IE7 Tabbed Browsing Problem

[howard]

This is more an annoyance than a problem. This past week, I've been reading up on it and trying various things, none of which have worked. Much of what I have read is in user groups and forums, and the most common thing is for people to misunderstand the question, or to offer suggestions they would give to someone turning on a computer for the first time. That's less likely to happen here, hence this post.

The problem is with tabbed browsing on a new installation of IE7 on a second computer. It works fine on the first computer, so it's not a problem with IE7, just with my installation on the new machine. Both computers run XP-Pro. I'm looking for an answer from someone who has experienced the same problem or who, having read this, can offer a solution.

On the user groups and forums, a very common "solution" offered is to switch to Firefox. That would be a good solution for someone who has never used tabbed browsing. I've used tabbed browsing for years, and have IE, Firefox, Opera, and Netscape installed and working fine. In fact, IE7 works fine on one computer, just not on the second computer. Well, it works fine on the second computer, but tabbed browsing is not working the way it should.

Here is the problem: I want links from other programs, such as Outlook Express, to open in a new tab in the same window (same IE session). From cpl > internet properties > general > tabs > settings, the function "Open links from other programs" has three options: "A new window", "A new tab in the current window", "The current tab or window". Regardless of which is selected, a link from within Outlook Express will only open a new IE session window, and subsequent links from Outlook Express will only open in the same tab in that same window (as if tabbed browsing did not exist).

The list of what I have tried would take pages, and I'd like fresh thought, so please have at it.

For those who don't know, with IE7, Microsoft now has a browser with tabs. This "innovation" has been around for years, and seems to have started with Firefox. For those who like Internet Explorer, but are annoyed by tabs, you can turn them off and have a classic browser experience. My favorite browser is Opera, so I'm a little different.

[webado]

Haha - in the same boat as I am, with variations of flavor ;)


Try from IE7 > Tools > Internet Options > General tab + Tabs Settings button and see what you find.

My problem is that I want links from OE messages to open in a new IE7 window yet it insists on opening them in some tab in a random already opened IE7 window - but then I have to go through all my IE7 windows to see which one has the foreign tab LOL

I don't want to disable tabbed browsing but I want to specify when I want it used myself as of when I want it. It seems to be all or none now. Similarly I want it to respect links supspoed to open in a new window (like target="_blank" ) and actually do that - but currently they open not only in the same window but in the same current tab.

[howard]

You got that right. My General > Tab (settings) has all the stuff checked properly - I know fully well how it should work, because it works at home. On some of the user groups I've read, some don't have all the radio buttons to click. At least I've got them, but they don't work as they are supposed to.

[webado]

Well all I can think of is you have to let all the blasted IE7 updates be applied. Every time I go check for updates I find a few more, so maybe one day the rigth one will be applied.

I thought I had automatic updates enabled (but with prompting to let me review them) but maybe it's not fully enabled ... more mysteries....

[howard]

Updates, Updates, Updates!

I'm wondering if it isn't the updates that mess it. The sometimes change thing unexpectedly.

[webado]

Updates, Updates, Updates!

I'm wondering if it isn't the updates that mess it. The sometimes change thing unexpectedly.

That's possible, but just befroe my pc crashed I had it pretty much where I wanted to have it and I was up-to-date with all the updates. Unless a few more came during these few days since I reinstalled everyhting, I don't see what could change stuff.

But then again, I have many weird things. My IE Developer toolbar no longer sits in the chorme of the browser where other toolbars sit - it's kind of external, and need to be pinned at the bottom of the screen. It works like .. crap, 'xcuse my language. Didn't do that BEFORE! Half the stuff has no room to show and I cna't pick it.

[howard]

My problem is that I want links from OE messages to open in a new IE7 window yet it insists on opening them in some tab in a random already opened IE7 window
I just remembered something I read that doesn't solve my problem but might solve yours...

I guess I didn't save the link to the tip, but I read that IE7 is set to always open a link in a new window if the url is in the trusted zone. Of course, you may not want that link there, but you might try it as an experiment.

[webado]

I just turned off the entire tabbed browsing thing. Didn't have it befroe IE7, didn't need it, still don't need it now.:grin:
Too hard to control. Never use it willingly in FF either.

[trackerm]

Hi Howard,

I'm not being a 'get Fireflop' guy, but I have been using IE7 based Maxthon for years and it gives you great control over tabs.

IE7 and others have very few options these days... its to try to keep it simple for cretins... however pleopl;e like us would like to have greater control!
Not only do I use links from Outlook Express emails all the time - many times per day as Real Estate agent robbers send me more ramshackle dumps to view and I like the tabs to be in order from left to right in order of when the link was clicked. Same if I select links from Google I want the 10 or so tabs to load from the tab to the right of my google page and then be in a set line so the tab at the right is the higest ranked result.

