Back in September, I reviewed the add-on Tabs Open Relative, which had suddenly become very popular with the release of Google Chrome. The current tab behavior in Firefox is for a new (child) tab opened via a link to do so at the end of the tab bar. However both Chrome and IE8 (Beta) will open the child tab to the right of the current tab (or other child tab). New tabs opened via the new tab button, file menu or control+T will still open at the end of the tab bar.
This new behavior will be included in the upcoming trunk builds, however it has yet to be determine if it will be an included feature in the final 3.1 release later this year. I guess a lot of the decision is going to be based on feedback from Firefox users which was the reason the ‘tab preview’ feature was yanked. However given this is a standard behaviour in both Chrome and IE8 I think it is going to be something users are going to come to expect from Firefox.
A couple final points, Firefox 3 users can replicate this new behavior using the Tabs Open Relative add-on. When I first saw this headline on Mozilla Links I was really hoping it meant Mozilla had yanked the annoying ‘tab tearing’ feature. Sadly, it was not.
New Source: Mozilla Links
The Firefox Extension Guru's Blog 
Yet again, the “tab tearing” feature is currently known to be buggy, and the concerned bugs block the release of Firefox 3.1. Give it time.
I found Tabs Open Relative while still using FireFox 2 and the All-In-One Sidebar. Sadly AIO doesn’t work in FF3 (the new update has severe problems) and TOR has issues with AIO’s FF3 replacement, Tab Mix Plus. TMP DOES have a version of TOR, but when I have tabs A, B and C open and am resting on B, when I click links 1,2,3 on B, the order then becomes A-B-3-2-1-C. I would DEARLY love something internal that would let me have the hoped for AB123C order. That DOES seem to make more sense to me. Or at least let me have an option to choose which result I get.
Thanks for your diligent work in keeping us apprised of what’s coming in the Firefox universe. GM
Forget that…
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5890
^ The only reason I’m still using FF rather than Opera, actually. Opera has been treating me a lot nicer than FF recently.
[…] cette version l’équipe de développement étudie la possibilité d’intégrer un nouveau comportement des onglets de Firefox. Il s’agit lors de l’ouverture d’un lien dans un nouvel onglet […]
@Gary M. Mugford:
I’m using TMP with FF3.0, and there is a fully functional TOR feature available as you described. If you have tabs ABC open, resting on B, then clicking links 1,2,3, the result will be AB123C. It’s no problem. Just check your settings: Behaviour -> Open Tabs -> the second checkbox (I don’t know its description since I’m using a German Firefox). Just hold down the mouse and you’ll get the setting’s description.
[…] Contact Us: I remember reading your entry back a couple months ago about new tab ordering in 3.1: https://ffextensionguru.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/new-tab-behavior-coming-in-fx-31/ Beta 3 has come out and the behavior is not present. I was rather excited about this development. […]