How can i disable the new v108 "feature" that alphabetizes windows by title?

[hzm1016]

I just updated to v 108 64-bit on MacOS and found that the list of windows in the Window pull-down is sorted alphabetically by window title. This is horrible, and I hope I can turn it off. I tried searching Firefox Help but no matter what I search for it only turns up articles about alphabetizing bookmarks.

The old behavior was that windows stayed in a fixed order in the Window pull-down for the duration of a Firefox instance. I have "Open previous windows and tabs" turned on, and that also kept the very first window the same all the time, even though the other windows might move around when restarting Firefox.

Now, every time I click on a link or move to a different tab, the window moves to someplace completely different in the Window list. I often have no idea what the "window title" is, so I don't even know what I am looking for in the list. Also, for example, some web pages log me out after some period of inactivity, and what they choose to give as the title of their login page is not under my control, either.

I sure hope there is a way to restore the previous behavior in the Settings. But all searches in Firefox Help for "alphabetical" and "window" return ONLY articles on alphabetizing the bookmarks.

The only way this "feature" would be of any use to me would be if I could set a persistent title for each window, like "Webmail" "Facebook" "NYTimes" "Games" etc, and have that be the key for alphabetizing, NOT some fleeting string picked by some capricious web page code.

[jscher2000]

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@hzm1016 wrote:

I just realized that you have created a second add-on. I have been using the window-titler, and now there is an auto-number-windows. Do I need to uninstall or disable the first one to install the second one? Do I need to do anything other than install it, or will installing it simply result in the titles being generated as sequential numbers? Can I use both add-ons so that each window gets its sequential number, and then I have the option of renaming them using window-titler if I choose to do so?

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I think they will conflict and using them together will cause unpredictable behavior. But since I don't have a Mac, I haven't tried it.

[Saint112]

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@jscher2000 wrote:

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A bug was filed, but at this point the decision was not to revert the changes -- they were made to support "Tile Window to Left/Right of Screen" and "Move to [SCREEN]" and that involved surrendering the menu ordering to Mac OS.

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That makes no sense to me. Since when surrendering anything to Mac OS, hence to Apple, is a good move?

Nick

[shawna]

Really hoping the next Firefox update returns the list of Windows back to "order opened" instead of Alpha order. This is brutal. Every new window opened shifts the order around. Websites are titled in all sorts of inconsistent ways. I'm spending so much time hunting for browser windows in my drop down list...

[GeorgesPN]

Shawna, use = https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/auto-number-windows/
There is a little bug : when you open a new window, the list i again in alphabetical order. Then do the following : create a new window, and then, close it. Magic the list is in "order opened".
I'm sur jsher2000 will correct this problem…

[dmachak]

I also find this new behavior non-intuitive and confusing. My workflow involves opening multiple windows, each for a different purpose, and the fixed order allowed me to quickly change contexts. Now it's a crapshoot.

[jscher2000]

Are any of you running into problems with open windows missing from your Window menu? If so, there is a new thread on that: Windows Missing in "Window" menu and it would be helpful if you could add your experience there.

[jscher2000]

To vote for a change, check out this thread over on the "Ideas" side of this site:

Order of windows in the Window dropdown menu should be controlable in preferences 

[td4544]

edit: posted this reply in the ideas thread.

[hzm1016]

<<I would delete this if I could figure out how to do that>>

[hzm1016]

If you found this thread that I created after the disastrous window scrambling change in v108, instead of commenting here you need to go to the "ideas" thread on this topic and UPVOTE IT. Get your friends to upvote it, too.

Here is the link:

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/order-of-windows-in-the-window-dropdown-menu-should-be/idi-p/22...

Note, also, that user jscher2000 has posted a workaround in one of the early comments on this thread. It is a browser add-on that allows you to give a window a permanent name. It does require that you click on its button and type in the title you want. It does seem to generally work, but you do have to manually name each window.

[Saint112]

I am sorry to say that the Auto-number Windows - stable menu order is not stable at all. I doesn't load by itself. To start it I have to go in the Add-ons Manager, first disable it, wait a couple of minutes then reenable it.

[jscher2000]

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@Saint112 wrote:

I am sorry to say that the Auto-number Windows - stable menu order is not stable at all. I doesn't load by itself. To start it I have to go in the Add-ons Manager, first disable it, wait a couple of minutes then reenable it.

