The Firefox windows behave as will be expected. Consider what would happen if they were all on the same workspace. If you close an individual window then it closes, but you do have an option to reopen it.

If on the other hand you close Firefox from any open Firefox window then it does just that: it closes Firefox and all Firefox windows. That will include windows in other workspaces.

It is possible to run a second instance of Firefox. That second instance with its own profile is then independent, if you wish you could open that in or move it to another workspace and it could be closed independently of the other Firefox instance. You probably do not wish to attempt that though.

At least this is how Ubuntu 12.04 with a Unity desktop behaves, I can not be certain but may expect Xfce to behave in the same manner.

Well, I guess that makes sense. However, what good is it to have mutiple workspaces if closing out a browser such as Firefox or another application closes it in all workspaces. It kinda of defeats the whole purpose of having different workspaces unless you are always going to run a different application or browser in each workspace. It looks like they would find a way to make the workspaces where they can't see each other or something to solve the problem.

I guess it is just to make it look tidier and easier to handle the open windows by splitting them between Workspaces. You may run separate Firefox instances but you would need to use the -no-remote argument and use a separate profile for each instance. So it can be done.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Opening_a_new_instance_of_your_Mozilla_application_with_another_profile

The problem then is that because they are separate and distinct they not only close independently they also for instance build their own individual History & bookmarks etc.

As for the design & development of Ubuntu no doubt you will find somewhere suitable for the topic from this page

• http://community.ubuntu.com/

Although I do like my workspaces to look clean & organized the main reason I would like to be able to do this is because I often am reading about multiple subjects at one time. When I find that I have a lot of tabs or windows open on multiple subjects I like to separate them into separate workspaces for easier reading and it's faster to find a certain page which I am reading on. A lot of times I have opened new windows instead of tabs by accident. I guess as long as I am careful to only open new tabs not new windows I will be fine. I can then separate the subjects by dragging the pages off to another workspace. I have read a little before about the use of profiles Although I wouldn't mind the separate histories and the separate bookmarks would only be a minor inconvenience to someone like me; the whole profile thing sounds complicated. The profile thing sounds like it would be more trouble than what it would be worth to me considering my reason for wanting the separate workspaces. Also, I am afraid that the profile thing might cause problems with my computer if it wasn't done right.

   Thank-you very much for all of your help; I do appreciate it very much.

Can't you close the window instead of closing Firefox?

You can find Close Window in the file menu if you use the keyboard to open the File menu (Alt+F) as it has class= show-only-for-keyboard.

Yes, I can. After reading your comment I decided to experiment to see exactly when I was having the problem. If I close the dragged tab or window only then it doesn't close out Firefox. However, if I move to a new workspace then start Firefox there again and then close the last window or tab in Firefox in either workspace it does close Firefox in all workspaces. Often I move to a new workspace to open Firefox again to start a new subject. So it appears that I will have to open the new tab or window then drag it to the new workspace first to avoid this problem. I can do that but it is a small inconvenience.

Thank-you.

I would not expect closing the last tab or window of Firefox in a specific workspace to close Firefox down, unless it was the last remaining Tab or window on your account.

Are your workspaces actually another Ubuntu account ?
If so they would be a separate instance of Firefox with a separate profile and the two Firefoxes would be independent of one another.

Have you considered trying using Firefox's tab groups. I am not sure this is still in development and may not always be totally reliable. It could be useful especially if the pages you work with often look very different, and so are easy to differentiate by looking at thumbnails.

• Use Tab Groups to organize a lot of tabs

When this happens all the workspaces which I am on are under the same user profile. (Although since I am fairly new to Linux a family member set up more than one desktop for me so I could see which one I liked best. However, I am logged in to only one desktop at a time and no one else is logged on in the computer under another profile or desktop when I am using it.)

I usually like to group the web pages myself so I'm not sure I would like Firefox's tab groups. I will read more on it though.

Thank you.

The tab groups lets you organise the content of each group yourself. It allows you to customise the display to show variable size thumbnails of groups of pages or of individual pages.

Just a word of caution with whatever method you use. The open tabs are slightly fragile, remember to also bookmark any important pages.

Note there are big improvements in Firefox Sync with the introduction of Firefox accounts in Firefox 29. That will be out at the end of the month.

• https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/02/07/introducing-mozilla-firefox-accounts/

I read up on using the group tabs. I don't think that will work for me for several reasons. Also, I feel like that will make the pages even more difficult to find quickly. Thanks for the suggestion though. I read about the Firefox sync but that does not appear to be helpful here unless it will sync workspaces on on my desktop. The Firefox sync appears that it will only be helpful in using between separate devices.

Thank you for all your help and information though.

At present Firefox sync only works between different devices. As of Firefox 29 (at the end of the month ) Firefox accounts will sync with a server and allow open tabs to be synced.

The tab groups may not help but may be an alternative method of organising open tabs either on one or on multiple workspaces.

To reiterate:

• You should be able to close Firefox Windows containing one or more tabs without closing Firefox, unless it is the last Firefox Window open.
• It should not be a problem to close one or all Windows in any particular Workspace as long as it is not the last Firefox Window.
• Firefox may remain open as you close a Window. You must however only use options to close the Window not Firefox itself.
• You may close Firefox itself from any ordinary Firefox Window,

I am hoping the above is what you see when you use Firefox.

After reading your last post, I decided to look and check all options for closing the Firefox windows. I found that if I close the last remaining window on a workspace by the "X" button in the right side of the Firefox title bar it does close Firefox out in all workspaces. However, I found that if I close the last remaining window on a workspace out by using the small Firefox icon drop down menu in the left side of the window & click close from this drop down menu it does not close Firefox out in all workspaces only in the one workspace. (It may have helped that I set up separate virtual desktops on the one desktop. I then opened Firefox in each workspace & clicked "Desktop 1 only"; then "Desktop 2 only" and etc. This appears to have solved the problem for now.

Thank-you for all your help.