need to click a zillion times to select the URL - this new "feature" sucks !
Pascal Chevrel
Sorry if this title sounds a bit rude but there is a new "feature" that
landed recently which I think is one the most stupid usability decision
ever made in Mozilla !
Now you have to "triple-click" (at least) to select the URL content in
the browser field. Sorry, but this UI decision is dumb stupid. I am
considered as a computer freak, I spend 16 hours a day behind a computer
a mouse in my hand and I *can't* do it. Most of the time It selects part
of it, or nothing or everything if I click frenetically but then it
unselects it at the 4th frantic click. If I, a power-user, can't do it,
how do you expect ordinary people to do it ? Do people in charge of
usability in Mozilla.org realize that a lot of people have difficulties
double-clicking, do you really think that they will triple-click ?!? Do
I have to wait to get Parkinson desease to be able to easily select the
URL ?
I'm sure that some coder did it in the Holy Name of consistency with
some arcane UI study on generic text fields (probably written by a guy
whose browser of choice is Amaya running on a text-only unix flavored
OS), he will probably find priceless that double-clicking allows him to
select his php ?id= parameters one by one and test his scripts, but I
have the heretical feeling that a LOT of people will just find 1.3b URL
selection broken.
At first I thought that I should open a bug report about it but I won't,
I will probably be said as usual that as a user I have to change 5
user_prefs lines and add 10 lines in userChrome, that the URL field is
just an ordinary text field (yeah sure, i use just as often as the
address bokk fileds...) and as such should behave as poorly as others.
We have an expression for it in my language "nivellement par le bas".
What's the next great UI improvement ? Will I have to triple-click on
both buttons and roll back and forth the mouse wheel during 1.5 seconds
to open a link in a new window ?
End of the rant, somehow I feel better now...
Pascal
--
FAQ Mozilla/Netscape 7 en français : http://pascal.chevrel.free.fr/
"What we're seeing with Web sites that are viewable only with IE is the
privatization of the Web."
(Mitchell Baker)
Ron Hunter
Peter Lairo
> Hello,
>
> Sorry if this title sounds a bit rude but there is a new "feature" that
> landed recently which I think is one the most stupid usability decision
> ever made in Mozilla !
>
> Now you have to "triple-click" (at least) to select the URL content in
> the browser field.
I agree 100% - a poorly thought-out addition! :( :( :( :( :( :(
What should be the default is:
- single click: places caret in URL
- double click: selects entire URL
--
Peter Lairo
Newsgroup for end-user discussion and peer support:
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Mozilla Guide: http://www.mozilla.org/start/1.0/guide/
KaiRo - Robert Kaiser
>
> - double click: selects entire URL
This is exactly what I have here all the time (current CVS build, Linux)
I didn't see a change for that, I guess it was Windows only? When did it
happen?
Robert Kaiser
(F'up 2 n.p.m.ui)
Concerned Citizen
news:3e35ddcb$0$14153$626a...@news.free.fr...
95%. Your 'rant' is so well said, I'm saving it, and I bet your post alone
will get it backed out.
--
Delmar
Neil
>> - single click: places caret in URL
>>
>> - double click: selects entire URL
>
> This is exactly what I have here all the time (current CVS build, Linux)
>
> I didn't see a change for that, I guess it was Windows only? When did
> it happen?
The defaults are as follows:
Linux: single click places caret in URL
Windows: single click selects entire URL
Mac: single click selects entire URL, unless the click was in the blank
area at the end of the URL, in which case the caret is placed at the end
of the URL.
Phew!
--
Warning: May contain traces of nuts.
Mangala SSS Khalsa
been to select the entire URL as soon as you click in the Location
field. I have grown accustomed to this and the vast majority of the
time when I click in the Location field, it is to type in or paste a new
URL. Having to do extra work to get rid of the current URL is annoying
and time-wasting.
I'm very much looking forward to 1.3.1 (or sooner...) with the old
behavior (pre-1.3) reinstated.
Ed Mullen
Using 1.3b on Win XP here. As I understand it, the new usage is:
1. single-click in the location bar at the end of the text (your cursor
turns to an I-beam), it simply drops the cursor there.
2. double-click in the location bar at the end of the text, it
highlights the last word.
3. double-click in the location bar somewhere in the middle of the
text, it highlights that word.
4. triple-click in the location bar at the end of the text, it selects
the entire text.