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Hmm, it's hard for me to test because it seems fine on Windows.

I posted an update to try to initialize or re-initialize on Startup. Hopefully that will kick it into gear.

Also, if you have the problem that it stops numbering, check the Tools menu and try

Auto-number Windows > Renumber windows now

[Saint112]

Thanks for your quick reply.

You say "Auto-number Windows > Renumber windows now". Where is this feature.

Actually this solution is not really satisfying. On top of that on Mac when I disable the re-enable the add-on the existing windows are numbered but the subsequently opened windows are not. So it's rather useless. I have suggestions for another type of add-on:

• Create a new menu with the windows ordered chronologically. Call it ChroWin or ChronoWindo or WinTwo for example. The icing on the cake would be to create submenus with the lists of the tabs of each window.
• Create a floating menu. It could actually be yet another window listing all the windows. List the tabs as well.

So we could eat the cake and still have it: a) this feature would display the windows chronologically and the existing menu and b) the Dock on MacOS would display them alphabetically.

BTW, I suppose there is another feature related to this one: when choosing Restore Previous Session, the windows are not displayed as they were before. I created about this topic another thread: When choosing Restore Previous Session windows are tiled. This is very annoying too.

Regards

Nick

P.S.

I can't find how to make quotes.

I don't get notifications of responses.

[jscher2000]

Hi Nick, after clicking the blue Reply button, there should be a " button on the same bar as B I and so on.

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You say "Auto-number Windows > Renumber windows now". Where is this feature.

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The Tools menu, at the bottom. If this is missing from the bottom of the Tools menu, the add-on did not start up properly. I don't know what would cause that.

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Actually this solution is not really satisfying. On top of that on Mac when I disable the re-enable the add-on the existing windows are numbered but the subsequently opened windows are not. So it's rather useless. I have suggestions for another type of add-on:

• Create a new menu with the windows ordered chronologically. Call it ChroWin or ChronoWindo or WinTwo for example. The icing on the cake would be to create submenus with the lists of the tabs of each window.
• Create a floating menu. It could actually be yet another window listing all the windows. List the tabs as well.

So we could eat the cake and still have it: a) this feature would display the windows chronologically and the existing menu and b) the Dock on MacOS would display them alphabetically.

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This add-on has an optional dialog (its button should be on the "puzzle piece" menu and you can use the gear button to pin it to the toolbar) that lists the windows in the correct order. To use the dialog with the numbering off, you can use:

(menu bar) Tools > Auto-number Windows > Turn off auto-numbering

I was thinking about adding tabs, but I'm not sure how many people would use it. I use this dialog but I have over 100 tabs open so I'm not sure I would want to see those there. But I hope eventually to expand the search feature to filter the list by all tab titles in a window instead of just the active tab title.

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BTW, I suppose there is another feature related to this one: when choosing Restore Previous Session, the windows are not displayed as they were before. I created about this topic another thread: When choosing Restore Previous Session windows are tiled. This is very annoying too.

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Yes, that occurs on Windows, too. There is a bug report on file from a while ago, maybe last year. Not sure anyone has figured out exactly what causes the problem.

[Saint112]

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@jscher2000 wrote:

Hi Nick, after clicking the blue Reply button, there should be a " button on the same bar as B I and so on.

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How come on certain forums such features are just straightforward, and on others you need to ask, and once you have the answer you still need to find out how to make easily a partial quote.

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@jscher2000 wrote:

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The Tools menu, at the bottom. If this is missing from the bottom of the Tools menu, the add-on did not start up properly. I don't know what would cause that.

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OK. I got it. I was looking in the so-called Application Menu. Some years ago I was looking for something and someone told me to look in the hamburger menu. The what? I had not yet realized that computer applications had been contaminated by smartphone apps. There is plenty of space in the menu bar, why the heck add a cryptic menu in such an improbable location?

I dismissed the last upgrade. I am always worried about what's in store in new versions. I wish I had not upgraded since a couple of years. I regretted it each time.

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@jscher2000 wrote:

I was thinking about adding tabs, but I'm not sure how many people would use it. I use this dialog but I have over 100 tabs open so I'm not sure I would want to see those there. But I hope eventually to expand the search feature to filter the list by all tab titles in a window instead of just the active tab title.

