Different Firefox Address Bar Behavior
Since updating to Firefox 78 ESR at work, I have been plagued with an obnoxious behavior. For years — probably going back to the original Netscape days in the 1990s, when I single clicked inside the address (URL) bar no text was selected.
I always have used browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll=false and browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll=true.
With Firefox 78 ESR a single click inside the address bar now selects the entire string.
Apparently this handy configuration option was removed in Firefox 75. I am not the only person who noticed and is irritated.
One developer replied:
We are trying to limit differences across platforms because every difference is causing troubles, introduci[ng] subtle bugs and slowing down improvements, we're trying to make easier for users to move across OS because that’s happening more and more often, and we're also trying to welcome users from other browsers without forcing them to set a bunch of hidden preferences.
Such a statement deserves a simple reply.
Linux is not Windows.
The new behavior is anti-productive. A double or triple click now is needed not to select anything.
Why doesn’t the address bar behave like any other text field? This is classic WTF territory.
I don’t know why the Firefox developers keep shooting themselves in the foot and irritating users.
Posted: Category: Usability Tagged: Firefox
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