Open a new tab in the background?

Using javascript, I want to open a new page in a different tab, but remain focused on the current tab. I know I can do it like this:

open('http://example.com/');
focus();

However, when I do this in chrome, it flashes the new tab for a moment before switching back to the current tab. I want to avoid this.

The application is a personal bookmarklet, so it only has to work in the latest Chrome.

Solution 1:

UPDATE: By version 41 of Google Chrome, initMouseEvent seemed to have a changed behavior, thanks to @Daniel Andersson

this can be done by simulating ctrl + click (or any other key/event combinations that open a background tab) on a dynamically generated a element with its href attribute set to the desired url

In action: fiddle

function openNewBackgroundTab(){
    var a = document.createElement("a");
    a.href = "http://www.google.com/";
    var evt = document.createEvent("MouseEvents");
    //the tenth parameter of initMouseEvent sets ctrl key
    evt.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                                true, false, false, false, 0, null);
    a.dispatchEvent(evt);
}

tested only on chrome

Solution 2:

THX for this question! Works good for me on all popular browsers:

function openNewBackgroundTab(){
    var a = document.createElement("a");
    a.href = window.location.pathname;
    var evt = document.createEvent("MouseEvents");
    //the tenth parameter of initMouseEvent sets ctrl key
    evt.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                                true, false, false, false, 0, null);
    a.dispatchEvent(evt);
}

var is_chrome = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('chrome') > -1;
if(!is_chrome)
{
    var url = window.location.pathname;
    var win = window.open(url, '_blank');
} else {
    openNewBackgroundTab();
}

Solution 3:

As far as I remember, this is controlled by browser settings. In other words: user can chose whether they would like to open new tab in the background or foreground. Also they can chose whether new popup should open in new tab or just... popup.

For example in firefox preferences:

Notice the last option.