Add hidden option for preferring windows over tabs

[lydell]

Addresses #54.

In short:

• Alt+K and Alt+Shift+K opens links in new background windows instead of tabs. Note: Firefox seems to always focus new windows currently, while Chrome is able to open windows in the background. So on Firefox, Alt+K and Alt+L are effectively the same, and Alt+Shift+K just feels broken when you use it.
• Alt+L opens links in new foreground windows instead of tabs.
• Holding Alt while activating a hint opens the link in a new window instead of tab.

This is kept as a hidden option since it doesn’t work 100 %. I’ll revisit again as more users of this feature show up.

1. Go to Link Hints Options.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
3. Expand the “Debug” section.
4. Scroll to the “PREFER_WINDOWS” option.
5. Enable it!

[lydell]

@ceasal Would you mind testing builds from this pull request? That’s a much faster feedback cycle than publishing “for real” which can take weeks.

1. Install one of the builds below. (It sounds like you use Firefox but I added Chrome as well just in case.)
2. Go to Link Hints Options.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
4. Expand the “Debug” section.
5. Scroll to the “PREFER_WINDOWS” option.
6. Enable it!

(You can also build the extension yourself, if you prefer: https://github.com/lydell/LinkHints/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md)

Firefox

1. Download this zip: link_hints-1.2.3.zip
2. Go to about:debugging.
3. Click “This Firefox” in the sidebar.
4. Click the “Load Temporary Add-on…” button.
5. Choose the zip file you downloaded.
6. Now you should be able to test the version from this PR until you restart Firefox!

Chrome

1. Download this zip: link_hints-1.2.3.zip (Note: Another zip than for Firefox.)
2. Unzip it into a folder.
3. Go to chrome://extensions in Chrome.
4. Disable your current Link Hints installation.
5. Enable the “Developer mode” switch in the top right corner.
6. Click “Load unpacked” in the top left corner.
7. Choose the folder you unpacked the zip into.
8. Now you should be able to try it out!

[ceasal]

Tested in Firefox 99.0.1

After checking prefer windows in debug,

Alt+K, Alt+L both open new windows.
Alt+Shift+K opens a new window but stays in hinting mode when switching back to the window, although the new window is focused immediately.
Alt+J and holding Alt when activating the last key in a hint opens in a new tab as well.

The binds seem to perform as they did before when the debug flag is not checked.

[ceasal]

I added some machinery to my window manager to ignore focus changes for Chrome and Firefox windows.

On Chromium 100.0.4896.127, the K bindings open in the background and L opens in the foreground, corroborating your testing.

Firefox does the opposite: a newly spawned window is not focused, while any window opened from a middle click will be focused.

From my simple testing on X11, when a page is loaded in a new window, it seems Firefox sends a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW signal. Chrome does not send such a signal.

I tried opening a new window from a terminal, e.g. firefox --new-tab http://google.com but the signal it still sent.

[lydell]

Thanks for the testing!

On macOS, Chrome works perfectly with background/foreground windows. It works just like with tabs. While Firefox seems to always focus new windows. So on Firefox, Alt+K and Alt+L are effectively the same, and Alt+Shift+K just feels broken when you use it.

Is this still good enough for you? If so, I think I might merge this as-is and keep it as a hidden “debug” option. Partly because few Link Hints users seem to need it, partly because it doesn’t work 100 %.

[ceasal]

Yes, it's reasonable to keep the option hidden given the behavior isn't consistent.