Firefox startup behaviour

[Michael Favia]

Jonathan Berry wrote:
> On 2/10/06, William John Murray <W.J.Murray at rl.ac.uk> wrote:
>>  There is a minor, but annoying, behaviour with the firefox launching
>> behaviour in FC5T2. If I click on a link, e.g. in an email, firefox
>> is launched. Good. If I click on a second link it is not launched again,
>> but instead a new tab is opened. Fine.
>>    However, if the original window is on a different workspace, then I
>> get no feedback that anything has happened.
>>
>>   This has obviously been worked on:  If there are two existing firefox
>> sessions the one in the current workspace is used. IF that is iconised
>> it is opened.
>>   But can we go one step further, and open a new window if the existing
>> one is off workspace?
> 
> This should be controlled by Firefox.  There is a setting in Firefox
> that controls where new links are opened. 
> Edit->Preferences->Tabs->"Open links from other applications in:"  I
> would not expect that Firefox can know what workspace it is on and if
> that is not the current workspace.
> 
Agreed but it does beg the question as to how you might hint to the 
window manager that there is something that needs attention in another 
workspace. I often run into this issue because i utilize all 4 workspace 
configured on this desktop.

A configurable setting at the window manager level with good defaults 
would be appreciated. In my opinion the default behavior should notify 
you in the notification area and offer you the ability to switch to the 
relevant workspace by clicking on it. That way we don't force focus away 
from current tasks (because these events aren't alway user generated) 
and we still give them all the information and ability to make the 
decision. An alternative would be to flash the workspace with the needed 
attention (much like the flashing application bar activity).

I don't think that the application should be raised on the current 
workspace or that workspaces should ever be automatically switched. 
Because of the disruptive nature of such events. -mf