5. single-click on the favicon to the left of the text (your cursor
will turn into a hand), it selects the entire text.
6. single-click in the middle of the text, it selects the entire text.
7. single-click on the black separator line just under the text (with
your cursor still an arrow), it selects the entire text.
At least that's the behavior I'm experiencing here. I'm sure someone
else will chime in with some more authoritative info.
--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net
42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Klaus Krtschil
I see this behaviour only on WinXP. With Linux its the good old way.
--
Registered Linux user #54760
Joe User
(when will they quit re-inventing the wheel?)
--
Joe
All your bug are belong to mozilla
Karsten Düsterloh
> This is a horrible bug in 1.3
This a tremendous good thing[tm]!
It's quite annoying to "click a zillion times" just to select a small
part of the URL!
Kar "triple click is fine!" sten
--
Freiheit stirbt | Fsayannes SF&F-Bibliothek:
Mit Sicherheit | http://fsayanne.tprac.de/
Neil Marshall
A picture showing the single/triple click zones. A double click in the
green zone will select a word.
http://www.eightlines.com/neil/tripleclick.gif
Ant
Very cool! Thanks for the tips. My friends and I were discussing about
this yesterday.
--
"If ants had nuclear weapons, they would probably end the world in a
week." --Journey to the Ants, page 59. Bert Holldobler & Edward O. Wilson
/\___/\
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| |o o| | E-mail: phi...@earthlink.netANT or phi...@apu.eduANT
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( )
Neil
> Mangala SSS Khalsa wrote:
>
>> This is a horrible bug in 1.3 - the long-time behavior of Mozilla has
>> been to select the entire URL as soon as you click in the Location
>> field. I have grown accustomed to this and the vast majority of the
>> time when I click in the Location field, it is to type in or paste a
>> new URL. Having to do extra work to get rid of the current URL is
>> annoying and time-wasting.
>>
>> I'm very much looking forward to 1.3.1 (or sooner...) with the old
>> behavior (pre-1.3) reinstated.
>
> Using 1.3b on Win XP here. As I understand it, the new usage is:
The very latest nightly usage is controlled by two prefs:
browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll - true by default on Windows and Mac, it
adds extra behaviour to the urlbar to select the text when you click it.
browser.urlbar.clickAtEndSelects - true by default on Mac, the extra
behaviour does not apply when clicking after the end of the url.
Finally I've just checked in a patch to allow you to click the icon to
select all the text, so you can still have the best of both worlds even
when turning these prefs off.
Peter Lairo
>
> The very latest nightly usage is controlled by two prefs:
> browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll - true by default on Windows and Mac, it
> adds extra behaviour to the urlbar to select the text when you click it.
> browser.urlbar.clickAtEndSelects - true by default on Mac, the extra
> behaviour does not apply when clicking after the end of the url.
> Finally I've just checked in a patch to allow you to click the icon to
> select all the text, so you can still have the best of both worlds even
> when turning these prefs off.
I just resent both the preferences to "true" using about:config. WOW! It
seems that the URL bar is now working *exactly* as I would hope and expect:
1. *Clicking* anywhere in the URL field (on or behind the URL) selects
the entire URL (_after_ the mousebutton is released!!!). This "trick"
allows #2...
2. *Pressing* the mouse button (press and hold mouse button) in any part
of the URL and drag to select any part of the URL. This is the *best*
enhancement to the URL selection!
2. *Double clicking* on the URL selects a "word" (pretty useless to me,
but thankfully not a hindrance either).
3. *Tripple clicking* in the URL field (on or behind the URL) selects
entire URL. Useful if the URL is already selectd, since the
"ClickSelectsAll" (item 1.) then no longer works.
4. Clicking the URL icon to the left of the URL selects the entire URL.
(nice)
It's finally *just right*. :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
BTW. Why is one of the prefs called "browser.urlbar.clickAtEndSelects"
(without "All")? It would seem that this pref should be called:
"browser.urlbar.clickAtEndSelectsAll", similarly to the other pref
"browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll". :-\
--
Peter Lairo
--==--
Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
--==--
Neil
> BTW. Why is one of the prefs called "browser.urlbar.clickAtEndSelects"
> (without "All")? It would seem that this pref should be called:
> "browser.urlbar.clickAtEndSelectsAll", similarly to the other pref
> "browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll". :-\
Possibly because you already need clickSelectsAll on for it to work.