Did You Know You Can Close a Browser Tab Using JavaScript?
It might surprise you to learn that you can close a browser tab programmatically with JavaScript. Yes, it’s possible—using the window.close() method.
This method is typically used only with popup windows, so I was just as surprised as you might be when I first discovered that you can also use it on regular tabs when a page I visited unexpectedly closed after I submitted a form. It felt strange—almost like something you'd expect from a mobile app crashing due to a bug. But on the web, things don’t work that way.
Unlike mobile applications, web pages or browser tabs don’t simply "crash" and close due to a fatal error. At worst, the page may freeze, or you’ll encounter an error message. So, how was this tab closing itself? Intrigued, I decided to dig deeper into the mechanics behind this behaviour.
If you’re curious to see this in action, you can try it right now using your browser's developer tools. Here’s how:
- Open the Developer Tools on this page (usually by pressing F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I on Windows, or Cmd+Option+I on macOS).
- Navigate to the Console tab.
- Type the following command and press Enter:
window.close();
Or
Top comments (2)
I encountered this on an online textbook I was using a few weeks ago. It's a neat feature, but I feel like it's not all that great in terms of accessibility (at least in the textbook that I was using). Awesome for popup windows though.
I agree that it's not great for accessibility. It's not something web pages normally do, which leaves the user confused about what happened.