Tab key to URL box

[Jos van den Oever]

On Friday 18 October 2002 10:11, David Faure wrote:
> On Friday 18 October 2002 09:32, Jos van den Oever wrote:
> > On Friday 18 October 2002 01:53, Chris,Nalesnik wrote:
> > > (Not subscribed)
> > >
> > > It seems that browsing would be a lot easier if pressing the tab key
> > > once on a freshly loaded page would place focus on the URL box. After
> > > the initial press, it would then scroll through the elements of the
> > > page you are browsing.
> >
> > I agree a key stroke to place focus on the URL box is a good idea.
>
> Alt+o does exactly that (since the o of "Location" is underlined)
> (The shortcut can vary depending on your language, of course).
You've opened my eyes.

> > In Mozilla the URL box is also in the keyboard focus cycle.
> In Konq too.
> > It can be accessed by typing
> > <shift><tab> on a fresh page. Pressing <shift><tab> again moves focus to
> > the last link on a page.
>
> Seems to me that the same works in Konqueror.
The behaviour is slightly different. Typing <shift><tab> on a fresh page in 
konqueror moves focus to the last link in a page. Subsequently typing <tab> 
moves focus to the location box selecting the entire text. Mozilla moves 
focus to the location bar upon the first <shift><tab> and to the last link on 
the second <shift><tab>.

The keyboard focus cycle is this:
last link -> location bar -> entire document -> first link -> second link.
On a fresh page Mozilla starts between 'entire document' and 'first link'. 
Konqueror does have a consistent cycle, but enters it on different points. 
Upon typing <tab>, focus goes to the first link and upon typing <shift><tab>, 
focus goes to the last tab.
I think Mozilla's behaviour is preferable because is has a clear focus cycle.
On a side note: I don't understand the reason for the entire document being in 
the focus cycle, but maybe there's a good reason for it.

> > In addition to this one could consider binding <ctrl>-o to moving focus
> > to the URL box and selecting all text therein. I don't see any added
> > value in the dialog that is now bound to <ctrl>-o. In fact, the URL box
> > is more useful.

> I always wondered too, but since we did get reports about the Open Location
> box, people are apparently using it. This is sort of a Netscape-ism, which
> has such a box too. I guess it's useful for people who prefer using a file
> dialog than a file manager :)
There's no harm in keeping it, I guess.