306444 - Can't navigate out of open folders in Bookmarks Toolbar by using left/right keys

Status: REOPENED

(Toolkit :: UI Widgets, enhancement)

Description

[Scott Martin]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050517 Firefox/1.0.4 (Debian package 1.0.4-2)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050517 Firefox/1.0.4 (Debian package 1.0.4-2)

When using menus with the keyboard, if you press left-arrow or right-arrow
you'll move to the next menu along. However, this behavior is not available when
moving through Bookmarks Toolbar folders (menus).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Have some folders in your Bookmarks Toolbar.
2. Open one by clicking it.
3. Move up and down it by pressing up-arrow and down-arrow.
4. Try to move over to the next folder by pressing left-arrow or right-arrow.

Actual Results:  
Nothing.

Expected Results:  
Moved menu item selection to the next folder.

Comment 1

[Toby]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1) Gecko/2006101023 Firefox/2.0

WFM

Do you still experience the problem with more recent releases?

Comment 2

[Scott Martin]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Do you still experience the problem with more recent releases?

Yes. Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1) Gecko/20061027 Firefox/2.0 displays identical behavior.

Comment 3

[Scott Martin]

Still true for Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008072820 Firefox/3.0.1.

Comment 4

[Nochum Sossonko [:Natch]]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.0.5) Gecko/2008120122 Firefox/3.0.5

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090129 Minefield/3.2a1pre
Over to Bookmarks and History, this is still present.

Comment 5

[Dietrich Ayala (:dietrich)]

this is a toolbar widget issue, not specific to bookmarks, so moving product/component.

also asking for UX input. how is toolbar accessibility or keyboard nav handled in other apps across our supported platforms?

Comment 6

[Vlad]

It works just fine...

Comment 7

[Scott Martin]

Still true for Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.1.1) Gecko/20090715 Firefox/3.5.1.

Comment #6 is not useful without any details.

Comment 8

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (relman/hg->git project)]

In a bookmarks menu containing several folders. I can page through them with the up and down arrows, and open and close only the "dynamic" folders with Enter. Enter also opens a link, if I can navigate to that link.  

Once I expand some of the dynamic folders such as "Recent Tags", I can page through the items it contains with up and down arrows, and go to the next folders also with the down arrow.

But for the regular folders, their contents aren't listed in the left-hand pane. They are only shown in the right-hand pane, which I can't navigate to with the keyboard.  Tab skips that pane, and enter doesn't have any result at all . Example screenshot in attachment; the "regular" folder that I can't navigate is called Mobile Bookmarks.

Comment 9

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (relman/hg->git project)]

Attachment: Keyboard commands don't allow folder contents navigation in bookmarks

Comment 10

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (relman/hg->git project)]

Edited title for clarity.

Comment 11

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

This works as expected, probably ever since toolbar keyboard nav was implemented.

Comment 12

[Scott Martin]

🎉

15 years, several operating systems, countless computers, and 76 major versions of Firefox after I filed this bug, I'm delighted to hear it.

Comment 13

[Scott Martin]

I regret to report that celebration may have been unwarranted, because in Firefox 121.0b4 on Windows it does not in fact work as expected. The steps to reproduce that I gave 19 years ago are still applicable.

Comment 14

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

Hi Scott, thanks for sticking with this one, love the commitment :D

To clarify you want the bookmarks toolbar items to work similarly to the File/Edit menus? Where if you click on the File heading you can move over to Edit with the right arrow key?

I think this is somewhat unexpected in the bookmarks toolbar since not everything is a folder so they may not have a menu to show, and opening the folder probably shouldn't move your keyboard focus to it. If we move the focus there then after closing the menu you would need to re-focus the address bar if you wanted to type into it.

Comment 15

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

I think this is technically invalid since the left/right arrows are intended for navigation within the folder that was opened, not the toolbar items themselves at this point. Moving the focus upon clicking with the mouse is similarly probably unexpected

Comment 16

[Scott Martin]

Hi Mark,

Sorry for not getting back to your query a couple of months ago, it got buried under a lot of stuff which was happening at the time.

You said:

To clarify you want the bookmarks toolbar items to work similarly to the File/Edit menus? Where if you click on the File heading you can move over to Edit with the right arrow key?

