How to get a new tab to load home page?

Hi,

This took a while to figure out, so I'd like to make
it easier for others:

Apparently, if you want a brand new tab to load your
home page in FireFox--you are out of luck using
FireFox's "native" functionality. You need to add
an "extension" (not "extention").

Mozilla had this functionality at some point:

===============================================================
Look for "browser.tabs.loadOnNewTab" at:

http://preferential.mozdev.org/preferences.html

and you will see:

What should be displayed in a newly created tab

* -1 : Browser startup page
* 0 : Blank page
* 1 : Your homepage
* 2 : Last visited page

Supposedly, if you were to type in:

about:config

in FireFox, the configuration file would
show up and you could type in:

browser.tabs.loadOnNewTab

and that setting will show up. Then,
supposedly, right click, "Modify".

Don't even try it. It doesn't work!

More scattered info here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=269664

===============================================================

Back to how to get it to actually work...

In order to get a newly opened tab to load your homepage,
you need to employ an extension.

The extension that allows you to do this is called:

Tabbrowser Preferences

Info on extensions:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/?application=firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=158&application=firefox
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Info on Tabbrowser Preferences:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://216.55.161.203/theonekea/tabprefs/
http://216.55.161.203/theonekea/
http://www.intraplanar.net/projects/tabprefs
http://www.google.com/search?q=Tabbrowser+Preferences
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To load "Tabbrowser Preferences", you will need to allow your
browser to allow Web sites to install software. Normally,
this should be TURNED OFF for security. To temporarily turn
it on, mouse to:

Tools -> Options -> Web Features

Click on "Allow Web sites to install software" to enable
this ability. Click on OK.

Now browse to this page:

https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=158&application=firefox

Go down the page a bit and click on:

"Install Now"

A window shows up, displaying the URL:

<http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla....erences/tabbrowser_preferences-1.2.7.1-fx.xpi>

and an "Install Now" button. Click on the button.

The Extensions window shows up, downloads the Tabbrowser Preferences
extension, and shows up in the window.

Close the Extensions window once it has installed.

Immediately go to Tools -> Options -> Web Features

Click on "Allow Web sites to install software" to DISABLE
this ability. The checkbox should be UNCHECKED. Click on OK.

You have now loaded the Tabbrowser Preferences extension. However,
you will need to close FireFox in order for it to work since
this extension loads on startup.

Shut down FireFox, restart, then mouse to:

Tools -> Options -> Tabbed Browsing


Look in the window for:

[-] Load the following in new tabs

If it has a [+] sign on the left, click on it and you will see:

Browser's home page (in newly created tabs)


Check this check box. You will probably want to
check the radio button:

(*) Load this in the foreground


If you already have a "New Tab" button on one of
your toolbars, then you might want to disable the one
that Tabbrowser Preferences creates. To do so, mouse
down to:

Show the new tab button on the tab bar (requires restart)

Uncheck the check box. Click OK.

Now to get everything working, close out FireFox, then
start it up again. When you open up a new tab by
clicking on the "New Tab" button or using the keyboard
shortcut of "Ctrl-T", your home page should show up
in the new tab window.

 

All I do is click the new Tab button on the toolbar and then click
the homepage button. But have never found a need to do that.

 

or you middle click the homepage button... lol

 

My middle click does a auto scroll. New tab or old. I am still
running os and mouse from the 90s. <g>

 

well linux is there if ya want it... free, open source, this year.
constant development [list goes on ]

 

I do not have enough experience to take on Linux. Maybe one day I
will give it a try. It has taken me 12 years to get use to the many
versions of dos and Windows.

 

i switched 2 or 3 months ago after trying a live cd of suse and knoppix
n i am still learning but am competant now, and google is a great help
for problems if there are any

 

Jedi writes:

... that's all well and good unless you own a laptop. Seriously, I remember when there was something in the Options dialog where you could specify in "Tabs" that you wanted it to open to your homepage every time you open a new Tab. The only reason I can think of that would cause them to remove that functionality would be if Opera sued them ... or some such nonesense ...

 

In the new version of firefox they have made it easy to change the home page on a new tab via the config setttings.

http://computerlearnhow.com/how-to-change-the-firefox-new-tab-homepage-to-something-useful/

Hope that helps