Yesterday, the team behind the popular Firefox browser released a new version of the product. Firefox 61 is not available with a number of improvements and new features. One of the interesting, but hidden features of this new version is the ability to close tabs with a double-click. This new option is buried in about:config. Here is how to enable it.
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Earlier, it was possible to add the ability to close a tab by a double-click by installing a third-party extension. Having the native option in Firefox is obviously a move welcomed by most Firefox users.
Starting in Firefox 61, there is a new flag in about:config, browser.tabs.closeTabByDblclick. This feature is disabled by default and needs to be activated using the about:config page.
To enable Close Tabs with Double-Click in Firefox, do the following.
- Open a new tab and enter the following text in the address bar:
about:config
Confirm that you will be careful if a warning message appears for you.
- Enter the following text in the search box: browser.tabs.closeTabByDblclick.
- Set this value to true to enable the ability to close a tab by double-clicking on it.
- Now, double-click on any tab. It will be closed.
This is very useful. It is worth mentioning that many popular browsers, including Google Chrome, come with the same feature enabled out of the box. No extra steps are required if you are running Google Chrome, Vivaldi, Chromium, etc.
Modern versons of the Firefox browser come with a new user interface, codenamed "Photon", and features a new engine "Quantum". It was a difficult move for developers, because the browser drops support for XUL-based add-ons completely. All of the classic add-ons are deprecated and incompatible, and only a few have moved to the new WebExtensions API. Some of the legacy add-ons have modern replacements or alternatives. Unfortunately, there are plenty of useful add-ons which have no modern analogs. See
Must have add-ons for Firefox Quantum
That's it.
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I never use my mouse wheel for scrolling.
However I do use it as an extra button.
There appears to be a standard/convention allowing a centre click (depress mouse wheel) to close a Tab.
Firefox has that ‘out of the box’
Directory Opus has that ‘out of the box’
EditPad Lite has that ‘out of the box’
I like that ability, and use it all the time.
I recommend it.
Rob
this convenient and efficient function was in (the now sorely missed) TabMix Plus
many thnx for pointing this config entry out!
now, if there was a config item to set a timeout for the useful “Screenshot copied to clipboard” msg which comes out of the lower left corner which *requires a click to close*, that would be great … I’ve combed thru the config listing for everything pertaining to the Screenshot but find nothing