The point is that I can be quite finicky about the way my browser works because Maxthon has a huge number of options pages.. plus you still get your IE7 options!

I ever only use IE7 very very occasionally. I can bet if you put Maxthon on as well as IE7 you will find you naturally gravitate to the one that does the best thing :)

If you do get it have a play with groups of tabs. Thats wehere if you often open, say, the same 10 sites you can put them in a group and by clciking one button all open up together! Then the links from each open next to their original tab. I can often have 50 tabs open but ALL in neat order, any new ones quietly loading in the background etc.

www.maxthon.com (http://www.maxthon.com)


Mark

[trackerm]

Oh, and the first option on the first Options page is: Allow only one Maxthon window. So your problem would be solved in that way if your second computer tries to get naughty :)

[NeilB]

Hey Mark - I have just looked at the Maxthon thing and I wondered if you had used the remote access facility they offer and if so how secure is it?

Cheers
Neil

[trackerm]

if you had used the remote access facility they offer and if so how secure is it?



No I havent used it or even researched it. I don't like the idea of any form of remote access whatsoever. Even my wireless network between the modem and Nicolles computer and mine worries me... I spose you could set it up and we could all see if we could hack you! :)

Mark

[geordie joe]

I'm not being a 'get Fireflop' guy, but I have been using IE7 based Maxthon for years

How d'you manage that? IE7 has only been out for five mintues, so how have you been using a browser based on it for years?

[trackerm]

How d'you manage that? IE7 has only been out for five mintues, so how have you been using a browser based on it for years?

Maxthon (and before that MyIE2) was using IE6 as an engine running a tabbed browser. Its kinda like a very extensive 'skin' of IE, but approved by Microsoft. I was thinking IE7 would be BETTER than maxthon and I could ditch Maxthon, but IE7 was a pale, gutless waste of time. And if its like IE6 there will only be one update every few years, where Maxthon is constantly being improved.

It used tabs before Firefox.

[howard]

I have been using IE7 based Maxthon for years and it gives you great control over tabs.
That's what I may do. Back in my IE-5 days, I used Maxthon (then called MY-IE2). That hooked me on tabbed browsing. I wanted something with better security, and the newer versions of IE would not run on my old slow machine, so I tried Opera. Not only did it run as fast as IE (actually faster), but it had loads of features now incorporated in IE7.

[howard]

Now I am wondering... should I turn off the tabbed features on IE7 and run Maxthon, or roll back to IE6 and run Maxthon...

Ideas anyone?

(yes, there is reported to be a way to roll it back, but it's not on add/remove)

[donecweb]

I also have used Maxthon for years and if you want to use the IE engine it is a great browser. Sorry I feel the same way Mark does about remote security and so I can't shed any light on the remote question. However the first tabbed browser was IE. Then Microsoft decided it was a bad idea and did away with it. Next the original MyIE (but by a different name) came out with tabbed browsing to make up for the change. Then Netscape came out and used tabbed browsing and was followed with Mozilla and other browsers. Until we now get back to EI tabbed browsing and Microsoft is behind the curve with the feature they started.

[trackerm]

should I turn off the tabbed features on IE7 and run Maxthon, or roll back to IE6 and run Maxthon...



Just leave IE7 there as normal and add Maxthon as your default. IE7 will just sit there and vegitiate :)

[howard]

Just leave IE7 there as normal and add Maxthon as your default. IE7 will just sit there and vegitiate :)
Will it grow mold or fungus?

[howard]

Maxthon wins.

I uninstalled IE7, reinstalled it from the Windows Update, as I had done on the old XP machine. No joy. I installed Maxthon (actually MyIE2, which I like better), made it my default browser, touched up the options, and everything worked exactly as it was supposed to.

Mind you, IE7 works exactly the way it should on the old XP machine, just not on the new XP machine. There are only two features I wish IE/Maxthon would do that Opera does - undo closing a window or tab, and play a download before it finishes. I've been told IE will alow opening a file while it is downloading, but I haven't figured out how to do that. Opera, Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape all do it, but in IE, the icon for the file doesn't appear until after the file has finished loading. Any clues here?

[webado]

Are you talking about an audio or video file being played before it's finished downloading?

Then you are talking about pseudo streaming. You need to access that media file through a meta file. They are not necessary for Real Media and for Quicktime mov files, because those players automatically perform streaming for those media types. But others (mp3, mpg, wmv, wma) need to be helped along.

I have tutorials on making meta files to stream media through WMP.

[howard]

>Are you talking about an audio or video file being played before it's finished downloading?

Yes.

>Then you are talking about pseudo streaming.

