Firefox tab issue with new laptop, from hw, or os, or sw?

General Topics
1

This is amazingly bothersome. I come from using a MacBook Pro for years and I am (mostly) happy with this frame.work laptop. But.

I use Firefox. I use a lot of tabs in my windows. Now, when I go to a tab to bring it forward, the default response seems to be to close the tab. Which is not what I wanted! Because I clicked on the tab to open it. :–)

So, is the problem that this laptop trackpad has a different area for left-click vs right-click? If so, how can I modify that? I have to drag myself to the very far left of the trackpad to get a left-click. Why should this be diificult? I actually want the left 2/3 of the trackpad to go to left-click. How can one do this?

Is it the OS? Setting preferences in ubuntu (20.04.3 LTS) is not like setting them on the Mac. There are a lot less options in the Settings app. I suspect I can change many more things in the CLI, but how do I find those?

Is it just Firefox? I know the linux versions have some quirks. Is this just one of them? Or is it an actual error? Should any kind of click on a browser tab cause it to automatically close? Why would that make sense?

It seems strange to come to the frame.work site for this, but I syspect other people here are dealing with a combination of new hardware, new software, new settings and old fingers. When a problem is from one of several layers, one cannot just g**gle it. The responses are too generic. Anyway. Any suggestions or questions would be helpful.

cheers - ray

2

Firefox on Linux uses middle click for “close tab”. Not sure what Ubuntu’s default is, but on Fedora I’ve enabled the option to emulate middle click on the touchpad using a 3-finger click/tap. Is it possible you’re somehow middle-clicking on these tabs?

3

Yes, it is very likely. And I will turn this off when I find the option.

I suspect that I will want to find out how to disable the middle-mouse button for all apps. I have been using only left- and right-button mice for a while. We will see.

much thanx - ray

4

FYI, I have switched the trackpad, using the gnome-tweaks application, and now it uses a one-finger click for the left-mouse, a two-finger click for the right mouse and the three-finger click for a middle-click. Since I never want a middle-click, it is easy to not use 3 fingers on a click because, well, who would. And the two-finger (while not completely reliable) is good enough. It is nice having an open system that has things like gnome-tweaks.

And then I switched it so that the trackpad is off when I was using the keyboard. When I was typing anything, my palm brushing the trackpad would make the text insertion point move randomly. And I switch it back when I am playing minecraft. I think that the only time I will need both keys and the trackpad to be active is when I am playing an RPG.