I am a Firefox user, and when I use /url I use -a because it respects the fact I use tabs.
But with -a it causes Firefox to activate (I know, I know, it should) as does -n. (But I hate -n 'cause it opens new windows.)
But there's no flag for keeping browsers minimized when opening a new tab/window which I would quite like to see. (If it's not impossible to impliment.)