# New posts count in browser tabs broken
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [March 28, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864 "2019-03-28T21:00:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@colinl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/colinl)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/1 "2019-03-28T21:00:35Z")
Hi, my first post here. I use the node red hosted discourse site, accessing it via the browser. Up until a few days ago, if I had browser tabs open on posts and new post(s) came in while I did not have the tab open then the number of new posts was displayed in the tab header in parenthesise so I could tell if there were new posts without going and looking. In the last few days it keeps showing the same number in all tabs, often the same number in multiple tabs, even when there are no new posts on that topic. If I open the tab the number goes away, but then comes back again later. I am seeing this in Chrome and Waterfox on Ubuntu 18.10. Like this for example
Has anyone any suggestions why this may be happening? Apparently the node-red admins have not changed anything recently.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/2 "2019-03-29T01:38:59Z")
This no longer displays “new posts”, it displays notification count.
You will only see “new post” count for anonymous, not logged in users who can’t have a notification count.
cc @david
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### Author:  [@colinl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/colinl)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 8:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/3 "2019-03-29T08:26:18Z")
OK, for me this is a significant negative enhancement. I often have four or five tabs open on threads I am involved with and it was great that I could immediately see when a new post arrived on each thread. I am subscribed to all categories so new notifications come in all the time and I don’t want to go and look at those until a convenient time.
However, if others find it helpful then I will just have to manage.
Do others think it is a useful enhancement?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 9:08am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/4 "2019-03-29T09:08:01Z")
If you really need it, open the tab in anonymous mode – this will capture the old behavior, as anon users don’t have a notification count.
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### Author:  [@cjk77](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cjk77)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 9:14am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/5 "2019-03-29T09:14:08Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> This no longer displays “new posts”, it displays notification count.
Ahhhhhh … I wondered what was going on! I noticed this also but thought Firefox was misbehaving.
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### Author:  [@colinl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/colinl)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 9:43am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/6 "2019-03-29T09:43:06Z")
I _think_, though not certain, that I would have to open a separate window for anonymous mode rather than just the tabs, but also I can’t then reply without logging on and then it shows the total notifications again.
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### Author:  [@colinl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/colinl)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 9:43am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/7 "2019-03-29T09:43:49Z")
@cjk77 do you also think this is a backwards step?
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### Author:  [@cjk77](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cjk77)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 9:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/8 "2019-03-29T09:59:15Z")
Like you, I was used to monitoring the number in the tab to watch for new posts without having to click into the tab to look at the forum itself.
I’ll miss the old behavior, but I don’t think it’ll be difficult to get used to the change.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2019, 5:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/9 "2019-04-01T05:42:08Z")
A theme component could make this functionality user tweakable. @david this is another example where it would be nice to have the ability to store user settings per theme on the server.
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### Author:  [@OvermindDL1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/OvermindDL1)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/10 "2019-04-01T16:21:52Z")
I’m rather liking both the old and new styles at different times, I wonder if the counts could somehow be combined and simplified somehow…
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### Author:  [@ChrisBeach](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ChrisBeach)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 11:10am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/11 "2019-04-02T11:10:17Z")
Possible bug (or setting that I’ve missed?):
One of my members on [https://se23.life](https://se23.life) reported that no count is showing at all in the tab title (apparently this was once working).
I’m not seeing any count showing, despite having unread PMs and new posts in watched topics.
I have tried checking and unchecking “Show new / updated topic count on browser icon” on my user profile. Still no update count.
Is there a setting I need to tweak?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/12 "2019-04-02T17:31:58Z")
As previously stated in this topic, only notification count will show for logged in users (in the browser tab). If you need to see reply counts then open an incognito tab as an anonymous user.
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/13 "2019-04-02T17:36:12Z")
Should we show the notification count only for “heavy” notifications? (The ones that trigger email/push, like replies, mentions, etc)
I found that changing the window/tab title to show “you got a like” a bit too much.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/14 "2019-04-02T20:34:20Z")
I don’t want to have to explain the number mismatch, but one thing I do want to confirm @david are green notifications also included in the number ?
I think we can make a theme component to allow users to pick what the number does (all notifications, urgent notifications, new items on page)
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### Author:  [@david](https://meta.discourse.org/u/david)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/15 "2019-04-02T20:53:22Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> @david are green notifications also included in the number ?
Yes they are, it adds green + blue notifications. I borrowed the same logic from @Falco’s PWA badge.
> [@Falco](#):
>
> I found that changing the window/tab title to show “you got a like” a bit too much
Yeah, I have also found this, but I think a number discrepancy could be even more confusing 🤔
> [@sam](#):
>
> I think we can make a theme component to allow users to pick what the number does (all notifications, urgent notifications, new items on page)
We can do, I’ll make some small tweaks to core so that the maths is easy to override, then make a component.
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### Author:  [@david](https://meta.discourse.org/u/david)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/17 "2019-04-02T20:59:15Z")
> [@ChrisBeach](#):
>
> I’m not seeing any count showing, despite having unread PMs and new posts in watched topics
The precise logic is described in the [PR description](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/4e8c174ee524e752be45cdba15e754efeeca6023):
### Anonymous Behavior:
On topic list:
- Regardless of focus, browser title shows the count of topics waiting to be loaded (matches the “See N new or updated topic” banner)
On topic:
- IF tab is in the background, then increment the counter for each new post that arrives
- When focus is restored, reset the counter
### Logged in behavior
For logged in users:
- If tab is in the background, **and** a new notification arrives while the tab is in the background, display the total notification count in the title
- Hide the count when the tab is in the foreground
* * *
@ChrisBeach does this line up with what you’re seeing?
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### Author:  [@ChrisBeach](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ChrisBeach)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/18 "2019-04-02T22:28:07Z")
Thanks very much @david. I’ll test this out soon and let you know.
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/19 "2019-04-10T13:32:31Z")
I have to agree with @colinl and @cjk77, this is a significant negative enhancement for me. I agree on an active site with a tab open to the topic list seeing the “new posts” isn’t useful, but with a specific topic open I want to know if something has changed _within the topic_, not an unrelated notification. For me, in many cases these topics are PMs, so loading as anon doesn’t work.
A theme component would be fine with me, but as this stands seeing notification count displayed across 7 background tabs is useless and redundant.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2019, 7:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/20 "2019-04-11T07:44:34Z")
@codinghorror this text is already wrong.
Maybe we
1. Nuke “Show new / updated topic count on browser icon” and ship to a theme component. (as “show notification count on browser icon” or something… this feature never really worked perfectly)
2. Nuke “Don’t jump to my post after I reply”, cause the implementation is bust anyway. We can later experiment with a proper implementation in a theme component
3. Add a drop down for [Display unread notification count in title | Display new / update topic count in title] combo.
So we would be nuking 2 settings and adding 1 new one.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2019, 8:02am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864/21 "2019-04-11T08:02:34Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> Nuke “Show new / updated topic count on browser icon” and ship to a theme component. (as “show notification count on browser icon” or something… this feature never really worked perfectly)
✅
> [@sam](#):
>
> Nuke “Don’t jump to my post after I reply”, cause the implementation is bust anyway. We can later experiment with a proper implementation in a theme component
✅
> [@sam](#):
>
> Add a drop down for [Display unread notification count in title | Display new / update topic count in title] combo.
✅
[Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-posts-count-in-browser-tabs-broken/112864.md?page=2)