhere in my profile?

Using FF3, haven't tried with IE7, all embedded links in posts seem to open in the same window and not in a new window, which I would prefer, and find myself after having clicked on the X to close the window having to login again.

I know that I can right click and choose "open in a new window", but I keep forgetting.

Have I missed something or just being forgetful / lazy about right clicking?

This has been already discussed in Links in forum posts no longer open in a new tab. Since the new forum the default setting for opening link in new tab has changed. You will have to use the "opening in new tab" function.

Cheers,

Marin

I believe that there was a basic change to the phpBB3 update which causes this action. If you are using FF3 and have a three-button mouse, then you can use the middle mouse button to automatically open a link in a new browser tab. Open up a browser page at "about:config" (without the quotes) and type in "middle" (again, without the quotes) in the Filter window. Find the entry "browser.tabs.opentabfor.middleclick" and if it's set to "false", double-click that line to toggle it to "true". Close the browser tab and then you can middle-click a link and it will open up in a new tab like before.

For Opera you can use Shift + Left Click. There is a middle click option to open a new tab, but it doesn't seem to work with my TrackPoint. Probably would work with a regular mouse though.

I must say that I personally miss the old behavior, which is what nearly all the forums use.

Since IE opens a new Window offset from the current window, and then by logical extension, if you open enough new Windows, you have a mess all over the screen. I am soooooo thankful for the new behaviour.
.... JDH

I see your point with IE.

I don't see where IE is making very good use of tabs if it opens links in new windows.

Don't know what you're talking about with IE tabs. In IE7 you can choose to open links in a new window, a new tab in the current window, or the current tab.

When I test on a phpBB2 forum that I am a member of, using IE7 with the settings in the following image, links open in a new window, not a new tab.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5704/tabs1dl7.jpg

By design, IE7 is made to do the following;

Press the CTRL key while clicking links (or use the middle mouse button).
Click any tab with the middle mouse button to close it.
Press ALT+ENTER from the address bar or search box to open the result in a new tab.

All of the above works for me.

More short cuts;

Keyboard shortcuts;
Open links in a new tab in the background CTRL+click
Open links in a new tab in the foreground CTRL+SHIFT+click
Open a new tab in the foreground CTRL+T
Open a new tab from the Address bar ALT+ENTER
Open a new tab from the search box ALT+ENTER
Open Quick Tabs (thumbnail view) CTRL+Q
Switch between tabs CTRL+TAB/CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Switch to a specific tab number CTRL+n (n can be 1-8)
Switch to the last tab CTRL+9
Close current tab CTRL+W
Close all tabs ALT+F4
Close other tabs CTRL+ALT+F4


Mouse shortcuts;
Open a link in a background tab Click the middle mouse button on a link
Open a new tab Double-click the empty space to the right of the last tab
Close a tab Click the middle mouse button on the tab

None of these tab controls allow you to (left) click on a link to open it in a new tab. It's not designed to do that. Personally I right click on a link and select open in a new tab. To me it's the easiest (read lazy) approach.

Well, I understand about the shortcut keys. I think the point is, to be able to open a link in a new tab with a minimum of fuss. With Opera, I have been using both Right-click > 'Open in New Tab', as well as Shift + Left-click to open links on this forum. I am not sure which I prefer.

The middle TrackPoint button opens nothing in IE or Opera for me.

Still, the easiest is to just left-click on the links (at least the links that go off-site) and have them open in a new tab (with that tab having the focus). Apparently it was never that easy in IE. It is that easy in Opera and other browsers when browsing other forums such as: phpBB2 forums, vBulletin forums, IP.Board 2.3.5, SEO by vBSEO 3.2.0, AT&T's Lithium forum, Lenovo's Lithium forum, Opera's forum, Whirlpool.net, Google Groups, yada, yada, yada.

Well maybe I am in the minority here, but I do prefer the old behavior.

GomJabbar wrote:Well maybe I am in the minority here, but I do prefer the old behavior.

Are two considered as minority too?

The most annoying thing about this as a whole is that you never know which site uses which policy. The best solution would be to settle on a single standard.

And since the standard is already defined, XHTML, which tells that the links should open in the same window, I vote for the current behavior. Sometimes I do want the page to open in the same window and it's not like there's an external link I'm clicking in every post I read.

Off topic: Marin, already up or still not sleeping?

@yak: off-topic, I´m asking myself the same question about you

While I have to agree that some standard is needed, I don´t see for myself much point in opening a link in the same tab. In the end that´s why there has been introduced the tabs feature in all popular browsers...

Just my 2 cents

Marin

Marin makes a valid point there, IMO.

I prefer the 'old' behavior as well (minority(?) is now larger).

Maybe it can be turned into a user-choice in the Control Panel, I'll dig into this...

This is what PHPBB has to say: http://www.phpbb.com/community//viewtop ... 6&t=727025
So apparently it is possible, with a limitation that any links from BEFORE the conversion, will still open in the same window.

RealBlackStuff wrote:So apparently it is possible, with a limitation that any links from BEFORE the conversion, will still open in the same window.

And if you read every message in that thread, many forums had problems with that mod. I would guess that adding code with problems is going to be way down on Bill's list of priorities since he's made it pretty clear that he wants to keep the number of mods to a minimum anyway.

