349844 - manually added URLs with REDIRECT are falsely preferred to redirect target

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect)

Description

[Axel Hecht]

The urlbar autocomplete gives URLs entered manually before a boost against others.

If that URL is redirected to another, the URL that one actually goes to is hidden back in the URL history, I'd prefer to give the target at least the same favorable treatment as the originally entered.
Removing the redirected one would be wrong, as it may contain strings that the redirect target does not, but it shouldn't be offered before the redirect target if I enter a common substring.

Comment 1

[Marco Bonardo [:mak] (Away Apr 25 - May 5)]

see also bug 434947

Comment 2

[Shad Sterling]

I disagree; I think manually entered URLs should appear before their redirect targets.  If you're saying that the target appears much further down the list, rather than next after the manually entered URL, I think it would make sense to have the target promoted to appear immediately after the manually entered URL.

I use sites (facebook, for example) which will redirect from a canonical URL to one which adds information in a query string; I usually prefer to invoke the canonical URL, even when the content is equivalent, so I would not like the target to be promoted (or autocompleted!) over what I enter manually.  I think it should sort the target first if the user behavior is to choose the target from the history rather than stick with the shorter original URL.

Comment 3

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Bug 737836 should help/fix this.

Comment 4

[Marco Bonardo [:mak] (Away Apr 25 - May 5)]

Apart from small edge-cases (like bug 1332288) this should now happen for new visits.