This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Links opened in parent window - possible cause?

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by prowla

more options

I've been having trouble with Firefox 6, which did not happen in FF5.

I have a handy page of links and I use javascript to have some links open multiple windows (using window.open(url,name,attributes)).

In FF 5 if I middle-click on on a link in on of the new windows it opens the URL in a tab in that window, but in 6 I found that it is opened in a tab in the main window.

This is happening on multiple Windows 7 PCs.

I've been having trouble with Firefox 6, which did not happen in FF5. I have a handy page of links and I use javascript to have some links open multiple windows (using window.open(url,name,attributes)). In FF 5 if I middle-click on on a link in on of the new windows it opens the URL in a tab in that window, but in 6 I found that it is opened in a tab in the main window. This is happening on multiple Windows 7 PCs.

All Replies (5)

more options

(Ah - I put in some analysis into the diagnostic text box when submitting, but that doesn't get shown here...)

Basically, if I embed javascript to open a URL with "window.open(url,id)", then it works properly, but if I set some attributes like window position and size and open the URL with "window.open(url,id,attributes)", then it exhibits the errant behaviour.

My previous code was "window.open(url,id,"width=w,height=h,left=x,top=y)", and my workaround is to do "mywin = window.open(url,id)", and then "mywin.moveTo(x,y)", followed by "mywin.resizeTo(w,h)".

Modified by prowla

more options
more options

Thanks - I've tried the permutations on browser.link.open_newwindow and browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction, but there doesn't seem to be one that matches the old behaviour.

Option 2 says:

"Divert all links according to browser.link.open_newwindow, unless the new window specifies how it should be displayed. (Default in Firefox 1.5 and later, in SeaMonkey 2.1a3 and later, and Camino 1.5)

This includes:

   All links with target="_blank".
   JavaScript calls to window.open() without the "features" parameter (3rd parameter). 

This does not include:

   JavaScript calls to window.open() with the "features" parameter (3rd parameter). 

I think the old behaviour may have included window.open() with the features parameter.

Would it be possible to get an option 3 in there to allow that too?

more options

You may be seeing this bug.

  • bug 644729 - Popup window with all toolbars visible causes new tabs to open in another browser window

(please do not comment in bug reports; you can vote instead)

more options

Yes - that is similar to the behaviour I am seeing (I have my tabs visible in all windows, as per the bug report, and also the address bar).

But it brings the parent window to the foreground when it opens the tab there.

It happens with windows opened from javascript window.open() with the features parameter specified.

Modified by prowla