Thanks everybody for your valuable commentary and contributions, way more than I expected in 24 hours.

Marin85 wrote:This has been already discussed in Links in forum posts no longer open in a new tab.

Sorry I searched on "new window" and not "new tab". My bad

GomJabbar wrote: I must say that I personally miss the old behavior, which is what nearly all the forums use.

Thanks for your support, I'm glad I'm not alone

jdhurst wrote: if you open enough new Windows, you have a mess all over the screen.

But I like my mess all over the screen

GomJabbar wrote:Well maybe I am in the minority here, but I do prefer the old behavior.

Thankyou very much

Marin85 wrote:Are two considered as minority too?

Not necessarily, maybe a future majority

RealBlackStuff wrote:I prefer the 'old' behavior as well (minority(?) is now larger).

Thanks RBS, keep up the good work Are you counting Marin85?

JaneL wrote: I would guess that adding code with problems is going to be way down on Bill's list of priorities since he's made it pretty clear that he wants to keep the number of mods to a minimum anyway.

I guess that's a fair comment and I can fully accept that Bill has higher priorities. The important thing is that this place isn't any worse because it doesn't work how I would ideally like it to.
I'm sure that I'll learn to adjust.

@ andyP note to self; you need to remember to right click.

@ All Thanks again.

@andyP: I like your messy desktop

My desktop is empty. There is a task bar down the right side (a la Office Shortcut bar of yesteryear), a taskbar along the bottom, a row of key icons up the left side. No application is ever tolerated to run full screen. I keep every window sized and located to be exactly on top of the one before. The result is that even with a dozen applications open, nothing is hidden, I never need to use the View Desktop icon, I never need to slow down, I just click and run.

An empty desktop is one sign of a busy, busy head (Corporation Tax return night this evening). ... JDH

jdhurst wrote:[snip]My desktop is empty. There is a task bar down the right side (a la Office Shortcut bar of yesteryear)[/snip]

I also have a nearly empty desktop. Desktops cluttered with icons drive me crazy. Plus, I still use the 2002 version of MS Office because of the Shortcut Bar. I have the Bar stuck on the right side of the Desktop with all my frequently used programs. I know, I'm old-school

If you graduate to Vista (and even in XP for that matter) and then on to Office 2007, I don't think you can retrofit the Office Shortcut bar.

But yes, I am old-school too. So create a new folder on your desktop. Call it Shortcut Bar. Copy shortcuts of your favourite programs into this folder. Drag the folder to the very right and let go. Bingo, a new shortcut bar. Size it down and remove text (an option) and it will be there when you restart. This is a very effective replacement for the much-needed Office Shortcut bar and still lets you gravitate to new software.
.... JDH

jdhurst wrote:If you graduate to Vista (and even in XP for that matter) and then on to Office 2007, I don't think you can retrofit the Office Shortcut bar.

I am running Vista Business (32-Bit) and Office 2007. I used the installation CD from Office 2000 to install just the Office Shortcut bar.

On the Office Toolbar you will need to use the customize feature to add the buttons for the different Office programs since the programs are in a different location from where they were in Office 2000. The other Toolbars will need some tweaking also.

Very interesting. I would not have thought that you could install just the toolbar from an old version of Office.

One question - what did you mean by "The other Toolbars will need some tweaking also?" Which toolbars are you refering to and what kind of tweaking?

Sorry for my ignorance, may I ask if anyone has some pic of how this Office toolbar looks like?

Thanks,

Marin

Sure, right here: http://gwa2001.home.att.net/otb.jpg

I've always kept it on the right side of the Desktop. Over the years, I've added buttons to it for programs I've installed and use most frequently. This is from my desktop PC, but I also have it installed on my T21.

nikki605 wrote:One question - what did you mean by "The other Toolbars will need some tweaking also?" Which toolbars are you refering to and what kind of tweaking?

When you install the Office Shortcut Bar, it creates a default set of Toolbars with buttons that are shortcuts to various files and folders. The default list from the Office 2000 installation of Office Shortcut Bar includes Toolbars labeled Office, Quickshelf, Favorites, Desktop, Programs and Accessories.

By tweaking I meant that you will probably want to customize the buttons on the different Toolbars so that they point to the programs that you want instead of just the defaults. For example, on the Programs Toolbar, there are default buttons created for each of the folders in the Programs Files directory and you would probably want to eliminate most of those buttons and only keep the ones that you use most often.

You can add or delete buttons on any of these Toolbars or create your own Toolbar and add your own buttons.

Hmmm, guess my memory is getting worse. Granted, its been a years since I've installed the Office Toolbar on my systems, but I don't ever remember seeing the other toolbars you listed. Thanks for the info.

EDIT: I just right-clicked on the Office Toolbar and saw the other toolbar names you listed. Obviously, I've never used them as they were all unchecked and I totally forgot they were even there. I was so accustomed to using the Office Toolbar (from Win95 days), it never dawned on me that I could drag the Quick Launch toolbar to the same place on the right side of my desktop and add the program shortcuts to essentially replicate the Office Toolbar. I've now done that and no longer need the Office Toolbar. I can see now why MS took the toolbar out of the later versions of Office.

Boy, have I been living in the past.