Tab and Enter Keys Broken : Firebug or Firefox?

[Jim Barraud]

I encounter this bug several times a day and can't narrow down the
source of it. After having firefox opened for a while, my ability to
tab through forms or have the enter key function in a textarea doesn't
work. I work a lot in bugzilla throughout the the day, so both these
functions are pretty critical. The only way to resolve the issue is to
open a new browser window. Firefox doesn't even need to be restarted.
Just opening a new browser window returns the ability to tab and use
the enter key, but only in the new window, not the old one.

Has anyone else run into this or know what the cause is? Is it a
Firebug issue or Firefox issue? I've reinstalled Firefox several times
and currently Firebug is the only installed extension.

[Doug Harris]

Yes, I'm having this same problem now. I have noticed that the enter
key works if I hold down the shift key.

Did you ever discuss anything further on this?

FWIW, I'm running Ffx 2.0.0.3 on Win XP Pro, other extensions
installed are del.icio.us, greasemonkey, IE Tab, Google toolbar,
Digger and Aardvark.

On Mar 7, 2:10 pm, "Jim Barraud" <jim.barr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I encounter this bug several times a day and can't narrow down the

> source of it. After having firefox opened for a while, my ability totabthrough forms or have the enterkeyfunction in a textarea doesn't

> work. I work a lot in bugzilla throughout the the day, so both these
> functions are pretty critical. The only way to resolve the issue is to
> open a new browser window. Firefox doesn't even need to be restarted.
> Just opening a new browser window returns the ability totaband use

> the enterkey, but only in the new window, not the old one.

[Jim Barraud]

I actually poked around a bit in the Firefox mozilla bug lists and
there's several bugs related to keyboard issues such as this. So I'd
say it's a Firefox issue.

[Bart Szyszka]

> I actually poked around a bit in the Firefox mozilla bug lists and
> there's several bugs related to keyboard issues such as this. So I'd
> say it's a Firefox issue.

All the bugs I've seen don't affect the keyboard in exactly this
way. Most of them involve keyboard shortcuts being locked up
if Firefox has focus on Flash content. With this problem, it's
just my Enter and Tab keys that stop working even when there's
no Flash in any tabs. I uninstalled Firebug for two days and had
NO problems with my Enter/Tab keys at all. Then today I installed
it again and five minutes later my Enter key was locked up (very
annoying in the Address bar). If I enable the Go button (I usually
disable it) it also stops working when I click it with my mouse.

I feel like this happens most often when I have a lot of tabs open?
This bug is hard to track down, though.

- Bart

[Stereo]

I also have experienced this bug; after using firebug for a while, the
ability to tab through forms, hit enter to "submit" a form, or
otherwise use tab navigate (such as from the url/location field to the
search field in the firefox window). In fact, in typing this response
in the textarea box, I cannot press return to go to a new line!
Holding shift does the trick for getting the return key to trigger,
but no luck with tab no matter what.

My best guess is that firebug is "capturing" focus of our tab- and
enter- key presses.

I would love to hear from others if they have any ideas about how to
resolve this instead of opening up a new browser window.

On Apr 26, 5:16 pm, Bart Szyszka <bartific...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I actually poked around a bit in the Firefox mozilla bug lists and
> > there's several bugs related to keyboard issues such as this. So I'd
> > say it's a Firefox issue.
>
> All the bugs I've seen don't affect the keyboard in exactly this
> way. Most of them involve keyboard shortcuts being locked up
> if Firefox has focus on Flash content. With this problem, it's

> just my Enter andTabkeys that stop working even when there's

> no Flash in any tabs. I uninstalled Firebug for two days and had

> NO problems with my Enter/Tabkeys at all. Then today I installed

[Doug Harris]

I tend to use Firebug intensively for 1-2 days at a time and then not
at all for a month or more, so I usually have it disabled -- i.e.
disabled via the right-click menu on the icon in the lower right
corner of the browser.

The behavior definitely occurs only when Firebug is enabled and I've
been using it for a while.

Has anybody noticed if tab and enter functionality return if you
disable Firebug w/o restarting Firefox?

[Marjorie Roswell]

i've also experienced the enter key not working when firebug is
enabled. it's infrequent but quite 'annoying' when it happens. i've
also always got lots of tabs open, as someone else mentioned.