Privacy Browser Android

What would be the use case for such a feature?

Envision a news website brimming with links to diverse articles. Each time you click on a link to read an article, you find yourself having to return to the main page after finishing the piece.

Rather than conveniently closing the extra tab you opened for the article, this process requires reloading the entire main page.

For that use case, you can simply long-press on the link and either open it in a new tab (which switches to the new tab) or open it in the background (which opens the link in a new tab bug doesn't switch to it).

It's fine for one, two, or three... But twelve? ;)
That doesn't seem optimal, wouldn't you agree?

we vise wrote in RE: Links in a new tab?:

It's fine for one, two, or three... But twelve? ;)
That doesn't seem optimal, wouldn't you agree?

I often do so with twelve or more links. It hasn't bothered me to this point.

More to the point, I can't imagine a scenario where someone would want every link opened in a new tab, so I am trying to imagine how such a feature would be used.

When navigating back, it can often be faster to simply close the tab rather than waiting for the page to reload.
You might wonder, if we have a browsing history, what is the purpose of the back button? ;)

When I open links in new tabs, I close the tab when I am done reading it (the tab doesn't have a back history).

[browsing history versus the use of the back button]
I was referring to your comment about the long press action on the link. ;)

+++

[pageviews.wmcloud.org/topviews/?project=en.wikipedia.org (global JS off + per site JS on)]

Should the links open in a new tab?

In many browsers, there is a privacy benefit to opening links in a new tab, because when opening links in the current tab a referer header is sent. People who are used to other browsers often develop the habit of opening many/all links in a new tab.

However, this doesn't apply to Privacy Browser as the referer header is never sent for any link.

People open links in new tabs for a variety of reasons. :)
So does the browser respect the [target="_blank"] attribute?

The answer to your question is at:

https://www.stoutner.com/privacy-browser-android/core-privacy-principles/

"They don’t need JavaScript. They don’t need to know your user agent. They don’t need to know anything about your screen size. They don’t need to probe the specs of your graphics card. They don’t need to read your accelerometer. They shouldn’t get to control tabs , or system popup boxes, or track your mouse position, or what you are typing before you send it to them. They shouldn’t know how you display the information they send you. They don’t need to do any of these things."

However, you permit users to customize their JavaScript and user agent settings. Why not extend this control to allow users to manage how their tabs are handled?

I do. As I mentioned above, there are already two ways to open a link in a new tab, both of which I personally use dozens of times per day.

It seems like you might be taking this issue a bit personally. :)
Why not consider offering users the option to open each link in a new tab?

The first question I asked when you proposed this feature was what would the possible use case be.

You responded describing why a user would want to open some links in a new tab. But so far, I have seen no explanation about why a user would want to open all links in a new tab. If you can describe such a scenario, then I will take it under advisement.

[…] there are already two ways to open a link in a new tab, both of which I personally use dozens of times per day.

I also use these functions throughout the day, as well as the "long press to open all bookmarks in a folder" option.

Not saying this to support or oppose either opinion, just that after a few years using this software I haven't found myself wishing that everything opened in a new tab because it is so easy to do so on-the-fly. I did at one point set my search engines to always open in a new tab, but found myself feeling fed up and switched back to default. Do other browsers propose this feature?

Private Browser offers both general global settings and site-specific options. This flexibility allows users to adjust JavaScript preferences universally while still having the ability to customize settings for individual sites.
Similarly, I believe the policy for opening new tabs can be configured in a comparable way.

I can see some argument for creating a domain setting for opening all links in a new tab (which is different than a global setting, which I can't imagine anyone ever using). However, I am not sure it would be used enough to warrant implementation.

And what about a configuration option that allows users to set a default action for a long press on a link?

I don't think that would be a good design as there are a lot of possible options that pop-up in the long-press context menu (which varies depending on what you long-press on). Hiding all those options would create a problem for how to otherwise expose them.