499077 - Can't select active tab

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Firefox :: Keyboard Navigation, defect)

Description

[Carl Lumma]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1) Gecko/20090615 Firefox/3.5
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1) Gecko/20090615 Firefox/3.5

Vista Ultimate 64, Firefox 3.5:  Flash will steal keyboard shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl+T) when focused.  In FF 3.0, focus could be returned to browser by clicking on tab handle of active tab (a dashed box would appear around the tab's title text).  Keyboard shortcuts would then be routed to the browser.  In FF 3.5, clicking on the active tab does nothing.  Clicking on another tab and then returning to the original tab also doesn't fix the problem -- the focus is returned to Flash.  Must click on page whitespace (often hard and sometimes dangerous to find) to return focus to Firefox.

Mac OS 10.5.7, Firefox 3.5:  Could not reproduce.

I saw several bugs on how to handle keyboard navigation with plugins in this tracker.  I don't think an ideal solution has been found.  While we're waiting, however, can you please at least just let us click on the active tab again?

Reproducible: Always



Expected Results:  
I expected it not to suck my will to live.

Comment 1

[Andre Klapper]

Cannot reproduce with Firefox 12.0 on a Fedora 16 Linux system.

Could you please update to a recent and supported version (see http://www.firefox.com/ ), test this again, and tell us your version and exact steps to reproduce?

Comment 2

[Carl Lumma]

I just reproduced this in FF 16.0 on Windows Vista x64 and Flash Player 11.4.

Steps to reproduce
1. Navigate to a Flash (not HTML5) video on YouTube
2. Use mouse to click the "play" button on the video player
(click pause and then play if necessary, to be sure Flash has focus)
3. While video plays, use keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+T) to open new tab
4. Observe that nothing happens. Flash apparently gets the Ctrl+T. It's debatable whether this is good behavior.
5. Click in the YouTube search field above the video to give page focus
6. Use Ctrl+T again. Observe that new tab opens as expected.

Now repeat steps 1-4 above and
5. Click on the tab handle of the YouTube tab (active tab)
6. Use Ctrl+T again. Observe that nothing happens.

Windows Conclusion: Clicking the tab handle of the active tab does not send focus to the page, but rather, returns focus to a plugin running on that page.

The same issue (with slightly different behavior) is seen in FF 16.0.1 on Mac OS 10.8.2 and Flash Player 11.4.

Steps to reproduce
1. Navigate to a Flash (not HTML5) video on YouTube
2. Use the mouse to click the "play" button on the video player
(click pause and then play if necessary, to be sure Flash has focus)
3. While video plays, use keyboard shortcut (Cmd+T) to open new tab
4. Observe new tab opens and takes focus (! different behavior than Windows)
5. Return focus to YouTube tab by clicking on its tab handle
6. Use Cmd+T again. Observe that nothing happens!
8. Pause/restart video, then use Cmd+T again
9. Observe that new tab opens

Mac Conclusion: Firefox listens to keyboard even after user touches flash, but not after user touches tab handle!

Discussion: It looks like somebody tried to fix this on Mac but wound up with even worse behavior. In my opinion, for best security and useability, browser should get keyboard shortcuts unless plugin has focus. Moving focus away from plugin should be as easy as possible, such as by clicking the tab handle of the page in which the plugin is running (Windows problem). And when switching tabs, focus should not move to plugin immediately. User should have to explicitly click on the plugin to move focus there (Mac problem).

Comment 3

[Carl Lumma]

Note, this issue seems to apply to other plugins too, such as Acrobat Reader.

Comment 4

[Carl Lumma]

Should I create a version of this ticket for Mac OS also?

Comment 5

[Andre Klapper]

No, this ticket is system-independent.

Comment 6

[daylin.trenton]

Firefox has no key to copy link since 88. It was removed and not replaced. This is completely unreasonable.

A replacement key that is unusable by human hands is not a replacement. It's not unlike telling people they can vote, if they stand in line for 8 hours without water. That is telling people that they can't vote.

Telling people that there is a new key, but it's across the room where NO ONE, NO HUMAN HAND can reach, is telling them that there is no key.

Firefox has NO KEY to copy link currently.

There was no reason to break this, and I want you to know that I am never going to stop reporting it, and I will be identifying the people who broke it, like Asif Youssuff, personally, until it is identified as the bug that it is.

You broke a browser that millions of people depended on for NO REASON. NO REASON. There was NO REASON TO REMOVE THE HOTKEY TO COPY LINKS FROM FIREFOX.