264204 - [Linux] ALT-digit tab-selection shortcuts conflict with accesskey assignments

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 340902

(Firefox :: Keyboard Navigation, defect, P5)

Description

[Per Ångström]

On Linux, the keyboard shortcut for selecting a tab based on its ordinal number
has been changed from CTRL-digit to ALT-digit, in accordance with bug #256635.

Unfortunately, these shortcuts conflict with web pages that use accesskey
attributes, since ALT is also the keyboard modifier for such page-specific
shortcuts. 

How to reproduce:
1) Open a new Firefox window.
2) In the first tab, open <http://www.mozilla.org/>.
3) In a second tab, open <http://diveintomark.org/about/accessibility/>.
4) In the same second tab, press ALT-1.

Expected behavior: Firefox should jump to <http://diveintomark.org/>, in the
same tab.
Actual behavior: Firefox switches to the first tab, showing www.mozilla.org.

See <http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#adef-accesskey> for more
information about the accesskey attribute.

Comment 1

[Jo Hermans]

That's actually bug 128452, except that you didn't choose the accelerator key
yourself.

Comment 2

[Bill Mason]

*** Bug 264404 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 3

[tpafs]

*Sigh*. I looked at this bug after bug 264404 had been a marked a duplicate of
it. And what do I see? Yet more gnomey key binding brain-damage in bug #256635.
Please re-enable Control+number (and also enable Control+Left/Right for
backward/forward). Alt+number (and Alt+Left/Right) have been standard window
manager workspace switching bindings since who knows how long. Make the bindings
easily configurable instead of hard-coded they (at least Alt+Left/Right) seem to
be now.

Comment 4

[W. Tellier]

I agree with tpafs.
Since many years (at least) windowmaker uses alt+# to switch desktops, I'm
defnitely not going to change that.
I guess other windowmanagers use different combinations to do that so maybe its
an option to change the modifier-key from the preferences?

Thanks in advance.

Comment 5

[Aaron Leventhal]

Eventually the plan is to make accesskeys use alt+shift+key be the backup for
accesskey combos on Windows and Linux. But, that doesn't help the window mgr
situation.

Comment 6

[Sameer D. Sahasrabuddhe]

(In reply to comment #5)
> Eventually the plan is to make accesskeys use alt+shift+key be the backup for
> accesskey combos on Windows and Linux. But, that doesn't help the window mgr
> situation.

Most keyboards today have the Hyper (Windows) key anyway ... I resolved my
conflicts rather effectively using that. All my window manager shortcuts use the
hyper key, so that control and alt are free for the apps ... especially EMACS.
My vote would be to stick to Ctrl+number for the tabs, and Alt+number for the
access keys. Why bend preferences for one particular window manager?

Comment 7

[Andreas Gohr]

I'd prefer Ctrl+Number for the tabs and Alt+Number for Accesskeys, too. This was
the behaviour 'til Firefox 0.9 and worked fine.

Comment 8

[[:Aleksej]]

Here (Debian testing, Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5 (rc3)), both the access key and the tab switching act when I press Alt-1.

Comment 9

[Andy Clark]

I'm seeing the same behaviour as Aleksej. Changing tabs with ALT+<number> switches tab *and* triggers the accesskey link for the old tab.

This would appear to be entirely internal to Firefox - the specific behavious I'm seeing isn't related to window manager shortcuts.

Comment 10

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

The window mgr situation isn't really fixable, I know people who have both Ctrl+numbers and Alt+numbers bound in their WM, so its just a losing game trying to try to avoid them.

Comment 11

[[:Aleksej]]

Then maybe there is a way to turn accesskeys off?

Comment 12

[Lukasz Stelmach]

> Since many years (at least) windowmaker uses alt+# to switch desktops, 

I recomend using the window (or apple) key as a modifier for all window and desktop management actions. Most keyboards today have these keys. It allows applications to use full range of shortcut combinations and gives an extra space for environment management.

Comment 13

[Mats Palmgren (inactive)]

bug 340902 fixed the problem reported in comment 0 (content accesskey conflicts
with chrome). I filed bug 345902 regarding tab switching key mask specifically.


*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 340902 ***