diff --git a/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbox.xml b/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbox.xml
index 3424701deba7..a081a1937b58 100644
--- a/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbox.xml
+++ b/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbox.xml
@@ -291,15 +291,10 @@
               }
             }
             
-            // Support both the old "select" event and the new, better-named
-            // "TabSelect" event.
+            // Fire an onselect event for the tabs element.
             var event = document.createEvent('Events');
             event.initEvent('select', true, true);
             this.dispatchEvent(event);
-
-            event = document.createEvent("Events");
-            event.initEvent("TabSelect", true, false);
-            this.dispatchEvent(event);
           }
           return val;
         ]]>
diff --git a/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml b/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml
index f4e6df5d0097..d0b3d7ceac92 100644
--- a/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml
+++ b/toolkit/content/widgets/tabbrowser.xml
@@ -742,6 +742,11 @@
               }
             }
 
+            // We've selected the new tab, so go ahead and notify listeners.
+            var event = document.createEvent("Events");
+            event.initEvent("TabSelect", true, false);
+            this.mCurrentTab.dispatchEvent(event);
+
             if (document.commandDispatcher.focusedElement &&
                 document.commandDispatcher.focusedElement.parentNode ==
                 this.mCurrentTab.parentNode) {