412158 - Location bar does not always select

Status: RESOLVED INACTIVE

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect)

Description

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

For some reason it is possible in Firefox to select only a part of the URL, and this is a reason why the location bar sometimes doesn't select in one click. In IE7 this is not possible, because it selects on mousedown.

Steps to reproduce:
- Go to http://www.nu.nl/
- Click in the page
- Place your mouse between the "p" and the ":" and move it a bit (can easily happen if you have two mice attached to your computer or if you are in a hurry)

Result: it selects only a part of the location bar, while you intended to highlight the whole URL.

While testing this I saw also another case, where nothing selected, but I couldn't yet isolate the problem (tested with a new profile without add-ons).

A solution could be to select the URLbar on mousedown, like Internet Explorer.

Comment 1

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Attachment: screenshot of the problem

Comment 2

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

This is intentional. As you select at least one character in the address, we keep that selection instead of destroying it by selecting everything.

It's been like this for ages. Why do you think this blocks bug 400935?

Comment 3

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Because bug 400935 broke an important feature. A Larry button in Internet Explorer wouldn't have been such a problem because the address bar always selects on mousedown.

"It's been like this for ages". :). Things can stay the same for ages, until circumstances make changes necessary. All Operating Systems now select the URLbar in one click. So selection on mousedown could be a possibility and should at least be considered.

Comment 4

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Reopening, for I find it a too important issue and I want at least an opinion of one of the other developers.

Comment 5

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

(In reply to comment #3)
> Because bug 400935 broke an important feature.

What feature did it break? The behavior you describe in comment 0 did not change with that patch - I can partially select text in the URL bar by dragging in a 1.8 branch build, and have been able to for as long as I can remember.

Comment 6

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

It eliminated the possibility to select the location bar in a different way.

Comment 7

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Of course you should be able to select location bar text partically, but not if the page has focus..

Comment 8

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

The behaviour in Internet Explorer is, if you want to select a part of the URL:
- Click in the address bar (it selects on mousedown)
- Click again (on the place where you want to correct)
Now you see the caret appear and you can select partially, correct, insert etc.
And I suggest the same behaviour for mozilla.

Comment 9

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

(In reply to comment #7)
> Of course you should be able to select location bar text partically, but not if
> the page has focus..

Partial selections have always been possible, and indeed I can partially select the URL while the page has focus using a 1.8 branch build. So I still don't know what you think bug 400935 changed. Perhaps more detailed steps to reproduce are needed?

Comment 10

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Gavin, see comment 6. 

Comment 11

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

So you're saying that because of bug 400935, users now have to click the location bar text to select it, and because they need to do that, the chances that they accidentally drag instead of clicking is greater?

Comment 12

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Exactly. This was one case. I saw also another case where a click didn't result in a selection at all.  

Comment 13

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

I only want to try to find STR for the other case when this bug has a chance to get fixed, or else it will be a waste of time. Most people use keyboard shortcuts to select the URLbar so this won't have a high priority. I think this is a mouse user's annoyance and a lot of people don't bother to miss-click a few times; it has no high irritation level for most users.

Comment 14

[Black_Ps`]

I think it's a problem that must be fixed something is very frustrating ,i have same problem in firefox 3.0.0.10


Thanks

Comment 16

[Black_Ps`]

What is with this https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3473 but i don't know about windows if is working ?


Thanks

Comment 17

[Philip Chee]

Firefox bug accidentally moved to SeaMonkey in 2008

Comment 18

[BMO Automation]

Per policy at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bug_Triage/Projects/Bug_Handling/Bug_Husbandry#Inactive_Bugs. If this bug is not an enhancement request or a bug not present in a supported release of Firefox, then it may be reopened.