It would be nice [if they insist on the command being missing] to have SOMETHING beyond the control-W command [which fortunately still works]. I thought this was a windows application and not DOS. I expect the command to be available as a pull-down, especially since it has a long history of existence in a rational place.

It will be interesting to justify how removing a pull-down command is somehow "better".

cjl

What else is missing? Is there now no need for a refresh key? [Is there even a control-Key for that one?]

cjl [Hate people with "less is more" mentality; this kind of omission is the end result!]

Some menu entries are hidden by default and only appear if you use the keyboard to open the menu.

You can see the difference if you use Alt+F or Alt+B to open the File and Bookmarks menu and compare that to what you see if you use the mouse to open the menu after you have made the menu bar visible by pressing Alt or by pressing F10.

To make those hidden menu entries always visible you can add this code to userChrome.css below the @namespace line.

@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* only needed once */

/* Always show all hidden menu entries */
#navigator-toolbox menuitem[class="show-only-for-keyboard"] { display:-moz-box !important; }

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Editing_configuration
• ChromEdit Plus: http://webdesigns.ms11.net/chromeditp.html

OK. While of nuisance value [why isn't this the default?] I was able to perform the tip on Windows XP and yes, it does work.

First you have to locate your profile directory. This could be totally contrary to much of the documentation that shows where it is ONLY BY DEFAULT! In reality it is quite movable and is so moved when nuanced installers make a better-than-default system.

The best way to find it is to either use a profile manager or drill down to it:

Type on the Run command:

%APPDATA% and execute it [press OK, etc.] and it will expand into your local system and login profile-specific directory where applications store their application-specific directory.

For mine, %APPDATA% expands into:

G:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data

Why? Because:

1) I don't install onto drive C: like most of the suckers who get malware that attacks drive C:. You've got 3/4 of the battle licked just by using another drive. Then, the contents of drive C: are so tiny [and are totally static!] that you can recover from a bad malware crash by restoring so few files that they all fit on a diskette!]

And this also means I install multiple operating systems [on yet a different drive] so that malware generally badly attacking one system will not contaminate the other system where I run anti-malware programs from. The malware uses system protection so the anti-malware programs cannot find them. When you boot to the other system and scan the infected partition, they are easily located and zapped away.

2) I happened to boot to the Administrator account; this directory will be whatever you are using at the moment.

In any case, this is the directory where the Mozilla folder lives [in most recent Windows versions]. Within that folder is the Firefox folder, and within that folder lives a file named profiles.ini.

Within the profiles.ini file is the info we need. There may be several entries, generally starting with an entry such as [Profile0] . Each of them is relevant. If you only have one profile, that should be the only one. If you start Firefox from a choice of profiles, each of them will need this fix.

In any case, each entry has a path to the profile directory. If IsRelative=1 is set, then that means the profile data collection is within a folder right there named Profiles and the name is the folder name for that particular profile. However, if you have customized profiles, IsRelative=0 is likely set; the exact path is spelled out in the Path= statement. Thus you have located the directory used for the exact specific usage of Firefox you are using on that particular system on that particular login and that particular Firefox login name. Now to the actual modification!

Within the path now located will be a bunch of folders such as bookmarkbackups, Cache, extensions, minidumps, OfflineCache, startupCache, etc. but likely nothing named chrome; we will have to create this new folder in all likelihood. After ensuring it's there, create the userChrome.css file as described in the tip above. I used Windows Notepad.exe and renamed the file accordingly.

After that, restart Firefox, and the problem is solved. There is no apparent difference between initiating the pulldown menus via Alt key shortcuts versus using the mouse. [Now as to WHY a) There even should be a difference, b) There IS a difference, c) Why they couldn't default the setting so it worked the way FF 3.6 did is beyond me, but this does work despite the headache to implement it.]

Last thing: If you have other profiles, you can just copy the chrome folder and userChrome.css file to any and all of them [unless you use some other esoterica defined in the userChrome.css file that ought to not be propagated as such!].

cjl [Windows configuration veteran, but new to Firefox 4]

I agree with what you said,

"OK. While of nuisance value [why isn't this the default?]"

Why isn't it the default?

Why force users to switch from a mouse to a keyboard (control-w) just to close a tab?

The Reload button is on the right end of the location bar. The keyboard shortcuts for it which I know are F5 and Ctrl+R.

Keyboard solutions are not helpful.

The missing item is the "Close Tab" button which appears on Firefox 3.6.17 when you click on the "File" button

It is bad design and bad usability to force a user who is using a mouse to suddenly switch to the keyboard.

I can type "control-w" on the keyboard but that means switching from mouse to keyboard just for one function.

And no where on the screen does it tell me that "control-w" closes the tab!

How is the user supposed to even know about this "secret" keyboard combination?

You can middle click a tab or click the close button on that tab or right click a tab to close that tab.

None of these work for me.

I have two windows open. The second window has 1 tab and I wish to close it.

1) Middle click on the tab?

   No, that does not work for me.  Nothing happens. 
   I am running under the X Window system on Linux.

2) Click the close button?

   No, there is no close button. 
   This is a single tab on a single window.  
   The close buttons don't show up until a second tab is
   opened.

3) Right click and then click on the close tab button.

   No.    Even though close tab button appears, it is greyed
   out and does not work.

I do agree that these should be choices, especially 2) and 3).

Why is there no close tab "X" on a single tab on a single window?

Why is the close tab greyed out when I right click on a single tab in a single window?

@comet.berkeley: sorry, I was replying to CLASystems (cjl)'s message.

@cor-el: middle-clicking only works when there are multiple tabs (maybe also, if that is possible, when the last tab would not close the window).

Set the pref browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab to false on the about:config page to prevent closing the last tab from closing that window, you need to use "File > Close Window" or the close X on the title bar.

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

@cor-el, sorry, I wasn't asking a question.

@comet.berkeley, was cor-el's comment about unhiding the menu entries permanently by editing userChrome.css not helpful? If you still want a cleaner menu, there are extensions for that, e.g. "Menu Editor".

This change is bad.

I have automation which relies on menu items being on screen.

For example, because Adobe Reader takes over the keyboard, back key doesn't work.

So I send a click to the back arrow, but if it is the last item (ie back button greyed out meaning the PDF was a pop-up tab), I send a click to the file menu, then click the close tab menu item, but now it is not there!

Should at least have a settings/config option. This goes for anything removed in the future (like the back/fwd dropdown button!!).

I have "solved" the problem.

I stopped using Firefox and switched to Seamonkey...

Seamonkey Project

Seamonkey uses the same Mozilla internals as Firefox.

Seamonkey allows me to use most of the old plugins including Flash and No-Script.

And it has kept its user interface stable for many releases...