Little Big Annoyances

Everyone's got their idiosyncrasies.

Some people can't touch apricots and and peaches.

Some people don't tolerate a sound of scraping on the glass.

Some people can't drive stick.

My idiosyncrasy is the middle button in the browser. I want it to open a new tab, in the foreground.

And Google Chrome, otherwise a decent browser, can't seem to support this feature as of version 3.

Or is it just an advanced configuration option?

about:config doesn't work. OK.

Some research shows that it does support some others, though verification shows that it's a hit and miss (for some reason, not all keywords display anything other than an empty page - keep trying in new tabs). Other than that, nothing.

Moving on. More searching (details omitted as mundane). Nothing useful, except it seems that there are other people desperately trying to make Google add this option, to no avail.

Damn Google, is it that difficult? Every other browser has this option configurable, who died and gave you the right to decide that you know better how it is supposed to work? Yes, I know you can do it, but it requires two hands, and what if I don't have the other one?

Maybe if the head of usability testing team for Chrome had one arm, we'd get this feature faster?

PS: This is the only reason Chrome is not the default browser on my boxes.

UPDATE: Tried to get the Chrome Beta and what do you think? Lo and behold, time after time, browser, network proxy and fresh/upgrade tricks being used seemingly irrelevant, it downloads the Chrome (stable, v. 3.0.195.21) instead. And, as usual with Google, the hood is welded shut and it'll take significant effort to figure out where the problem is. Screw it, I don't have that much time.

Back to Firefox.

Chrome Rust: Schizophrenic Middle Finger

There is one very annoying feature in Chrome: non-reversible "open link in new tab" on middle button click. All other browsers (that I care of, anyway) do allow you to reverse the policy from "open in a new background tab" to "open in a new tab and make it active", bug no, Chrome is above that. At least for now.

Very annoying to switch back and forth between browsers - and since the number of other browsers (on more than one operating system) far exceeds one (Chrome), the choice here is simple: either drop Chrome altogether (only morbid curiosity prevents me from doing so), or change my habits - hell no, forget that.

Let's see if I'm alone and how soon they add this feature.

Chrome Rust: Power Management Bye-Bye

Turns out, Google Chrome does something to Windows power management settings to effectively disable the screen saver, turning off hard drives, and sending the box to hibernate/suspend.

So, if you care about your electric bill or, like I do, reducing heat generation, turn off Chrome when you walk away.

Side note, it would be nice if Google provided you with the reference number for the bug report you've just submitted through the dialog box provided with the browser. I don't have all day to fish it out of their bug reporting system.