250286 - Search should be Ctrl+E, not Ctrl+K

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Search, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Jesse Ruderman]

Search should be Ctrl+E because:
A) Ctrl+E is easier to press than Ctrl+K and searching Google is a very common
action.
B) Ctrl+E is Search in IE.

When Ctrl+E opened the download manager, some people accidentally hit Ctrl+W or
Ctrl+R, causing them to lose the current page.  But if you're trying to press
Ctrl+E to search, you're leaving the current page anyway, so dataloss is less
likely.

Comment 1

[Blake Ross]

Fixed.

Comment 2

[R.J. Keller]

Is this change only for windows? I have in the help docs that it's Ctrl+K on
Windows and Ctrl+J on Linux.

Comment 3

[Jesse Ruderman]

This change was only for Windows and Mac.  I don't remember why it was different
on Linux before, so I can't say whether it should have been changed for Linux too.

Comment 4

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

(In reply to comment #0)
> When Ctrl+E opened the download manager, some people accidentally hit Ctrl+W or
> Ctrl+R, causing them to lose the current page.  But if you're trying to press
> Ctrl+E to search, you're leaving the current page anyway, so dataloss is less
> likely.

Well, most of the time when I use the search, I'm using alt-enter to open a new
tab. But then again, I've never accidentally closed the tab/window with ctrl-W
when trying to ctrl-E. I've gotten used to ctrl-K for searching, but I thought
it was there because it was close to ctrl-L which moves to the address bar.

> A) Ctrl+E is easier to press than Ctrl+K and searching Google is a very common
> action.

So what about ctrl-L for the address bar? (But I don't use ctrl-L ;) I use alt-d
pretty much everywhere.. except for bugzilla! :p)

Comment 5

[Steffen Wilberg]

History:
1. 2002-09-29 13:30: Initial shortcut: Ctrl-; (all platforms).

2. 2002-11-04 15:38: Ctrl-K (all platforms).

3. 2003-11-19 16:45: In bug 226273, pch changed it to Ctrl-J on Linux, because
Ctrl-K is commonly used for "kill end of line". So it was Ctrl-K on Win/Mac and
Ctrl-J on Linux. Checkin for that:
http://bonsai.mozilla.org/cvsquery.cgi?date=explicit&mindate=2003-11-19+16%3A45&maxdate=2003-11-19+16%3A45

4. 2004-07-09 18:11: This bug changed Ctrl-K to Ctrl-E on Win/Mac. Checkin:
http://bonsai.mozilla.org/cvsquery.cgi?branch=&file=browser.dtd&filetype=match&date=explicit&mindate=2004-07-09+18%3A11&maxdate=2004-07-09+18%3A11

We should use Ctrl-E on Linux as well. Morphing bug and reopening.

Comment 6

[Steffen Wilberg]

Attachment: Ctrl-E for everyone

Comment 7

[Steffen Wilberg]

Comment on attachment 152857 [details] [diff] [review]
Ctrl-E for everyone

trivial patch.

Comment 8

[Ben Ruppel]

Oh brother.  I find ctrl-E very hard to press.  Do you use your left or right
hand to hit ctrl keys?  Do you use a MS ergonomic keyboard?  It is very easy to
hit ctrl-l and ctrl-k when you usually use your left ctrl- key.  Otherwise, it's
a big  stretch to use your pinky for ctrl and your ring finder for E.  

I doubt anyone will be willing to change this back, but I must take to task the
blanket statement that ctrl-e is easy to press, unless someone can teach me a
new way to use the keyboard.

Comment 9

[Steffen Wilberg]

History, continued:
5. 2004-07-12 15:58: "also support Ctrl+K for searches, since its use is
entrenched. E is IE compat"
This means Ctrl-E or Ctrl-K on all platforms except Linux, where it's Ctrl-J.

Don't ask. But there's hope left, we could still change Linux's Ctrl-J to Ctrl-E.

Comment 10

[Steffen Wilberg]

Attachment: Ctrl-E for everyone, Ctrl-K for everyone except Linux

Changes Linux's Ctrl-J to Ctrl-E, but keeps Ctrl-K on other platforms.

Comment 11

[Steffen Wilberg]

Comment on attachment 152989 [details] [diff] [review]
Ctrl-E for everyone, Ctrl-K for everyone except Linux

Please let's not have 3 different keys for this.

Comment 12

[Steffen Wilberg]

*** Bug 250397 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 13

[Steffen Wilberg]

I forgot to mention that Ctrl-E will be displayed in the Tools menu on all
platforms.

Comment 14

[Tracy Walker [:tracy]]

added link to testrunner testcase in URL

Comment 15

[Jesse Ruderman]

Ctrl+K should be Search on all platforms or on no platforms.  We're not going to
use Ctrl+K for something else on Linux.

Comment 16

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

Comment on attachment 152989 [details] [diff] [review]
Ctrl-E for everyone, Ctrl-K for everyone except Linux

Please don't request approval until you've received necessary reviews. Thanks.

Comment 17

[Steffen Wilberg]

Comment on attachment 152989 [details] [diff] [review]
Ctrl-E for everyone, Ctrl-K for everyone except Linux

This is now more or less incorporated in bug 250396.

Comment 18

[Steffen Wilberg]

This is now covered by bug 250396.
-> Restoring the original summary, reassinging to Blake...

Comment 19

[Steffen Wilberg]

...and marking fixed again, see comment 1.

Comment 20

[Ben Ruppel]

Hey hey hey, can we leave ctrl-k alone already?  Many have already learned that
it works there and it's easier to hit than ctrl-E (I disagree with point A) of
the original bug description).  Just make ctrl-e and ctrl-k work for the search
bar, I have not seen anyone post any conflicts with ctrl-k.

Comment 21

[Steffen Wilberg]

(In reply to comment #20)
> Hey hey hey, can we leave ctrl-k alone already?
Please see comment 4.
My current proposal is in bug 250396 comment 17.