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For users of the new Firefox 2 browser, surfing the Web has just changed forever.

Under the hood of the recently updated open source Web browser lies in a little setting called "Tabs." By default, the good people who developed the browser made a decision to force hyperlinks to open Web pages in a "new tab" when the link's author actually intended it to open in a "new window" - BIG difference.

When a Website designer intends for a link to be opened in a new window, most of the time they use the attribute "target" with a value of "_blank" within an anchor element. For example: Another method employs javascript, and is currently one of the only ways to open a new window from a link and still validate for strict standards compliance. For example, either: Both methods open a link in a new window, with the former being the most prominent by far. Firefox 2 just changed all of that. When either of those links are clicked using Firefox 2 with default settings, they will open in a "new tab" instead of a "new window" (remember, this is "not" what the Website's designer intended).

One of the reasons Website authors use a "new window" link is to (right or wrong) prevent traffic from leaving their site. With a new window opened by a link, the originating Website is still available and in the window below. Now, this second window will be opened in a new tab - something that the vast majority of Web users just don't expect or understand.

The appearance of a new window is opened it's noticeable and, more importantly, understood by the user. They are used to "new window" links and understand that by closing the new window, they're back where they started.

By contrast, when a "new tab" is opened by Firefox 2 by clicking a "new window" link, it's hardly noticeable at all by the user. A small and almost imperceptible shift may occur due to tabs showing up for the first time (one containing the originating Website and one containing the linked-to Website), however, the user's focus is usually in the center of the window, not the top bar where the tabs are displayed.

Users will undoubtedly and instinctively try to close their browser window or try the "back" button to return to the originating Website. Neither will work. Closing the browser window will close all tabs (after an alert is displayed). The "back" button will be unavailable because there's no previous Website to go back to (tabs reference their own self-contained "previous" and "next" browsing history). All of this results in user disconnect and flies in the face of acceptable and expected Web browser functionality.

This change in Firefox 2 may affect seasoned Web users as well - even those familiar with tabbed browsing. Though these and many other settings are changeable from within the browser's "Preferences", in previous builds of Firefox, you had the following choices for opening links: In Firefox 2, this all-encompassing list of five different choices has been squeezed down to just two: The problem here is that the type of user who will change these settings (power users), let alone those who actually know they exist, will want the larger list of choices from the previous versions of Firefox. Firefox 2 simply doesn't accommodate these power users - ironically, the people giving Firefox the most support.

To add to the confusion for power users, there's another setting for "When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately." Leaving this unchecked, as it is by default, means that when a user intentionally opens a link in another tab, the current Web page will not be affected in any way and will still be in the forefront. But when the other setting for "New pages should be opened in a new tab" is selected, the opposite happens. With this configuration, links intentionally opened in a "new tab" are still done so in the background. Click on a "new window" link, however, and the new tab is opened in the foreground!

If you're a Website designer and want to prevent this from happening to your "new window" links, you'll have to replace your code with javascript links that pass the window features parameter to the window.open method: Interestingly, Firefox gives the user an option of right-clicking or control-clicking a hyperlink and then choosing to open it in a new tab. Trying this with either of the links above will not work as the link will still open in a new window (hurray for Web designers, too bad for power users!).

The consequences of this decision by the Firefox 2 crew are huge and wide-reaching, and the negative effect on usability will be compounded each and every time their new browser is downloaded.

Yes, you can work around these settings with various extensions to Firefox - but users should not have to go through all that just to make it work properly. And remember, the vast majority of Web users have no idea nor interest in such a work-around - and these are the people Firefox is trying to reach! If Microsoft would have made this a default action in their new Internet Explorer 7 Web browser, no doubt the blogs and forums would have been rampant with Microsoft bashing essays (and no, IE7 does not have this problem). That is not to say, however, that IE7 is the better browser (because it simply isn't).

Was this done to keep perceived window clutter to a minimum? Or was it done to force-feed tabbed browsing down the throats of new users?

The irony of such "features" is reinforced when reading the marketing copy on Firefox's download page ("Enjoy a Better Web Experience") and thinking of that other browser maker that everyone loves to hate for much of the same reasons.

I love Firefox, our entire shop uses Firefox and we encourage each of our clients to switch away from IE. But it can't be overlooked how much this will effect Web browsing for Firefox users - not to mention the immediate impact it has for previously designed Websites - all of which must be changed immediately to accommodate our new browser.