How do I restore tab behavior back to the way it was in FF 3.5??

Question

I just upgraded to FF 3.6.13, I generally wait to upgrade until any new bugs have been identified and corrected. In FF 3.5, when I opened a new tab from a link, the new tab appeared to the right of the current tab (NOT at the very end of the tab bar) and the focus STAYED ON THE CURRENT TAB. If I opened multiple new tabs, they each opened to the right of the previously opened new tab, as in <original tab sequence> Yahoo Facebook GMail MyBlog <New tab sequence after opening links> Yahoo Facebook NewFBLink1 NewFBLink2 NewFBLink3 NewFBLink4 GMail MyBlog, with the focus remaining on the CURRENT TAB (in this example Facebook, from which I was opening the links). In 3.6.13, the tabs SOMETIMES open to the right of the current tab, sometimes at the end of the tab bar, and no matter how I fiddle the settings, I cannot make them CONSISTENT. Have tried the extensions 'Tab Mix Plus' and 'New Tab at End' - these do not give me consistent behavior - sometimes they do as I wish, sometimes not. In addition, sometimes the focus stays on the current tab (which is what I want) - sometimes the focus changes to the new tab just opened, sometimes it stays on the current tab until I've opened 3 or 4 new tabs, then jumps to one of the new ones. In the 'options', I do NOT have 'when I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately' checked; yet sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. HOW do I achieve consistent behavior?? This is why I don't upgrade often. Very frustrating. I have not changed any plugins, other than trying Tab Mix Plus and New Tabs at End after upgrading to 3.6.13, once I realized that the tab behavior was not consistent. How can I go back to FF 3.5 ???

Answer 1

First of all, sometimes Extensions can interfere with one another. That '''''<u>MAY</u>''''' be the case with your using both Tab Mix Plus and New Tabs at End. They both have a function that you can set for where new tabs appear. TMP has options concerning focus on new tabs.
My suggestions are:
#Un-install New Tabs at End (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions, click New Tabs at End, click Uninstall, then exit and restart Firefox).
#*If using no other extension that affect where tabs appear (to the right of current tab or at end of all open tabs), a simple preference change can affect that change for you, <u>and you have one less extension to be concerned with</u>. I have also made this change as TMP did not have the Focus options to do this when the "new tab at end" feature first appeared or when I first started using the version of Firefox in which this feature appeared:
#*#Type '''about:config''' in the URL bar and press the Enter key.
#*#*See: http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config
#*#If you see the warning, accept it (promise to be careful).
#*#Filter = browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent
#*#Look at the "Value" column ('''false'''=open at end, '''true'''=open after current tab); Value = true is the default.
#*#Double-click that preference to toggle the value from true to false, or false to true
#*#Restart Firefox (File > Restart Firefox)
#*#See: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/02/01/change-firefox-to-open-new-tab-at-far-right-end-of-tabbar-disable-insert-next-to-current-active-tab/
#Tab Mix Plus settings
#*Open the Tab Mix Plus Options (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions, click Tab Mix Plus, click Options)
#*Click on Events > Tab Opening
#*#Place a check mark before "Open new tabs next to current one"
#*#I have checked "Open other tabs next to current one"
#*##I have un-checked "Only if related to current tab"
#*##I have un-checked "Change opening order"
#*#I have checked "Open duplicated tabs next to original"
#*Click Events > Tab Focus
#*#If you ALWAYS want to stay on the current tab and let the new tabs open in the background, un-check everything. These selections will/should over-ride Tools > Options > Tabs, "When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately"
See if the above changes give you the results you are seeking. Tab Mix Plus has lots of options. You may need to change one or two settings at a time until it behaves the way you desire. Keep track of the changes you make so that you can easily re-trace/re-set when the results are not what you want.