When there are submenus the user can pass them when scrolling the menu. You can also make it optional.

Nick

[GreenMind]

This is still really frustrating to me. When I first noticed it I assumed it was a bug that would be fixed quickly, but here we are in version 119 and I have just discovered the discussion about it.

My biggest gripe is about how Firefox currently lists email website. Whenever I open an email the Firefox window list changes to use the subject line of the email, which could be literally anything. I have to think back on what email I was last looking at to find my email website. I tried to use the workaround add-ons, but they have problems too.

First, Window Titler is a great idea, but it doesn't remember the title after you close the window, let alone between sessions. If I close the window and reopen it, I have to rename my email window. If I have two windows open to the same website, it only renames one of them. It would be great if it remembered which website the name belongs to after closing the window, and even better if it remembered between sessions.

Auto Number Windows seems flaky. When I tried to use it, it put up a dialog asking to set permissions for getting info about tabs, but then didn't do any numbering.

The basic idea of alphabetizing the window names is not inherently bad, but when the names are constantly changing it is a problem. I wonder if it could be actually become a really useful feature by naming the window after the name of the home page, and then appending whatever page it is on. The home page title will be very stable, and then the page name will make it really easy to figure out which window using that website to go to.

For example, a window showing the YouTube home page will simply say "YouTube". Currently if you have a page showing a YouTube video, it will use the title first, then the website. For example, "Is Nuclear Energy Green? - YouTube". That is a useless way to list it. I want to see "YouTube - Is Nuclear Energy Green?" and have all my YouTube windows listed together.

It seems like it might be a simple thing to list all windows with the name of the home page first. A YouTube video window would come up with the "YouTube" first instead of last. (Maybe even with "YouTube" both first and last, if the website is also appending its home page title to the page name.) If Firefox can get the title of the website from its home page, that would not only solve the problem but improve on the previous condition. Even before the problem started, I had to decide whether that weird item in the list was the subject line of an email or the title of a YouTube video.

In my experience as a software developer, I know that there are often hidden obstacles to  making a change like this (like trying to conform to Apple's interface) , but I hope there is some way of doing something like this.

Thanks,

Ben

[jscher2000]

Hi Ben, first, sorry this isn't working as designed:

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@GreenMind wrote:

Auto Number Windows seems flaky. When I tried to use it, it put up a dialog asking to set permissions for getting info about tabs, but then didn't do any numbering.

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There is an addition to the Tools menu to force immediate renumbering, in case that helps:

(menu bar) Tools > Auto-number Windows > Renumber windows now

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The basic idea of alphabetizing the window names is not inherently bad, but when the names are constantly changing it is a problem. I wonder if it could be actually become a really useful feature by naming the window after the name of the home page, and then appending whatever page it is on. The home page title will be very stable, and then the page name will make it really easy to figure out which window using that website to go to.

For example, a window showing the YouTube home page will simply say "YouTube". Currently if you have a page showing a YouTube video, it will use the title first, then the website. For example, "Is Nuclear Energy Green? - YouTube". That is a useless way to list it. I want to see "YouTube - Is Nuclear Energy Green?" and have all my YouTube windows listed together.

It seems like it might be a simple thing to list all windows with the name of the home page first. A YouTube video window would come up with the "YouTube" first instead of last. (Maybe even with "YouTube" both first and last, if the website is also appending its home page title to the page name.) If Firefox can get the title of the website from its home page, that would not only solve the problem but improve on the previous condition. Even before the problem started, I had to decide whether that weird item in the list was the subject line of an email or the title of a YouTube video.

In my experience as a software developer, I know that there are often hidden obstacles to  making a change like this (like trying to conform to Apple's interface) , but I hope there is some way of doing something like this.

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As a software developer, you could consider creating a user script for this. A userscript engine like Tampermonkey, Violentmonkey, Greasemonkey or FireMonkey can insert your script into every site (other than certain off limits Mozilla sites). If I think about how it this might work, you could grab the site's host name and inject it at the beginning of the page title:

document.title = location.hostname + ' | ' + document.title;

The problem arises when the page changes the title, there is a lot of additional code involved in detecting and responding to that.

And obviously it would be nicer if it were just the second level domain rather than the entire host name, or maybe have some configurable substitutions like mail.google.com => Gmail.

Could be an interesting add-on project.