173201 - set tabbing nav pref to 7 or 3 for Mac [interim workaround for 169767]

Status: VERIFIED INVALID

(Core :: DOM: UI Events & Focus Handling, defect)

Description

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

summary sez it all: set tabbing nav pref to all for Mac, as an interim
workaround for bug 169767. i keep getting blocked by bug 169767 whenever i use
tabbing navigation on the Mac --that is, most especially in non-browser content
contexts.

true, resolving bug 170871 by exposing the pref in the ui would "ease" things
somewhat. but the crux of the problem is really bug 169767.

Comment 1

[Akkana Peck]

I want a ruling from Mac people about what they want to have happen on this.

Of course, solving bug 169767 is the right answer.  But I spent a lot of time on
it and hit a brick wall trying to figure out what the event state manager is
doing with XUL iframes.  Apparently bryner is the only person who has a clue how
that code works, and he's been very busy with other things.  I'm hoping after
the 1.2 freeze I can get some clues from him as to how to proceed on that bug.

Meanwhile, do Mac people want this temporary fix, or not?  If you do want the
focus pref default changed, should it be changed to form elements, or all (form
elements plus links)?  Brendan unilaterally changed the Unix pref back to all
and we didn't get a chance for discussion, but I'm not changing the Mac default
without input from Mac people.

Comment 2

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

chatted with akkana about this, and as a note to myself, i should test the
backend pref setting to 3, where focus goes to all form elements (but not links)
--then see how bug 169767 behaves...

Comment 3

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

okay, i set user_pref("accessibility.tabfocus", 3); --did a few quick tests:

* i can tab around the prefs
* i can tab around the mailnews 3pane (although i encounter some extra "dead
spots" --but further tabbing works around those, fortunately)
* i can tab around the  mail account wizard panes (although spacebar no longer
seems to activate the focused button --another issue?)

Comment 4

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

*** Bug 174978 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 5

[Akkana Peck]

Haven't heard any comment from Simon or any other mac user.  Rather than close
as wontfix, I'll pass it off to Simon to decide what to do.  If you think it
should be changed and don't want to handle the patch, just tell me what the
decision is and assign it back to me.  If you think it shouldn't be changed,
then close as wontfix.

Comment 6

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

if bug 169767 is fixed before this one, then this bug could be marked wontfix or
invalid.

Comment 7

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

invalid, since bug 169767 has been fixed (whew).

side note: if you use the aqua/classic theme on OS X, however, tabbing still has
problems. i think there's already a bug for that, but cannot find it.

Comment 8

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

v