diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 350e4733..4723119e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
     * Escape finally clears any selection made in the document
     * initial start of caret mode. Start with 'i', stop with Escape;
     * many small bug fixes and enhancements
+    * new "newtab" option for opening the command output in a new tab
 
 2007-12-21:
     * version 0.5.3
diff --git a/content/liberator.js b/content/liberator.js
index 255eb5a2..cd37b810 100644
--- a/content/liberator.js
+++ b/content/liberator.js
@@ -121,7 +121,12 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
     {
         liberator.commands.add(["addo[ns]"],
             "Manage available Extensions and Themes",
-            function () { liberator.open("chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul", liberator.NEW_TAB); });
+            function ()
+            {
+                liberator.open("chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul",
+                    (liberator.options.newtab == "all" || liberator.options.newtab.split(",").indexOf("addons") != -1) ?
+                        liberator.NEW_TAB: liberator.CURRENT_TAB);
+            });
 
         liberator.commands.add(["beep"],
             "Play a system beep",
@@ -182,7 +187,11 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
             function (args, special)
             {
                 if (special) // open javascript console
-                    liberator.open("chrome://global/content/console.xul", liberator.NEW_TAB);
+                {
+                    liberator.open("chrome://global/content/console.xul",
+                        (liberator.options.newtab == "all" || liberator.options.newtab.split(",").indexOf("javascript") != -1) ?
+                            liberator.NEW_TAB : liberator.CURRENT_TAB);
+                }
                 else
                 {
                     // check for a heredoc
@@ -395,6 +404,8 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
         NEW_BACKGROUND_TAB: 3,
         NEW_WINDOW: 4,
 
+        forceNewTab: false,
+
         // ###VERSION### and ###DATE### are replaced by the Makefile
         version: "###VERSION### (created: ###DATE###)",
 
@@ -592,9 +603,12 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
 
         help: function(topic)
         {
+            var where = (liberator.options.newtab == "all" || liberator.options.newtab.split(",").indexOf("help") != -1) ?
+                        liberator.NEW_TAB : liberator.CURRENT_TAB;
+
             function jumpToTag(file, tag)
             {
-                liberator.open("chrome://" + liberator.config.name.toLowerCase() + "/locale/" + file);
+                liberator.open("chrome://" + liberator.config.name.toLowerCase() + "/locale/" + file, where);
                 setTimeout(function() {
                     var elem = liberator.buffer.getElement('@class="tag" and text()="' + tag + '"');
                     if (elem)
@@ -606,7 +620,7 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
 
             if (!topic)
             {
-                liberator.open("chrome://" + liberator.config.name.toLowerCase() + "/locale/intro.html");
+                liberator.open("chrome://" + liberator.config.name.toLowerCase() + "/locale/intro.html", where);
                 return;
             }
 
@@ -651,6 +665,7 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
         //              ["url1", "url2", "url3", ...] or:
         //              [["url1", postdata1], ["url2", postdata2], ...]
         // @param where: if ommited, CURRENT_TAB is assumed
+        //                  but NEW_TAB is set when liberator.forceNewTab is true.
         // @param callback: not implemented, will be allowed to specify a callback function
         //                  which is called, when the page finished loading
         // @returns true when load was initiated, or false on error
@@ -664,7 +679,9 @@ const liberator = (function () //{{{
             if (urls.length == 0)
                 return false;
 
-            if (!where || !liberator.has("tabs"))
+            if (liberator.forceNewTab && liberator.has("tabs"))
+                where = liberator.NEW_TAB;
+            else if (!where || !liberator.has("tabs"))
                 where = liberator.CURRENT_TAB;
 
