333722 - browser.urlbar.autoFill should default to true

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 566489

(Firefox :: Address Bar, enhancement)

Description

[Chris Cunningham]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; SunOS sun4u; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051130 Firefox/1.5
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; SunOS sun4u; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051130 Firefox/1.5

Inline autocomplete is a useful and time-saving addition to the URL bar dropdown. As Firefox doesn't have any UI to enable it, and having it disabled by default doesn't seem to be very useful, it should be enabled by default.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Start typing the name of a site you commonly visit in the URL bar.

Actual Results:  
The URL dropdown appears, but because Firefox's built-in inline autocomplete is disabled by default with no UI to activate it, it goes unnoticed and unloved.

Expected Results:  
After a few characters, Firefox's built-in inline autocomplete saves you time by allowing you to just stab Enter if the autocomplete shows the correct site. This is noticed and loved.

IE has the same pref, but has UI for enabling it. Firefox not only disables the pref by default, it doesn't even create it in prefs.js so the key must be manually added. This is sufficiently geekazoid to dissuade most people from bothering.

Comment 1

[Jo Hermans]

see bug 186136 comment 54 why it's not enabled by default

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 186136 ***

Comment 2

[Chris Cunningham]

That the other bug discusses changing the default doesn't change the fact that it is actually about having UI for the existing option. I don't want UI, so rather than morphing that bug I'd rather have a non-crufty new one for mconnor to wontfix.

Further, I can patch this myself, which I plan to do before Firefox 2 is out.

 - Chris

Comment 3

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Inline autocomplete, as currently implemented, is insecure (see bug 270697) and mostly broken. Turning it on in this state is not an option, IMO. Very few applications use inline autocomplete, because it's confusing and doesn't really make autocomplete any easier to use. I think this should be WONTFIX.

Comment 4

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Forget the insecure part - I confused this bug with bug 210932. The other parts of my comment still stand.

Comment 5

[Chris Cunningham]

I've heard the argument that it is "mostly broken" before as if this is a given. If there is a problem with autocomplete not giving the most likely result then the best approach would be to fix the order in which the URL bar history is presented.

> Very few applications use inline autocomplete, 
> because it's confusing and doesn't really
> make autocomplete any easier to use.

Thunderbird uses it to great effect for its addressing widget, and it's turned on by default. Netscape and IE have both classically used it. My phone uses it, again on by default.

> I think this should be WONTFIX.

If it's going to be wontfixed then it should be removed entirely along with the pref. Keeping UI which is disabled and allegedly broken isn't a good idea. I personally don't see that this is the case.

 - Chris

Comment 6

[Adam Guthrie]

*** Bug 356209 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[Dietrich Ayala (:dietrich)]

We should reconsider this if bug 408133 gets fixed.

1. Now that the awesomebar contains far more relevant results, there's a better chance that inlining those results will be useful.

2. In the scenario where the desired result is the first match, awesomebar+inline-autocomplete would remove the need for a navigational keystroke before hitting <enter>, easing re-visitation.

This is driving me nuts: Very often, the first result in the location bar dropdown is the one I want, yet it's a round-trip to the down-arrow key away.

Comment 8

[bomfog]

(In reply to comment #7)
> This is driving me nuts: Very often, the first result in the location bar
> dropdown is the one I want, yet it's a round-trip to the down-arrow key away.

The tab key might be a shorter trip, and also completes to the top entry, I think.

Comment 9

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

If you want to save on pressing down every time you use the AwesomeBar but don't mind if the url isn't inline autocompleted, you can use this add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7423

Comment 10

[Vova Olar]

Fixed in Firefox 6.0 Alpha by bug https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=566489
This bug should be closed.