Andy Chase

While setting up a shiny new system after my recent hard drive failure, I decided to upgrade to FireFox 3.

Why in the world is the default behavior when single-clicking in the URL field to select the entire thing? A single-click in every graphical browser I’ve used since 1995 places the cursor so you can select or add whatever text you need; just click and start typing. I’ve spent the last two weeks clicking-and-typing out of habit, only to blow away the entire URL. It’s maddening! Instead you have to click once to select everything, then click again, then click a third time before it just puts the cursor where you wanted it in the first place.

Thankfully, while searching for a fix I found this FireFox tips & tricks page which clued me in to the existence of the “browser.urlbar” preference group. I decided to go exploring, and went to the URL about:config.

Putting ‘browser.urlbar’ into the filter field at the top of the huge preference list, I found two key settings:

• browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll, which I set to false.
• browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll, which I set to true.

Problem solved.

I’m taking a break from my module development frustrations and turning my attention to design. It’s been quite a while since I actually designed a site from top to bottom, versus taking an existing theme like Kubrick or Bonsai and fiddling with colors and a graphic or two.

One huge peeve of mine is the addition of JavaScript that uses the body onload event to trigger a focus() call to put the cursor into the login field.

I know it’s well intentioned, and probably works fine for all those fortunate enough to have broadband access.

If you’re stuck with dial-up, however, you often find yourself filling out a login form while you wait for the rest of the page to load. I can tell you from repeated experience that it is DAMN annoying to be halfway through entering your password, only to have your cursor picked up and dropped back in the username field.

Why not spruce up that ‘onload’ call to first check and see whether the the username field is empty? If yes, by all means focus on it. If no, assume somebody’s already filled it in.