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how do i make it easier to drag links, like it used to be?

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  • 2 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

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about a week ago in an update to nightly i suddenly lost the ability to easily drag links. i'm using a (W8) tablet and it was always easier to drag a link to the tab bar than to long-press a link and tap the "open in new tab" window. this also gave me control over the order in which new tabs where created.

a recent update broke this functionality. it still works fine with image links, but most of the time when i try this with a text based link it will instead select the text. it often takes me several tries to open a page in a new tab. long-pressing and using the "open in new tab" entry in the menu is not very convenient because the menus in firefox are so tiny.

the problem lies in a change that is fine for PC users, but not properly thought-out for tablet users. in the past dragging a link in any direction would "grab" it so you could move it to the tab or address bars. the recent change makes it so you need to drag links horizontally to select the text and vertically to grab them. on tablets this is a problem because vertical dragging is already used for scrolling.

is there any way to get link "grabbing" working again on tablets?

about a week ago in an update to nightly i suddenly lost the ability to easily drag links. i'm using a (W8) tablet and it was always easier to drag a link to the tab bar than to long-press a link and tap the "open in new tab" window. this also gave me control over the order in which new tabs where created. a recent update broke this functionality. it still works fine with image links, but most of the time when i try this with a text based link it will instead select the text. it often takes me several tries to open a page in a new tab. long-pressing and using the "open in new tab" entry in the menu is not very convenient because the menus in firefox are so tiny. the problem lies in a change that is fine for PC users, but not properly thought-out for tablet users. in the past dragging a link in any direction would "grab" it so you could move it to the tab or address bars. the recent change makes it so you need to drag links horizontally to select the text and vertically to grab them. on tablets this is a problem because vertical dragging is already used for scrolling. is there any way to get link "grabbing" working again on tablets?

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Great News ! ! I hope this information will be helpful for other users. Happy Computing !

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All Replies (9)

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Have you tried to hold down and drag or double tab and drag? Usually those work. But since you said to drag a link to the tab bar, you have to keep your finger on the link for a few seconds, and then tap "open in new tab".

Modified by William Qin

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"open in new tab" means I have to hold the screen for a few seconds and then tap a rather small "open in new tab" button. I was always able to open links in a new tab with a single quick motion, and I'd like to keep it that way. hold and then drag opens the right-click menu, and double-tap drag will just open the link in the current tab.

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Wait a minute, are you trying to drag links from one place to another (as your question asks), or are you trying to open the link?

If the latter, some web pages will qualify a link as a link. But for others, they just don't bother.

Highlight the link, right click and select open.

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i'm talking about properly tagged links that will open when you click or tap them once. i'm trying to easily open them in a new tab.

right-clicking is a bit inconvenient on a touchscreen because there's an extra delay in long-pressing, and it's very easy to tap the wrong item in the right-click menu.

in the past I always just dragged the links to the tab bar, but dragging a link now selects the text instead. a minor convenience for mouse users, but a big inconvenience for touchscreen users.

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Okay. Dragging, by the way, means to move something from one place to another.

Go to the Mozilla Add-ons Web Page {web link} (There’s a lot of good stuff here) and search for what you want.

I already did a search and found a few you may use. But I don't know if these add-ons are compatible to your system. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?q=link

Here is an example;

URL Link is a small Firefox and Thunderbird extension that allows you o select a non-URL in a mail/news message or web-page, and open it in a browser window.

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I know what a link is and what dragging means. none of the add-ons are close to what I need.

I'm not trying to open plain-text URL's, I already have an add-on for that. my problem is with opening links in a new tab.

I found this which is the exact opposite of what I need: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/link-toggler/?src=search I need to make links(actual links! not unclickable URL's!) unselectable.

I'll just give you a step by step example of what I'm trying to do: see this link? I AM A LINK click it with your left mouse button, and don't let go. while still holding your mouse button, move your mouse cursor between a tab and the "new tab" + button. when a little arrow pops up, let go of the mouse button. you'll now see mozilla.org opening in a background tab.

this always worked for me, until a nightly update a few days ago. I can still do it with a mouse by dragging the link straight up. but on a touchscreen if I try to drag the link straight up, my page scrolls. and if I try to drag it sideways(which used to work fine) it selects part of the text "I AM A LINK" instead.

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Unfortunately, using a touch pad has it's good points, and it's dad points.

Unless another touch pad user shows up . . . . .

Good luck.

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well, i got it fixed... i installed the "stylish" addon and created a user style containing

a {

   -moz-user-select: -moz-none;

}

for all pages. this will revert firefox to the old behaviour(links can't be selected at all) but with the added benefit of being able to easily re-enable selection by disabling the user style through the stylish toolbar button.


and thanks to William Qin and FredMcD. even though you couldn't find the answer for me, you did try to help.

Modified by thedicemaster

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Chosen Solution

Great News ! ! I hope this information will be helpful for other users. Happy Computing !