If you are like me then you do a ton of web searches everyday. I usually
middle click a link from the results of a web search and take a look at
that page then close that tab. Which is where my frustration comes in. By
default when you close a tab in IE 7 the tab that gains focus is the tab with
the same index of the tab you just closed (unless of course it was the right
most tab then it just focuses on the right most tab). However, this is not what
I want to happen. I would prefer that the tab focus go back to the page that got
me to the page I just closed, in this case the search results.
In firefox there is an extension called FLST, which will put focus on
the last active tab when you close the active tab. In IE 7 there is an advanced
option Use most recent order when switching tabs with Ctrl+Tab,
which will provide the same functionality. It will essentially create a stack of
the most recently visited tabs and set focus back to tab on the top of that
stack whenever you close a tab. Of course, you wouldn't ever really know that
from reading the option, at least it isn't obvious to me, which is why I'm
posting this on my blog.
So if you want focus to be restored to the last focused tab when you close a
tab then you can check the following option:
Internet Options > Advanced >
Use most recent order when switching tabs with Ctrl+Tab.
Of course this is also going to change the behavior of Ctrl+Tab
which doesn't bother me but you may need to chose which option you want
more. Check out the IEBlog for
other interesting IE 7 tab
settings.