1739148 - Inconsistent behavior of Alt+A

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Disability Access, defect, P3)

Description

[Valentin Villenave]

As mentioned in bug 1376091, the behavior of Alt-A has always
been hardcoded by default to mimic that of Ctrl-A: “Select all”.
This is particularly annoying in localized versions such as
French, Italian or Spanish, where the A key is used as a
menu mnemonic.

Whilst this is reproduced everywhere in Firefox, in TB
it’s much more inconsistent depending on where the
focus currently is:

• in non-editable items: message list, message view,
  Alt-A isn’t intercepted (and thus is able to provide access
  to menu mnemonics);
• in the main compose content frame (which is actually a web document):
  Alt-A isn’t intercepted either.
• in web pages (ATN and so on), Alt-A isn’t intercepted.
• However, in the URL bar it is intercepted, and will select all
  instead of opening the menu.
• Likewise in other text entries such as the Subject field.
• In pill-enabled fields such as To or Cc, it becomes even less
  consistent: Alt-A is intercepted, but will not select existing
  pills (unlike Ctrl-A which does).

For example, launch an -es, -fr or -it l10n build and create a
new mail (Ctrl-N). The “To” field should be focused by default;
type in [e-mail] followed by a comma. Hitting the
comma should turn the address into a pill. Now press Alt-A:
nothing happens. The menu doesn’t open, nor does the pill
get selected. Ctrl-A will select it, though, and pressing any other
Alt-letter combo will open the corresponding menu.

Of course, the obvious fix would be to close #1376091 once and for all :-)

Comment 1

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to Valentin Villenave from comment #0)

As mentioned in bug 1376091, the behavior of Alt-A has always
been hardcoded by default to mimic that of Ctrl-A: “Select all”.
This is particularly annoying in localized versions...
where the A key is used as a menu mnemonic [access key].

Thank you Valentin for describing this access issue in detail.
Blocking an entire access key (Alt+A) on Linux with an outdated hence unexpected shortcut isn't good.
As a sidenote, please use plus instead of minus to reference modified shortcuts like Alt+A.

Of course, the obvious fix would be to close #1376091 once and for all :-)

True. Waiting for Firefox to fix things can be very boring, lengthy and ineffective, so I've decided to try and offer a patch for 4-year-old bug 1376091.

• In pill-enabled fields such as To or Cc, it becomes even less
  consistent: Alt-A is intercepted, but will not select existing
  pills (unlike Ctrl-A which does).

Yes. For the empty (!) address input, I've implemented Ctrl+A to select all pills, but Alt+A in the text input will be intercepted on Linux due to bug 1376091. It would appear to do nothing because there's nothing to select, but it's meant to select, so it's consumed before reaching the menu.