Force New Tab

Name: Force New Tab
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)
Author: SurgWaterfox

By: SurgWaterfox

Opens JavaScript driven buttons in new tabs like standard html links.

Download

Install

Features & Capabilities

Force New Tab

A Firefox extension that forces middle-click on any element to open in a new tab — including JavaScript-driven buttons, cards, and links that normally ignore middle click.

The Problem

Modern websites are often built as Single Page Applications (SPAs) using frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular. Navigation on these sites is handled entirely by JavaScript rather than standard <a href> links. As a result, middle-clicking elements like cards, buttons, and tiles either does nothing or navigates the current tab instead of opening a new one. Force New Tab solves this transparently, without breaking normal browser behaviour.

How It Works

When you middle-click an element, the extension works through a chain of fallbacks in order, stopping as soon as it finds a URL to open:

Real links are ignored — if the clicked element is a genuine <a href> link, the extension does nothing and lets the browser handle it natively. (Opens in new tab by default.)


data-* attribute scan — checks the clicked element and its ancestors for common URL attributes like data-href, data-url, data-link, data-navigate etc.
Child anchor search — searches inside the card container for any <a href> link. Useful for sites like Spotify where the image and text are separate elements inside the same card, but only the text has a real link.
Page world hooks — intercepts standard JavaScript navigation methods:
    window.open
    history.pushState
    history.replaceState
    location.href
    location.assign
    location.replace
Click replay — if nothing is captured after 500ms, the extension re-fires mousedown, mouseup, and click events on the element to trigger its JavaScript handler, then intercepts the resulting navigation.

URL polling — as a last resort, monitors window.location.href for changes after the click replay fires. If the URL changes, the new URL is opened in a new tab and the current tab is snapped back to its original URL.

Compatibility

The extension is designed to work on as many sites as possible. Tested on: Site Status Method used YouTube ✅ Works Page world hooks Reddit ✅ Works Page world hooks Twitter / X ✅ Works Page world hooks Spotify ✅ Works Child anchor search GitHub ✅ Works Real links / page world hooks Twitch ✅ Works Page world hooks Pinterest (cards) ✅ Works Child anchor search Pinterest (filter buttons) ⚠️ Partial URL polling — current tab also navigates, use back button to restore

Known Limitations

Strict CSP sites — some sites (like Pinterest) block page-world script injection via Content Security Policy. The extension degrades gracefully, falling back to DOM-based methods that don't require page-world access. Modal/dialog triggers — buttons that open dialogs rather than navigating to a new page have no URL to open. The extension correctly does nothing in these cases. Internal framework routers — some sites use heavily customised internal routers (like Spotify's) that bypass all standard navigation methods. The child anchor search and click replay fallbacks handle most of these cases.

Permissions

The extension requests the following permissions:

tabs — required to open URLs in new background tabs

No data is collected, stored, or transmitted. The extension has no network access and makes no external requests. All processing happens locally in your browser.

Version History v1.3.0

Added URL polling fallback for sites that bypass all JavaScript hooks Added child anchor search for Spotify-style card components Added history.replaceState interception

v1.2.0

Added location.href, location.assign, and location.replace interception Added click replay fallback

v1.1.0

window.open, history.pushState interception Real link passthrough data-* attribute fallback

v1.0.0

Initial public release

License MIT

User Growth & Download Statistics

Add-on

By:

Daily users:

Rating:

Version:

1.3.0 Last updated: 2026-04-21

Version code:

6229512

Creation date:

2026-04-18

Risk:

Permissions:

tabs

Content scripts matches:

<all_urls>

Size:

12.43KB

Full description:

Source:

Firefox Add-ons Store

Data ingested on:

2026-07-10

Compare stats and ranking:

Ranking

# 51,305 ▲ 8,369

Other rankings

#60 in force keyword 24 ▲ 9

For Developers

Monetize with App Pass Boost with Extension Booster

Contact the developer

Chrome-Stats does not own this Firefox add-on. Please use these information below to contact the Firefox add-on developer.

Developed by:

SurgWaterfox

Firefox Add-ons Store

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/force-new-tab/

User Reviews

Middle click - Works in sharesies main investments search, nothing happens in '/profile/personal/invest/' page. In bluesky it opens the link in both current and new tabs, and psky bsky has disabled the back button. 👹 Thank you dev for your work on solving this PITA.✔

by pi*****, 2026-05-13

View all user reviews ›

Is Force New Tab Safe?

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

Force New Tab requires some sensitive permissions that could impact your browser and data security. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
Critical ****** ****** ** *** ********* ****** * *********** ******** **** ** ** *** ******* *** ****** **** **** *** ******* *****
High ******* ******* **** *** ****** ***** *** ***** ** ******* **** ********* ********* ** * *********** *****

Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Firefox add-on may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Firefox add-on reputation on Firefox Add-ons Store, the amount of time the Firefox add-on has been around, and other signals about the Firefox add-on. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Firefox add-on.

Force New Tab is recently added, and hasn't been around long enough for us to gather enough data to accurately assess its risk level.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
Medium **** ********* *** ******* ** *** **** * ******* *** ******* *** *** ** ****** ** *****
Medium **** ********* *** ***** ** *** **** * ******* *** ********** *** *** ** ****** ** *****
Good **** ********* *** **** **** *******