'Tab for a Cause' Loading Issue

TheBetterStory

Hello! I use an extension called Tab for a Cause that requires it being set as my new tab start page. The issue I'm having is that whenever I open a new tab and start typing the website I'd like to go to, once Tab for a Cause's page starts loading it erases whatever I had in the address bar.

e.g. If I open a new tab and immediately begin typing "gma" to go to Gmail, suddenly there will only be "a" in the address bar, or whatever the last letter I typed was, making it almost impossible to effectively type a website address without waiting for the page to settle before trying.

I know it sounds like a minor issue, but it's driving me absolutely up the wall. I keep accidentally sending myself to the wrong site because I expect the correct one to autofill, instead of whatever I end up with. (Trying to go to Twitter keeps sending me to a website beginning with "er" because of the timing issue). Moreover, sometimes I'll finish typing an address and press enter, only to have the Tab for a Cause page take over and load instead, still erasing everything I typed. I know it's not usually an issue with the extension, because I never had this issue on Chrome. I'm not sure what's going on.

Pesala

@TheBetterStory Have you tried using Quick Commands (F2). In Settings, Quick Commands, you can set it to open links in a new tab.

TheBetterStory

@Pesala Sorry, perhaps I didn't explain well enough. I don't see how that addresses the issue at all. I don't need links to open in new tabs. I need Vivaldi to stop erasing what I type in the address bar.

Pesala

@TheBetterStory If you type the URL in the Quick Commands dialog, then nothing will be erased.

It is the extension that is taking time to load, and that is causing the problem. I see no way to circumvent that. If you want to use the extension, you will have to wait for the new start page each time.

Though you could just press the back/rewind buttons or GestureLeft to return to your Tab for a Cause Start Page instead of closing the tab and opening a new tab.

Pesala

@TheBetterStory Tab for a Cause may be malware.

Why not just use Ecosia as your default search engine, and plant some trees?

TheBetterStory

@Pesala Ecosia has been my default search engine for 8 years, actually! It used to be incredibly clunky, very pleased with how far it's come.

The website you linked with malware concerns is designed to push ByteFence, which isn't malware itself but is generally bundled together with it, and has historically done things like change people's default search engines and add toolbars without permission.

Thank you for the tip about Quick Commands, but from what I can tell that's circumventing the Tab for a Cause page altogether, which defeats the purpose of the extension in the first place. I understand that there must be some kind of loading issue, I'm just baffled that it's a problem apparently exclusive to Vivaldi, which means something about how the page is loaded is different from Chrome. I was just hoping there might be some way to figure out what that difference was and change it? If not I can just switch back, since I've only just started using Vivaldi, but it would be a shame to lose cool features like the tab stacking.

grimm665

This issue has affected me as well. It is not the first time, and I've seen it happen across multiple browsers. Often it happens when Chrome or Firefox have a major update, and Tab for a Cause lags behind a bit with a fix. I messaged their support team, thinking that this is exactly what happened this time.

The latest versions of Chrome and Firefox (including the recently released Firefox 89) do not have an issue erasing content in the URL bar when opening a new tab. Tab for a Cause loads without anything in the URL bar in Firefox (with the cursor ready for searching) and in Chrome it loads and keeps the URL bar highlighted, but when a search is started the Omnibar takes over and any more loading of the tab does not disrupt a search. This may be an issue in their extension, since Firefox seems to have the intended behaviour: a new tab with the Tab for a Cause ads and dashboard, and a blank URL bar and the cursor ready for searching.

So maybe not a problem with Vivaldi exactly, but because the search bar behaves differently from Chrome, the issue only occurs in Vivaldi.

grimm665

Some more info from the developers of Tab for a Cause:

"Our extension needs browsers to allow setting a web page as the new tab page—and we also need the browser to highlight/clear the URL. (For security purposes, browsers typically don't give extensions control over highlighting/clearing the URL.)

In the past, Chrome didn't reliably highlight the URL for a new tab page redirect, but they've since fixed this behavior. Here is the ticket I filed to to Chromium a while back:
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=766331

It looks like we'd need Vivaldi to make the same behavior change.

You're also right to note that the URL bar used to be empty in Chrome, and it still is for Firefox users. Technically, our extension used to embed the web page within the new tab page (using an iframe, if you're familiar with HTML). However, the latest policy for Chrome and Firefox extensions prevents using iframes, which required the change in behavior.

In fact, Firefox does not support new tab page redirects at this point (background info here), but the add-on continues to work for people who had already installed it."