Closed Bug 232089 Opened 21 years ago Closed 20 years ago

"Create in" in "Add Bookmark" dialog should not persist by default

Categories

(Firefox :: Bookmarks & History, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Bookmarks & History
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED FIXED

People

(Reporter: dbaron, Assigned: vlad)

Details

The "Create in" field in the "Add Bookmark" dialog should not persist by default
between bookmark additions.  It would make sense for it to persist optionally
(e.g., using a "lock" icon), but persisting by default can be confusing and lead
to bookmarks being accidentally misfiled.

Steps to reproduce:
 1. load a page
 2. Bookmarks -> Add to bookmarks...
 3. In "Create in", select something other than "Bookmarks".
 4. load a different page
 5. Bookmarks -> Add to bookmarks...

Actual results:
 5. The folder selected in (3) is shown.

Expected results:
 5. "Bookmarks" should be shown.

Persisting the "Create in" folder is good for some usage patterns and bad for
others.  Two relevant usage patterns (I usually do (A) but I've done (B) a
number of times) are:
 A. [non-persistence is preferred] User occasionally bookmarks into personal
    toolbar or subfolder thereof, but generally bookmarks to main bookmarks
    menu.
 B. [persistence is preferred] User wants to bookmark a number of things into
    the same folder in a single session, and doesn't want to have to pick the
    folder each time.  For example, the user might be browsing through web
    pages for a certain type of product and bookmarking the ones he might be
    interested in.

One solution that would allow both usage patterns is to have a lock icon next to
the "Create in" dropdown.  This would allow for switching between persistence
and non-persistence.  (I'd prefer if the lock defaulted to unlocked
(non-persisting), but I don't feel strongly.  Perhaps it could even switch to
unlocked when the folder is changed, although I'm not sure if that's a good idea.)
The UI you're proposing seems too complicate to me.
And we're consistent with the save as dialog that persists the location.
In addition, the drop down contains the recently used folders. So getting the
root bookmarks is few key stroke away and this folder (the personal toolbar
folder as well) is always present.
The problem is that after using many other browsers over the course of the last
9 and a half years, I expect the bookmark to go in the main Bookmarks list
without my having to do anything -- so, however few keystrokes or clicks away it
is, I forget to change it.  And it's not a habit I'm going to unlearn easily.
We could do that without complicating the UI of the add bookmark dialog:
- having a menuitem 'set/unset folder as the default destination for new
bookmarks' in the view menu of the bookmarks manager.
- having a checkbox in the advance pref panel:
 x Default Folder for new Bookmarks: |Bookmarks|   [Select]
the unchecked checkbox would give the same behaviour we have now.

I would favor the second, since the first option would lead to a very long
menuitem if we want it to be self descriptive 'Set as Default Bookmarks Folder'
isn't enough imo. Btw, we'll have a bookmark section in the advance pref panel
for notifications and eventually schedule of bookmarks update.
I used to think this was a bug. It shouldn't repeat behavior as Save as because
IE doesn't and I usually save in the same place, the Desktop, but not always
bookmark in the same folder
The default behavior should be like IE

I was about to file a bug regarding this issue as well. I don't understand the
process wherein the default location for a new bookmark is chosen. I am running
firefox in WinXP and Fedora and i dont think it always defaults to the last
folder i was in. At least not between sessions. I would like it to default to
main but i recognize the value of remembering the last position. Perhaps we can
have a comprimise that works best for most users:

When a new session begins the default location is set to the "Main Bookmarks
Folder". If the user changes folders it will remember the last location until
the end of the session. At the begining of a new session start over from top of
paragraph.

High volume bookmarkers will benefit from the same session remembering and us
ocassional bookmarkers will benefit as well.
*** Bug 242626 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I'm unsure, but this may be a dupe of Bug 232467.

In my mind, the ideal solution to this (VERY annoying problem) is to revert to
the Mozilla behavior...  Have two menu options, "Add bookmark" will add the
current page to the end of the bookmark list without any dialog at all.  "File
bookmark" would bring up the dialog, with the tree view (optionally)
automatically shown (Bug 242626).

This keeps the simplicity and consistency with older browsers, and has the the
advantages of the dialog to file bookmarks in folders, bookmark groups of tabs, etc.
not a dupe, but related
This would be a real usability win, I think, for bookmarks. This is the primary
interface that people will use for adding bookmarks and remembering the last
selected folder doesn't seem right to me. Can we get this changed for 1.0?
Assignee: p_ch → vladimir
Flags: blocking-aviary1.0?
Patch in on aviary to change this, though the last-touched-folders list still
remains -- it's just below a separator bar in the dropdown menu.  I don't think
consistency with "save as" is relevant here, especially based on what users tend
to expect.
"Bookmarks" and "Bookmarks Toolbar" are permanent items of the last-used-folders
list:
http://lxr.mozilla.org/aviarybranch/source/browser/components/bookmarks/src/nsBookmarksService.cpp#3562
  // always show the bookmarks root
  // always show the bookmarks toolbar folder.

After vlad's checkin from 2004-07-24 20:02, "Bookmarks" shows up twice, once
above and once below the separator.
Bookmarks shows as default in "create in" each time from add bookmarks as seen
on 0.9+ branch builds from 0726
fixed on trunk as well.  will get rid of the duplicate bookmarks bit soon
(separate bug).
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 20 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Flags: blocking-aviary1.0?
Bad "fix" I think. I filed a bug to fix this back to what it was, thinking it a
sudden bug. How annoying to have to traverse the folders again when bookmarking,
as often you bookmark many similar items in a row. You could clear it at browser
close if needed. 

See http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=255129
sorry for bugspam, long-overdue mass reassign of ancient QA contact bugs, filter on "beltznerLovesGoats" to get rid of this mass change
QA Contact: mconnor → bookmarks
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