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How do I set the Home Page for a newly open tab using the File>Tab Menu??

  • 10 replies
  • 70 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by Roger...

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When I open a new tab, is there a way to set the home page the new tab will use when it is opened, or will new tabs always be opened as blank pages?

When I open a new tab, is there a way to set the home page the new tab will use when it is opened, or will new tabs always be opened as blank pages?

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My Home Page is set to Google. And when I open a complete new page Google's Home Search page appears.

However, my options are to now have new tabs for all new pages, but instead to have new windows. A while back in FF3 days, I was told there was no way to have a "New Window" option active, and to have a New tab in that window later on get anything other than a blank page.

With that in mind, and with the success you provided with my need to move the Home button closer, I decided to take a Flyer and see if life had changed with FF4. So far it seems to behave just like the previous FF versions did.

Thoughts?

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I don't think I quite understand you. You have Google as your home page which opens when you launch FF. But you want to open a new window (as opposed to a tab) and have what exactly appear?

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I have new windows opening when I click on a link. Or when I click on the FF-Icon. New windows are the default setting.

When a new window opens, I get a Google home page and can instantly type in a search phrase.

With the above in mind, sometimes I want to keep search classes in the same window. In a sense I'm using the Window with no tabs, to generate a tab by using the File Tab option.

When a Tab is selected where new windows will launch a new page, and not a new tab, the process of forcing a new tab onto the window will produce a tab page that is Blank, and the new tab label description displayed in the tab area shows the words "New Tab". That tab's URL address bar is blank. Zip - nothing displayed.

When a blank page tab appears, I click on the HOME button you helped me remodel, and the "New Tab" description in the tab label area changes from "New Tab" to "Google".

My question was to ask, if there was a way I could do something to make FF4 do that Home page assignment on its own. In the early FF days I found you could sometimes go into the bowels of FF, find some form of INI or SETTINGS type file, look for a Keyword reference that would tell FF to do something different, and Viola, emotional issue resolved. In this case, I'm trying to "Gild the Lilly" by asking if you, or someone else might have a rabbit they can pull out of their hat, just like you did when you helped me move my Home button, and have that rabbit show me how to do something that default FF-Options section doesn't support.

Did I do a better job of explaining the issue this time?

Thanks again for the response.

When I

Modified by Roger...

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OK, I don't know if this 'rabbit' will work, but you could give it a try.

  1. In the location bar, type: about:config and hit Enter.

  2. In the filter at the top, copy/paste the following: browser.tabs.loadOnNewTab This will load a blank page, but this is intentional.

  3. Right click anywhere in the blank area and choose "New" and then "Integer"

  4. In the dialog box which appears, copy/paste: browser.tabs.loadOnNewTab again and click OK.

  5. The name will change and the field will become blank. In there, type the figure 1 and click OK.

Here is a list of possible values:

  • -1 = Firefox startup page

  • 0 = a blank page

  • 1 = your home page

  • 2 = your last visited page.

Like I said, I don't guarantee the desired result, but it's worth a try.

If it doesn't work, open about:config again, copy/paste browser.tabs.loadOnNewTab and then right click it and choose Reset. The next time you close FF and restart it, that entry will be deleted.

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Oh, don't tell me I wrote all that out for nothing Ed :(

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I tried Xircal's rabbit trick, but Ed's link was the solution to Basson's Plug-In was how it was solved.

Thank you Xircal, Ed and finally Mr Basson. New Tab's appear with the home page.

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You're welcome.

Could you please click the "Solved It" button next to Ed's post? This will help others searching for a solution to the same question.

Thanks.

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When I clicked on the Solved It button near Ed's posting, an error message appeared in purple background telling me there was a problem with my submission. Still, the error message went away and then Solved It button disappeared.

So, did I say, "it was solved", or did I just make the button it go away?

I'll hope for the former, and the Forum-Master worry about the later.

Thanks again to you both.