Can I specify the URL associated with a New Tab item more precisely?
Let me describe a very specific problem, and you can see how it leads to the general question.
If I go to Ars Technica using http://arstechnica.com/?view=mobile, there is a very useful feature at the upper left called Comment Replies. I like the feature, and it is not available in the full view. Nevertheless, I normally prefer the formatting I get at Ars Technica when I go there with http://arstechnica.com/?view=full, so I really want to be able to use either URL depending on my purpose. Unfortunately, all the Next Tab item seems to get is http://arstechnica.com/ with no "view" parameter. Now it turns out that the Ars site is apparently putting a cookie in my browser which tells it which view mode I was last using and the Ars site resumes in my last mode when I use the New Tab tile for Ars. That is not what I want. I want to be able to go directly to the view I wish, as it is cumbersome to get from one view to the other once I've got the wrong view.
Right now I have 2 separate bookmarks which include the view parameters. Since I go to Ars site very frequently, I would really like to be able to use New Tab to do it; but I can't figure out how to get separate tiles for each of the 2 links in there.
Chosen solution
If you create a bookmark for each URL, you then should be able to drag/pin them individually. See: Customize your Firefox New Tab page ("Add a Tile from your bookmarks"). Does that work?
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What add-on are you using that allows you to set the New Tab URL?
The old 'hidden' preference for doing that was removed from Firefox quite a few versions ago.
Chosen Solution
If you create a bookmark for each URL, you then should be able to drag/pin them individually. See: Customize your Firefox New Tab page ("Add a Tile from your bookmarks"). Does that work?
You can create two bookmarks on the Bookmarks Toolbar with their location fields set respectively. You can middle-click the bookmark with the mouse scroll wheel or hold down Ctrl and left-click the bookmark to open the link in a new tab.
the-edmeister said
What add-on are you using that allows you to set the New Tab URL?
None. That's why I have a problem.
cor-el said
You can create two bookmarks on the Bookmarks Toolbar with their location fields set respectively.
The two bookmarks I spoke of in my last paragraph were already in a folder on my bookmark toolbar.
jscher2000 said
If you create a bookmark for each URL, you then should be able to drag/pin them individually. See: Customize your Firefox New Tab page ("Add a Tile from your bookmarks"). Does that work?
Yes. Thanks. The view parameter sticks that way. (It was the tile that Firefox was creating automatically after I went to the site that did not contain the view parameter, due to the fact that the Ars site itself was stripping it from what ultimately appeared in my location bar.)
jscher2000 said
DrHow saidcor-el saidYou can create two bookmarks on the Bookmarks Toolbar with their location fields set respectively.The two bookmarks I spoke of in my last paragraph were already in a folder on my bookmark toolbar.
And if you drag and drop them each of them on the new tab page... no luck?
I was not successful in dragging them out of their folder (on the bookmarks toolbar) directly. I had to first create copies on the toolbar itself.
Oops! The new tiles do bring up the Ars home page with the desired view. However, this does not seem to change the cookie (or whatever) by which the server remembers what it considers to be my desired format. Consequently, if I had been in mobile view on last visit and revisit using the full view, when I click a link on the full view page, the new page comes up mobile style. The behavior seems to be asymmetrical in the sense that the view which sticks is the mobile view. The only way I can completely get rid of it is to go to their configuration setting while in mobile view and select VIEW FULL SITE. This persistence of mobile view happens even with my earlier bookmarks; I just had not noticed it yet since the initial view on using either bookmark was correct.
I am now doubtful that there is any fix from the Firefox side, at least not short of some Javascript which fools with their cookies. I can probably live with mobile view on everything but the home page.
Thanks for the help anyway. Although the help did address the question as I asked it, it did not really solve the underlying problem which I thought it would solve.
You could make the cookies session cookies (allow for session) and let them expire when you close Firefox or access the website in a New Private Window.
You can use an extension to get Private Browsing mode support per tab.
- https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/private-tab/
- Private Browsing mode tabs get a dashed underline
- You can toggle Private Browsing mode out-of- via the right-click context menu of a tab
cor-el said
You could make the cookies session cookies (allow for session) and let them expire when you close Firefox or access the website in a New Private Window.
Thanks for persisting with the help. In this case, the suggestion by jscher2000 was easier to implement.
jscher2000 said
When I hover the full site link it says: http://arstechnica.com/?view=grid Does that work for you?
Suprisingly, yes! I had actually just guessed "full" because the link for toggling the state from mobile mode was "View Full Site". Since it seemed to work, I assumed I had got it right. But it appears that "full" is not a valid name for the view state, so it only resulted in the default view without actually resetting the cookie.
So whose link were you hovering over? Normally, I would not expect the view parameter on the URL.
Thanks. It is working exactly as I wish now. This does not actually change the solution to my original question, so I am leaving the Chosen Solution. It answers a new question about what is the correct URL to specify so precisely in this Ars Technica case; but that is of much less general interest.
PS - It turns out that I can drag the links out of a folder on the toolbar. It turns out that it was just too clumsy to pull off with the buttonless trackpad on the little laptop I was trying to do it with. With the mouse on my desktop, no problem.
Modified by DrHow
DrHow said
So whose link were you hovering over? Normally, I would not expect the view parameter on the URL.
I found the link on the mobile page somewhere, maybe on the "3-bar" menu?
jscher2000 said
DrHow saidSo whose link were you hovering over? Normally, I would not expect the view parameter on the URL.I found the link on the mobile page somewhere, maybe on the "3-bar" menu?
Oh, yeah! It's just the "View Full Site" link for reconfiguring that I was referring to. I failed to notice the pop up whenever I clicked it. Odd, because I do often look down there in the lower left hand corner to make sure a link expands the way I think it should.
(Don't most folks refer to a 3-bar icon as a "hamburger" nowadays? I never understood what was wrong with the gear icon.)
The "3-bar" button is common on web pages as a menu button, especially on websites for mobile devices and is also used on mobile devices, so for consistency it is also used in the user interface of desktop devices.
cor-el said
The "3-bar" button is common on web pages as a menu button, especially on websites for mobile devices and is also used on mobile devices, so for consistency it is also used in the user interface of desktop devices.
Yes, but there was a precedent for the gear icon on Web pages that switched from it to the hamburger icon. I.e., I was familiar with gears long before I ever saw a 3-bar icon. I never understood the switch because the connotation of the gear icon is actually much better. The 3 bars suggest nothing to me at all. You just have to know that that is what is used for a configuration menu. It has never been a problem for me. I am adaptable. But it has confused my neighbors.