1792099 - Can't alt/option-drag-select text on recently closed tabs in Firefox View

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Firefox View, defect, P3)

Description

[:Gijs (he/him)]

It would be nice if we supported selecting text here, but we just end up opening the tab and then removing the button from the DOM, making it impossible to copy things.

Comment 1

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Attachment: Bug 1792099 - Allow for text selection in Recently Closed Tabs when holding Alt/Opt key r=Gijs,sfoster

Comment 2

[Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him)]

I'm not sure I understand the expectation in comment #0. Why would alt+click imply text selection vs. click-to-open the item? I do understand the need to allow text selection and differentiate between a users intention to select some text in the list item vs click on it to open the tab. Maybe checking for selected text before treating the click event as a button click is the way to go?

Is this one of those anchor links vs. buttons vs. tabs things?

Comment 3

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

(In reply to Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him) from comment #2)

I'm not sure I understand the expectation in comment #0. Why would alt+click imply text selection vs. click-to-open the item? I do understand the need to allow text selection and differentiate between a users intention to select some text in the list item vs click on it to open the tab. Maybe checking for selected text before treating the click event as a button click is the way to go?

Is this one of those anchor links vs. buttons vs. tabs things?

It's my understanding that text for anchor elements should be selectable when holding down Alt/Opt in Firefox without launching. We've styled the url text in Recently Closed Tabs as if it it were a hyperlink (underlined), so I think Gijs was thinking we should be able to use that same/expected functionality for that url text. In reality, the url text is a styled span, and the entire list item has a custom click event on it which is why Alt/Opt currently doesn't behave in the same way when attempting to select text within the list item.

Comment 4

[Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him)]

(In reply to Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane] from comment #3)

It's my understanding that text for anchor elements should be selectable when holding down Alt/Opt in Firefox without launching.

I can get this to work in Windows for hyperlinks e.g. in the URL links in about:logins - and in regular web content. But not on Linux. And it doesn't work in sidebar links, or toolbar buttons or tabs (all of which are buttons rather than links). So this was new behavior to me! Is this one of those things that everyone has known since the web began that I just didn't?

Comment 5

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

(In reply to Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him) from comment #4)

(In reply to Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane] from comment #3)

It's my understanding that text for anchor elements should be selectable when holding down Alt/Opt in Firefox without launching.

I can get this to work in Windows for hyperlinks e.g. in the URL links in about:logins - and in regular web content. But not on Linux. And it doesn't work in sidebar links, or toolbar buttons or tabs (all of which are buttons rather than links). So this was new behavior to me! Is this one of those things that everyone has known since the web began that I just didn't?

I honestly wasn't aware of it until Gijs mentioned it when on a call discussing this ticket, so it's news to me also!

Comment 6

[Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane]]

Interesting about Linux. Should I set my revision back to Needs Review, or do we want to think of another solution you think? Also, do you think we should add an automated test for this?

Comment 7

[Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him)]

(In reply to Kelly Cochrane [:kcochrane] from comment #6)

Interesting about Linux. Should I set my revision back to Needs Review, or do we want to think of another solution you think? Also, do you think we should add an automated test for this?

Yeah lets put it back in for review and take it from there. An automated test would be good - just for the click+option case (which shouldn't open the tab.) The drag to select text test would be a bit harder, likely a bit flakier and I'm not sure if it would add enough value.

Comment 8

[Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him)]

(In reply to Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him) from comment #4)

I can get this to work in Windows for hyperlinks e.g. in the URL links in about:logins - and in regular web content. But not on Linux.

This seems to work for some <a href> elements not others and I don't see the pattern yet. I'm not able to alt+click to select the text in the "Advanced Search" etc links in the navbar on this bugzilla page, but it does work for the phabricator revision link. Either way its not a fx-view bug and I don't think it changes how you approach the patch

Comment 9

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/7ec530140372
Allow for text selection in Recently Closed Tabs when holding Alt/Opt key r=Gijs,sfoster

Comment 10

[Norisz Fay [:noriszfay]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/7ec530140372