[Webkit-unassigned] [Bug 15777] New: Bookmark folders that automatically open in tabs and history back/forward issues

[bugzilla-daemon at webkit.org]

http://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15777

           Summary: Bookmark folders that automatically open in tabs and
                    history back/forward issues
           Product: WebKit
           Version: 523.x+ (nightly)
          Platform: Macintosh
        OS/Version: Mac OS X 10.4
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: Normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: History
        AssignedTo: webkit-unassigned at lists.webkit.org
        ReportedBy: dylanryan at mac.com


I'm a new face here, and I am not really sure if this is something I should
report here, since it seems to be a bug with the Safari UI and not webkit... At
any rate, here goes:

**Overview Description: 
When you click a folder of bookmarks that is set to automatically open in tabs
in the bookmark bar, and then click the back button, all the tabs just opened
are closed (and no warning is presented if you have the preferences set to warn
before closing multiple tabs). Forward navigation is SOMETIMES not allowed in
the nightlies (if you watch closely, as the other tabs are closing the forward
button is black, but after they all close it gets grayed out), but always works
works (AFAIK) in the Safari 3 beta (it re-opens all the tabs). 

Also note that in the nightlies and the beta, sometimes the Back item in the
History menu is greyed out immediately after opening multiple tabs, and the
hotkey command does not work, and sometimes it is not. I have not been able to
figure out when the back item is active and when not, but it seems to have to
do with whether any of the tabs just opened are still loading or not (though I
could be wrong). I suspect the case for when the nightlies disallow forward
navigation is similar to when it disallows back navigation. 
(Further testing makes it seem like, if the back item IS greyed out in the
history menu, clicking the back BUTTON and then the forward button will
re-enable it most of the time, which almost seems like a separate bug)

In both the nightlies and the beta, opening a single page in a new tab from a
link (via cmd-click or the context menu) does NOT add anything to the current
page's back/forward navigation history, so clicking back (or indeed forward) in
the current page does not affect the other tab at all. This same behavior
should probably be emulated when multiple tabs are opened at once. 

Also note that, in both the beta and nightlies, you can click back from ANY of
the tabs opened, not just the first(active) one, whereas when opening a new tab
normally (Cmd-Click a link), the new tab has no navigation history. It seems
the entire navigational history is being propagated to all the tabs opened
simultaneously. I am not sure whether the history is actually duplicated (which
could use a lot of memory if you have a long history in this window!) or if all
the pages are accessing the original page's history.

As a final note, if you open multiple tabs, then go to a new page in any of the
tabs (link, bookmark, whatever), you cannot go back to 'before' you opened the
tabs - it seems that this is only possible immediately after opening them.




**Steps to Reproduce:
 1) Ensure that you have a folder of bookmarks in your bookmarks bar set to
auto-open in tabs. (Or a normal folder of bookmarks and Cmd-Click it to open
them all in tabs)
 2) Open any web page (so you have somewhere to go back to!)
 3) Click the folder of bookmarks that auto-opens in tabs.
 4) Click "Back"
5) If you can, click "Forward"




**Actual Results:
All the tabs close, and no warning is shown if you have the preferences set to
warn when closing multiple tabs. IF it lets you click forward, all the tabs are
re-opened.





**Expected Results: 
The current page should step back in its history. Clicking forward should make
the current page step forward through its history. All other tabs should be
unchanged. In no cases should clicking back prevent you from subsequently
clicking forward. 

Even if the closing of the tabs is intended in this case (which I doubt), it
should warn you if you have the preferences set to warn you before closing
multiple tabs, since that is what this does in effect. 







A slightly more extreme result (especially in the Beta) is if you already have
multiple tabs open, to click another folder of bookmarks that auto-opens in
tabs. Back/forward navigation now swaps the sets of tabs, though it doesn't
appear that any are actually reloaded. (in the nightlies, forward navigation
sometimes doesn't work...)


This is not specifically an error with the nightly builds, as it happens in the
safari 3 beta as well. I don't think this is technically a webkit error since
it deals with the UI, but it seems that a more careful use of the history stack
in this case could solve the problem without having to alter the UI at all
(normally, tabs don't have any back history to begin with so in most cases this
is a non-issue, but when using folders of tabs they all get the original page
and its history as their history, thus allowing you TO go back. If anything,
only the currently active tab should get the navigation history of the current
page (so all other tabs should be like a normal tab - no history), and a click
back should only affect that tab).


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