Well,

>I have tutorials on making meta files to stream media through WMP

ok,

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about what to do on a web page, but what I do on my computer, when I've elected to download, rather than play a file. For example, if I'm downloading an mp3 it in Opera or Firefox, the icon for the file appears in the download folder, wherever I've set that up to be - presently, my desktop, just as soon as the download begins. Therefore, I can click on the icon, which causes the file to open in the application I have assigned to it, which happens to be Winamp for mp3's, and I can start listening just as soon as I start downloading. Pretty good. Even when I had dialup, I could listen to whatever part was loaded while the file played to that point.

I believe IE downloads to a temp file, then transfers the file to the destination folder when the download is complete, whereas Opera and Firefox download it directly to the destinaton location, rather than to a temp location first.

Am I missing something here? Is there actually a way to get IE to do the same thing by changing the settings on my browser or computer? Once again, I can decide to play the file, but what I want to do is download it, and I want to be able to listen to it while it is downloading.

[trackerm]

I wish IE/Maxthon would - undo closing a window or tab, and play a download before it finishes.

It does!
Maxthon - the latest Maxthon 2 does play whilst downloading and as for the undo list at least the last 20 pages and you can click either the Undo for the last tab or see a list for the last 20 pages and undo any or all of those.

Lots of ohter benifits of the new version 2. MyIE2 is now very old... M2 is a beta (but very stable version: http://beta.maxthon.com/

You can install it independantly from MyIE2 so why dont you do that and give it a try? Heres some other things over Myie2 http://beta.maxthon.com/feature.htm

These are the things I use most / best features

Double click to close on window, tab etc

http://beta.maxthon.com/images/icons/feature_mouse.gif Mouse Gestures

Hold right mouse button and perform the gestures to access common features. I use a left or right stroke to go to the next or previous tab. and up or down to refresh.

Super Drag&Drop

Drag & drop links, text, images in the web page to open, search and save them.

http://beta.maxthon.com/images/icons/feature_adhunter.gif Ad Hunter

Block popup ads, image banners and Flash ads. You can add items into black list by right clicking them.
http://beta.maxthon.com/images/icons/feature_undo.gif Undo List

Closed a tab by mistake? There is always a chance to get them back with the Undo List.
http://beta.maxthon.com/images/icons/feature_msa.gif Maxthon Smart Acceleration

Boost the speed of your frequent visit website.




Mark

[howard]

Yea, I knew about the undo. I actually had maxthon 1.6.xx installed, but uninstalled it because the tab behiviour was the same as IE7, and setting the Maxthon preferences could not override it. I didn't know about the play while downloading thing. That's mostly for at home though, since I rarely download anything at the office. But MyIE2 (I was happy to see it's still available) can be configured exactly the way I want, insofaras tabs go.

I did not know Maxthon could be installed along side MyIE2 - I should give it a try just for fun, then play around with the configuration some more. It seems to me there is no reason why I can't get links opened from other programs to open in a new tab in the current session every time. I can make MyIE2 do that on the office machine, why not Maxthon or IE7?

They always open a new session in IE7 (the first other-program link does) and each subsequent link opens in the same tab, replacing the first. Confounding, to say the least. All I needed to do was set MyIE2 to open all links in a new "window" as it was called then, and I'm good. The "other programs" I am referring to is specifically Outlook Express, where I would like to be able to open successive email notification of a new post on forums and have them open each in a separate tab. This I want automated. I don't want to have to do control-N for a new tab, then copy and paste the url in the new tab. This is what I have to do on the office machine using IE7 because, even if I open a new tab first and focus on it, the link from OE still opens in the first tab, replacing what was there.

I can set MyIE2 to open them in the same or a new tab, if new, the background or foreground, next to the current tab, to the left or right of it, at the end of the line. In Maxthon, the settings appear to be based on the current installed version of IE, and therefore, broken. They just don't make a difference. I've looked at the HCCU values, they are all correct, but ignored by IE7 (and Maxthon).

What I did not do was install Maxthon with IE6. Maybe it would work the way I want then. I would like that, especially the undo.

How do you arrange so you can see the icon for the file that's downloading?

[trackerm]

In Outlook Express click Tools / Options / Security and lower / change security options.

[howard]

In Outlook Express click Tools / Options / Security and lower / change security options.
I'm not sure which problem this is correcting, the links opening in a new tab? - because it's set the same on both machines, both set to restricted zone.

I find it odd that OE had IE settings in it, but I assume that OE uses IE to display html content in the email messages. Interesting point. I'm not sure I really want to do that just yet.

[howard]

Mark,

Thanks for the suggestion. I re-installed Maxthon along side MyIE2 and it picked up my preferences from that. Maxthon is now working exactly how I want, opening tabs the way they were set to open in IE7 but didn't, all on the new XP machine.

Many thanks to those who commented above. Although the fix for IE7 was never found, a workaround, in the form of a more flexible IE-based browser, Maxthon, was.

Howard

[fun1chicago]

MyIE2 was renamed to Maxthon