1962297 - [Link Previews] The keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt should be changed, at least on Windows

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Core :: Machine Learning: General, defect)

Description

[Takanori MATSUURA]

At least in Windows, the keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt should be changed.

The shortcut Shift + Alt is used to switch input languages in Windows.
For example, in a Japanese environment, Japanese and English input environments are often enabled, and Shift + Alt switches between them.
(For most Japanese, this is meaningless because the Japanese input environment also allows English input. Therefore, it is often disabled by the user, according to the notification that appears when this operation is performed).

Comment 1

[Takanori MATSUURA]

If users do not disable the keyboard shortcut for language switching, the language will be switched every time Shift + Alt is used to display the link preview.

Comment 2

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

potentially instead of keyboard shortcut, it could be long press. also some way to turn off the shortcut bug 1961211

Comment 3

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

bug 1961210 will add settings to let people turn off the new keyboard shortcut (only shift) as well as turn off long press

Comment 4

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

for existing link preview users (mostly from labs where it says alt-shift), we'll try to maintain compatibility with alt-shift shortcut

going forwards as we expose this in settings bug 1961210 there'll be options to turn off long-press as well as shift-hover (as well as alt-shift-hover for those who had it on)

Comment 5

[Takanori MATSUURA]

Since Labs is a place for validation, there is nothing wrong with changing key bindings as a result of validation.
After all, there is no point in having Labs if the functionality cannot be fixed or improved during Labs.
In fact, changing key bindings as a result of a bug discovered during Labs is welcome and makes many users happy.

This bug is unfortunate for all Windows users who have multiple input formats installed.
For example, some Japanese users have multiple input methods installed, including "Japanese Microsoft IME", "Japanese ATOK", and "Japanese Google Input". It is also common to have both Japanese and English input methods installed.
Users do not switch input formats on a daily basis.
Therefore, accidentally switching of input formats with Shift+Alt can fatally degrade the Firefox user experience and cause users to stop using Firefox.

It may be useful to inform users who have been using the old Shift+Alt shortcut that the shortcut has changed for a period of time during the Labs.

Comment 6

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

Attachment: Bug 1962297 - [Link Previews] The keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt should be changed, at least on Windows r=txia!

Support both shift and shift-alt switching default to just shift.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/3937e1e7af52
[Link Previews] The keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt should be changed, at least on Windows r=txia,firefox-ai-ml-reviewers

Comment 8

[Narcis Beleuzu [:NarcisB]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/3937e1e7af52

Comment 9

[Ciprian Georgiu, Desktop QA]

I've verified that the Link Previews feature now opens with the 'Shift' key on Windows 11, macOS 14, and Ubuntu 24.04. Tested with Beta 140.0b1.