I'm not good with java but I think I can help you with the second part.
Have you tried clicking the links holding Ctrl (dunno the correspondent to mac)? Or the mouse wheel?
Whenever I feel like opening a link to a new tab, I open it by clicking with the mouse wheel, but that doesn't work with buttons, so I found out that Ctrl + left mouse button does the same thing.
To close the tabs though, ctrl + lmb doesn't work, you'll have to close it with the wheel too (or the x but that's too small for me).