             var url =   typeof urls[0] == "string" ? urls[0] : urls[0][0];
diff --git a/content/options.js b/content/options.js
index 275ab27c..27699c4a 100644
--- a/content/options.js
+++ b/content/options.js
@@ -296,18 +296,15 @@ liberator.Options = function () //{{{
         {
             if (!args)
             {
-                // TODO: copy these snippets to more function which should work with :tab xxx
-                if (modifiers && modifiers.inTab)
+                if (special) // open firefox settings gui dialog
                 {
-                    liberator.open(special ? "about:config" :
-                        "chrome://browser/content/preferences/preferences.xul", liberator.NEW_TAB);
+                    liberator.open("about:config", 
+                        (liberator.options.newtab == "all" || liberator.options.newtab.split(",").indexOf("prefs") != -1) ?
+                            liberator.NEW_TAB : liberator.CURRENT_TAB);
                 }
                 else
                 {
-                    if (special) // open firefox settings gui dialog
-                        liberator.open("about:config", liberator.CURRENT_TAB);
-                    else
-                        openPreferences();
+                    openPreferences();
                 }
             }
             else
diff --git a/content/tabs.js b/content/tabs.js
index ea8ce625..bb072802 100644
--- a/content/tabs.js
+++ b/content/tabs.js
@@ -88,6 +88,16 @@ liberator.Tabs = function () //{{{
             }
         });
 
+    liberator.options.add(["newtab"],
+        "Define which commands should output in a new tab by default",
+        "stringlist", "",
+        {
+            validator: function(value)
+            {
+                return value == "all" || value.split(",").every(function (item) { return /^(addons|downloads|help|javascript|prefs|)$/.test(item); });
+            }
+        });
+
     liberator.options.add(["popups", "pps"],
         "Where to show requested popup windows",
         "number", 1,
@@ -250,7 +260,12 @@ liberator.Tabs = function () //{{{
 
     liberator.commands.add(["tab"],
         "Execute a command and tell it to output in a new tab",
-        function (args) { liberator.execute(args, { inTab: true }); },
+        function (args)
+        {
+            liberator.forceNewTab = true;
+            liberator.execute(args);
+            liberator.forceNewTab = false;
+        },
         { completer: function (filter) { return liberator.completion.command(filter); } });
 
     liberator.commands.add(["tabl[ast]"],
diff --git a/content/vimperator.js b/content/vimperator.js
index ee399aee..03020112 100644
--- a/content/vimperator.js
+++ b/content/vimperator.js
@@ -228,7 +228,12 @@ liberator.config = {
 
         liberator.commands.add(["downl[oads]", "dl"],
             "Show progress of current downloads",
-            function () { liberator.open("chrome://mozapps/content/downloads/downloads.xul", liberator.NEW_TAB); });
+            function ()
+            {
+                liberator.open("chrome://mozapps/content/downloads/downloads.xul",
+                    (liberator.options.newtab == "all" || liberator.options.newtab.split(",").indexOf("downloads") != -1) ?
+                        liberator.NEW_TAB : liberator.CURRENT_TAB);
+            });
 
         liberator.commands.add(["o[pen]", "e[dit]"],
             "Open one or more URLs in the current tab",
diff --git a/locale/en-US/options.txt b/locale/en-US/options.txt
index e9311b21..56e4968c 100644
--- a/locale/en-US/options.txt
+++ b/locale/en-US/options.txt
@@ -342,8 +342,26 @@ ____
 Pause the message list window when more than one screen of listings is displayed
 ____
 
+|\'newtab'|
+||'newtab'|| stringlist (default: "")
+____
+Define which ex commands output the result in a new tab automatically. You can
+also use [c]:tab command[c] to manually output a command in a new tab.
+
+The possible values:
+`------------`---------------------------------------------
+*all*        All commands
+*addons*     [c]:addo[ns][c] command
+*downloads*  [c]:downl[oads][c] command
+*help*       [c]:h[elp][c] command
+*javascript* [c]:javascript![c] or [c]:js![c] command
+*prefs*      [c]:pref[erences]![c] or [c]:prefs![c] command
+-----------------------------------------------------------
+
+____
+
 |\'nextpattern'|
-||'nextpattern'|| stringlist (default: \bnext,^>$,^(>>|»)$,^(>|»),(>|»)$)
+||'nextpattern'|| stringlist (default: \bnext,^>$,^(>>|»)$,^(>|»),(>|»)$,\bmore\b)
 ____
 Patterns to use when guessing the 'next' page in a document sequence.
 Each pattern, in order, is matched against all links in the page with the first match being used.