Yes, that's correct, whether the menu is focused by mouse or keyboard. Here's a comparison of the behavior since at least 2005:

Using application menus with the keyboard:

1. Move between them by pressing left/right.
2. If none are open, press space to open the one currently focused. The first menu item gets focus.
3. Move to the next one by pressing left/right and it will open. The first menu item gets focus.
4. Alternatively, press escape to close the open one, returning focus to its name. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

Using bookmarks toolbar folders with the keyboard:

1. Move between them by pressing left/right.
2. Press space to open the one currently focused. Focus remains on the folder name. Press down to focus the first folder item.
3. Move to the next one by pressing escape to close the open one, returning focus to its name. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

I think this is technically invalid since the left/right arrows are intended for navigation within the folder that was opened, not the toolbar items themselves at this point.

This appears to be incorrect? Navigating within the folders uses up/down, not left/right. Relatedly,

I think this is somewhat unexpected in the bookmarks toolbar since not everything is a folder so they may not have a menu to show...

My expectation would be that navigating to/from an open folder item with left/right should work regardless of the destination type. When the destination is also a folder, it would open in the same way that the application menus do, and similarly give focus to the first item. Bookmarks toolbar folders are just user-defined menus by another name, so I think that they should exhibit consistent behavior.

If we move the focus there then after closing the menu you would need to re-focus the address bar if you wanted to type into it.

I'm not sure I follow your point? Users do have to do that already if navigating the bookmarks toolbar by keyboard.

If this clarification helps, would you mind reopening this? Many thanks.

Comment 17

[Scott Martin]

Based on the preceding this bug is still valid, so reopening.

Comment 18

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

Moving this to an enhancement since I don't think it was previously intended for this to function in this manner

This appears to be incorrect? Navigating within the folders uses up/down, not left/right. Relatedly,

There can be folders inside of folders where left/right is used to move into/out of folders. I do see on macOS native menus that when focusing a folder the left arrow will move to next menu but the right arrow will open the menu, this feels odd but I suppose is something that we could theoretically support

I'm not sure I follow your point? Users do have to do that already if navigating the bookmarks toolbar by keyboard.

It's not the current behaviour for the focus to move from the address bar when interacting with menus provided by Firefox. For example in the app/hamburger menu if you use arrow keys to navigate the focused element is actually moved from the address bar to the menu item, however upon closing the menu the focus once again returns to the address bar

Comment 19

[Scott Martin]

(In reply to Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] from comment #18)

There can be folders inside of folders where left/right is used to move into/out of folders. I do see on macOS native menus that when focusing a folder the left arrow will move to next menu but the right arrow will open the menu, this feels odd but I suppose is something that we could theoretically support

I can't speak for macOS, but on Firefox for Windows, in a menu left/right always moves to the next menu/submenu in that direction. By type of focused item the behavior is:

• top level item with no submenu: left/right goes to next menu
• top level item with submenu: left goes to next menu, right goes into submenu
• submenu item with no submenu: left goes up to parent, right goes to next menu
• submenu item with submenu: left goes up to parent, right goes into submenu

In other words, if your cursor key direction "hits the edge" of the menu or submenu you're in, focus goes that way. I'd expect toolbar folders to exhibit consistent behavior for being menus themselves.

I'm not sure I follow your point? Users do have to do that already if navigating the bookmarks toolbar by keyboard.

It's not the current behaviour for the focus to move from the address bar when interacting with menus provided by Firefox. For example in the app/hamburger menu if you use arrow keys to navigate the focused element is actually moved from the address bar to the menu item, however upon closing the menu the focus once again returns to the address bar

I hadn't seen that behavior before, it happens if you click open the app menu while having focus in the address bar. However I'm talking about having navigated out of the address bar by keyboard and into the bookmarks toolbar, like this:

• Focus address bar
• Hit Esc to close dropdown
• Hit Tab to move to the first button on the toolbar
• Hit Tab again to move to the first item on the bookmarks toolbar
• Navigate by keyboard as described previously

Can you confirm whether that's possible on macOS as well? If not, I can retitle this issue to be more platform-specific. Thanks!