How in the Tech

Keeping a specific tab always open in Firefox

By Adam Myers ⋅ August 12, 2009 ⋅ Tags: Firefox

Now that all major browsers support tabbed based browsing, every user has been exposed to the functionality and how it changes the way we go about things. There are very few users who would go back to single window browsing with no protest. The problem with Firefox is in the way it handles tabs – the user interface provides a quick close x icon at the end of each tab which logically closes out that tab. This is a convenient interface option about 95% of the time; the other 5% of the time it can cause major frustration and annoyance if it’s click upon by accident – closing out the tab inadvertently. While it is true that Firefox is able to restore the last closed tab – CTRL+SHIFT+T – it would be advantageous to just avoid the situation altogether.

PermaTabs Mod is an experimental Firefox add-on that allows you to designate tabs as sticky, or permanent, in that they  can’t be closed accidentally. If you are unsure what experimental means in this situation, the extension hasn’t been fully vented and may cause crashes of the browser. In my experience, and as is often the case with these, I did not have any stability problems.

PermaTabs is a perfect companion to any user who has made the migration away from a desktop email client and into the cloud-based email ecosystem – such as Yahoo Mail or Gmail. PermaTabs allows me to right-click on any tab currently open and make it impossible to close until the setting is toggled off. Now, even across browser restarts or crashes, Gmail and Google Reader are always the first two tabs in Firefox. For even easier identification I can customize the color of the tabs so that they stand out from non-permatab’d tabs.

PermaTabs Mod is a simple extension that addresses a simple annoyance.