695142 - Implement ways of opening links (URLs) from message composition in Browser (Ctrl+Click, "Open Link in Browser" context menu)

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

STR

1 Thunderbird message composition
2 Insert > Link (or find a linkified URL link within quoted text)
3 From here, try to open the Link's URL in default browser
a) left-click
b) Ctrl+left-click
c) Ctrl+double-left-click
d) right-click = context menu

Actual Result
a) left-click: places cursor
b) Ctrl+left-click: places cursor
c) Ctrl+double-left-click: edit link properties dialogue pops up
d) right-click: there is no command on the context menu to open the link (with or without prior highlighting of the link)

Expected Result:

c) Ctrl+left-click should open the link in default browser (at least; same behaviour found in some other editors). Probably keep editor in foreground and open the browser (or the link in browser) in the background, if possible (but not required to fix this bug).
d) right-click: there should be an "Open this link" context menu command

This is not a duplicate of bug 176525, which seems to be about automatic conversion of typed URLs into hyperlinks, whereas this is about the behaviour of such hyperlinks within composition.

Comment 1

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to Thomas D. from comment #0)
Typo fix:

> Expected Result:
> c) Ctrl+left-click should open the link in default browser 

This should read:
*b*) Ctrl+left-click should open the link in default browser (at least; same

c) Ctrl+double-left-click: Not sure, but as a matter of courtesy, opening the link browser seems to make more sense than opening the edit-link dialogue

> d) right-click: there should be an "Open this link" context menu command

Comment 2

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

I'm running into this missing feature *every* time I compose a msg with links, mainly for two reasons:

* when replying, user wants to open the links contained in the original message so that he can comment on them
* user wants to double-check if links which he added during composition are correct and functional, including verifying existence of link targets.

Comment 8

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

This is a ridiculous shortcoming in 2020.

Comment 9

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Guess we need to re-file this for Core: Editor as it probably applies to any content-editable element with links.

Comment 10

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to Thomas D. (:thomas8) from comment #9)

Guess we need to re-file this for Core: Editor as it probably applies to any content-editable element with links.

^^

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Didn't we discuss this recently in another bug report?

Comment 12

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Ryan, fyi. Would wish we could fix some of the broken UX stuff around links in composition sooner rather than later. I imagine some of this isn't all that hard if we'd dedicate a bit of goodwill and resources here.

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #11)

Didn't we discuss this recently in another bug report?

Maybe this?
Bug 1716397 - Double-click on various links fails to trigger link properties. For many basic cases, no in-place way of editing or checking link location with mouse

Combine the two, and the link experience in composition is quite bumpy:

• cannot see or check the link URL in status bar (always) - Bug 1774036
• cannot edit the URL (often) - Bug 1716397
• no context menu to copy the link URL - Bug 457300
• cannot open the URL for checking the link (always) - this Bug 695142

Sigh.

Similar problem in message reader:
Bug 1001790 - contenteditable attribute hides url of links from status bar (exposing users to scam/spam links!)

Comment 13

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

I've filed Bug 1774031 and Bug 1774036 as simple fixes to address the worst of Bug 1716397.

Comment 15

[P. Cramond]

I would still like to record here that I contacted Jörg over at Betterbird and asked if Betterbird could implement a fix for this. Betterbird then got the fix via the right-click Context Menu route in less than 24 hours.

There's a fair bit of difference there: 12 years and no fix and 24 hours and done and dusted. Something to learn for Thunderbird developers I think.

P.S. It's an excellent addition to the usability of the Compose Window editor. Thunderbird should implement it anyway.