Firefox URL Bar

[Jens Bech Madsen]

tir, 03 01 2006 kl. 21:41 -0700, skrev Lakin Wecker:
> 
> 
> On 1/3/06, James Livingston <doclivingston at gmail.com> wrote:
>         On Tue, 2006-01-03 at 20:15 -0700, Lakin Wecker wrote:
>         > I agree with Lukas, the default behavior should be to select
>         the
>         > entire address when the address bar is clicked on.
>         
>         Personally I'd find this very annoying, as I edit the URL much
>         more 
>         often then I replace the entire thing. Pages I want to go to
>         are usually
>         either bookmarked, found on Google or links from other
>         applications
>         (most of which are clickable).
> 
> Personally, I find the current situation very annoying as I rarely
> edit URLs.  In this case, arguing about it solves nothing.  One of us
> will eventually have to use two clicks to do what we want. :)  
> 
> 
>         I'm not an "average user", but I'm not sure how often people
>         type urls 
>         in. Most of the people I know don't do it, because they can't
>         remember
>         them well.
> 
> I am also not an average user, so I only speak from experience of
> watching others use a computer.  Very few would know that double
> clicking the URL bar, or rightclicking and choosing 'select all' would
> let them select all of the text.  Most rely on the current Windows
> behavior in order to change the URL they are using.  Also, very few
> know how to use the bookmarking in a browser or realize the usefulness
> of google and other search engines.  They typically type in URLs which
> they have written down, or are on a business card.
> 
> Next, they would rarely edit a URL.  The only situation where I can
> see them doing this, is if they had mistyped it in the first place.
> Mistyping URL's is a use case that supports the current behavior,
> although I think there are more effective ways to help people find
> what they were looking for.

What you're asking for is simply less efficient, and I would hate to
have applications made inferior to cater for people who are ignorant.

Editing URL:
If you want to edit an URL, it is usually most efficient to use the
mouse to select the part of the URL that needs to be removed/edited,
then use the keyboard to make the correction. Ie. using the mouse is the
natural thing here and it will normally pay off to remove one hand from
the keyboard.

Replace URL:
If you want to type in a new URL, it is more natural to use a keyboard
shortcut (ctrl-l) to focus the URL-bar and then type the new address. No
mouse involved, faster operation.


If the behaviour is changed as you suggest, we lose efficiency in the
first case, while nothing is gained in the second case. That just so
Windows users don't have to think. I'd prefer that the people not
willing to learn to do things the smart way, get to do things the dumb
way. And the people willing to learn the smart stuff, get the benefits.


/Jens