1725602 - URL Bar Selects All when clicked

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1621570

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect)

Description

[Jack Grey]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:72.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/72.0

Steps to reproduce:

When i try to edit the url, the whole url is selected. Earlier i worked with an ESR version because i don't like changes all the time. Now, after one year i decided to update and really the first thing that bored me is this default click selects all behavior. So i go to about:config to turn it of. But what! No the option isn't there any more. This must be a bug i gues. As an developer i edit the url all the time. This behavior is not working for me. In which version is this changed?

Actual results:

When i click in the address bar i want to place the cursor. But the whole url get selected

Expected results:

Just work like any other text field and do what i command. No need for any auto select shit. If i want the address bar selected as a whole i command ctrl-L

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Firefox::Address Bar' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please revert this change in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[Harry Twyford]

(In reply to Jack Grey from comment #0)

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:72.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/72.0

Steps to reproduce:

In which version is this changed?

This changed in version 75.

You can still place the cursor in the Urlbar with two clicks. One to select the entire URL, then one to place the cursor.

Comment 3

[Jack Grey]

Ohw, i see. I searched for it but couldn't find it. Its clear I'am not the only one noticed this. That give me confidence it will fixed soon. Is there any activity on this issue?

Of course it's ridiculous to click -WAIT!- and click again. Why is this even invented in the first please? Its unexpected behavior.

For now, back to version 75. Unworkable with such bug

Comment 4

[Greg]

Since I can't comment at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1621570, I'll leave this feedback here for Firefox. (I know Firefox doesn't care about user feedback currently, but I hope in the future when there is maybe new leadership that this feedback may be valued). My feedback:

Removing "browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll=false" is an excellent example of why I stopped using Firefox. Firefox lacks many things that Google Chrome offers (too many to list here) and the things that I dislike about Google Chrome (like its click selects all behavior) Firefox now has whereas before it didn't. Just FYI.

Extra details on why clickSelectsAll is bad design: when a user is going to type into the URL bar, the most efficient method is to use CTRL+L and then begin typing (hence it makes sense to auto-highlight the entire URL bar when CTRL+L is activated). It is inefficient to use the mouse to go to the URL bar and click and then transition to the keyboard to type one's entry. One should just go straight to the keyboard to both move focus to the URL bar (via CTRL+L) and then start typing.

If a user is going to edit a URL bar, however, they are more likely to take control of the mouse to land on the precise location of where the edit is needed; hence, it makes no sense to auto-highlight the entire URL when there is a single mouse click. A double-click of the mouse should be required to highlight the entire URL bar.

Comment 5

[microtribute]

@Greg first of all, you must respect the developers and stop abusing yourself into talking sh*t about their products over a tiny negligible trivial issue you experience. Do not make others take your bad habit for the bug of the product. It's just your habit that no one has no interest in following. Firefox gives you an option and it's up to you whether you use it or not.

Selecting the entire address bar does not bother me at all as 9 out of 10 cases, I tend to type a whole different URL and it's a well done thing. You can still use your keyboard to move the cursor to the position of the letter you want to modify. That's where your keyboard comes in handy.

THIS IS NOT A BUG. THIS IS THE FEATURE THAT I LIKE THE MOST IN FIREFOX.

Comment 6

[microtribute]

@Greg first of all, you must respect the developers and stop abusing yourself into talking sh*t about their products over a tiny negligible trivial issue you experience. Do not make others take your bad habit for the bug of the product. It's just your habit that no one has interest in following. Firefox gives you an option and it's up to you whether you use it or not.

Selecting the entire address bar does not bother me at all as 9 out of 10 cases, I tend to type a whole different URL and it's a well done thing. You can still use your keyboard to move the cursor to the position of the letter you want to modify. That's where your keyboard comes in handy.

THIS IS NOT A BUG. THIS IS THE FEATURE THAT I LIKE THE MOST IN FIREFOX.

Comment 7

[mark_ivo]

(In reply to microtribute from comment #6)

THIS IS NOT A BUG. THIS IS THE FEATURE THAT I LIKE THE MOST IN FIREFOX.

Please give me a break. What you are saying is that your preference is the one that counts and everybody should use it!? I don't give a shit that you are truly happy with the ClickSelectsAll behavior. The point here is we have created a browser that enables users to adjust it to their preferences. The layout, the language, the add-ons, the theme, which suggestions are given while typing in the url bar. That kind of stuff. Now because of bad decisions off an developer, many users suffer from bad workflow. Just another example, i extremely prefer NOT to get search results when typing in the URL bar. Because i try to make things work on the internet (Web Developer) if i request special addresses for local stuff. Getting search results on that is extremely irritating. This is just a preference i like. And surely many with me but also surely not a majority. So it's convenient that this is adjustable in Firefox.

Don't try to think you have the best idea how it should work. People have different preferences and software has to deal with these preferences.