Firefox closing multiple tabs (Rant)

[iCyborg]

As the title says, this is really just a rant.

I usually keep 40+ tabs open in FF, as well as a few windows (typically only one window has multiple tabs), and at startup I just restore session. After a few instances of things going wrong, I enabled "ask if multiple tabs are being closed" couple years ago.

Fast forward to present time. My tax software has a feature where it can pre-fill the return with info from the government. The way it works is the application opens a new tab in the default browser (FF obviously) where you log in to some govt site, it pulls the info, then it closes that FF window. Not just a tab, not the whole Firefox, but that one window, and I had a couple more. I opened another instance thinking it would restore it, but no, just a blank page. And at that point it's gone. FF only saves the very last session which was that blank page.

One problem is the idiotic software that closes the browser after opening a tab, but let's skip this...

However, what really pissed me off was why didn't FF warn me that multiple tabs were being closed?? I go into settings, and there's no such setting any more. Apparently Mozilla in their wisdom decided that they won't allow this setting if "restore session" is used. I really don't see that much logic in this, especially when it allows third party software to just close FF, what if I had a download active? And if only it kept at least the last couple sessions to give me some recourse, but nope.

Apparently it's a known problem that Mozilla hasn't cared about in years, and the best solution is an add-on. So something I consider as really basic functionality, and something that exists in both IE and Chrome and probably every multi-tab browser, and something that existed in FF possibly before IE/Chrome, now requires an add-on in FF?? Really Mozilla...
I usually read release notes before updating, I guess I'll have to pay closer attention to it in case Mozilla decides to remove some more common stuff out of the blue.

I really don't want to switch to Chrome as Google is creepy for my taste, and they have enough info on me already. But I swear I sometimes think Mozilla has some "Fifth column" developers whose real agenda is to push people towards Chrome...

tl;dr
Why did Mozilla remove warning when multiple tabs are being closed, especially with its shoddily implemented "restore previous session" feature? Why, oh why...

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Just tested this and I do get the prompt warning me I am about to close multiple tabs. I also think the session restore feature is on but i'm not sure. Where exactly is "restore previous session" again?

 

[balloonshark]

Just tested this and I do get the prompt warning me I am about to close multiple tabs. I also think the session restore feature is on but i'm not sure. Where exactly is "restore previous session" again?

It in your History. I use it all the time. I also get the multiple tab warning on version 46.0. As far as I know the warning is the default behavior. It does look like the removed the option though as there used to be a tabs tab in the options. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/k...=closing-multiple-tabs-option-disable-warning

Then they moved it to the general tab. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/startup-home-page-tabs-download-settings

Now I don't see it at all. Apparently mozilla wants people to use add-ons or dig into the about:config.

From the first link. You want to set it to true.

• Warn me when closing multiple tabs: When you close a window with multiple tabs, Firefox will ask you to confirm your choice. This prevents you from accidentally closing the whole window when you intended to only close the current tab. Uncheck this option to disable this warning and have Firefox automatically close the window.
• Note: This setting has no effect on the warning when closing other tabs in a window.
  If you want to disable the warning when closing other tabs, set a preference to false:
• In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.
  • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise! to continue to the about:config page.
• In the Search field box at the top, type browser.tabs.warnOnCloseOtherTabs.
• Double-click the browser.tabs.warnOnCloseOtherTabs preference to set its value to false.

 

[iCyborg]

After finding out the option is gone from Settings, I played with about:config. It will work if I do ALT-F4 or click on X to close the main window, i.e. I will get the warning. But I will not get the warning if I do File->Exit, I did not find a proper reliable solution for this other than the 'Always Ask' add-on.
I don't know what did the tax software do, but it definitely didn't ask me anything and it was already set to warn me in about:config. It just doesn't seem to work in all cases, which is stupid since the add-on so far always works, so not like it's not doable or anything...

 

[coffeemonster]

if you want to try chrome but not be associated with google.(I feel the same way) Try Vivaldi