[CLOSED] Enable "click-selects-all" by default

Users and developers helping users with generic and technical Pale Moon issues on all operating systems.

Moderator: trava90

Forum rules
This board is for technical/general usage questions and troubleshooting for the Pale Moon browser only.
Technical issues and questions not related to the Pale Moon browser should be posted in other boards!
Please keep off-topic and general discussion out of this board, thank you!
User avatar
Antonius32
Add-ons Team
Add-ons Team
Posts: 695
Joined: 2014-05-25, 11:18
Location: Netherlands

[CLOSED] Enable "click-selects-all" by default

Unread post by Antonius32 » 2014-06-21, 14:25

In Pale Moon for Windows, when a user (single) left-clicks the URL bar, all text in it is selected, so one can start typing a new address right away. In Pale Moon for Linux on the other hand, clicking the URL bar simply positions the cursor there. So if a user wants to type a new address, he/she first has to manually select and/or delete the old address, which can become a bit of a hassle.

I used to circumvent this inconvenience with an add-on that would add a delete button to the URL bar, until I recently found out that the "click-selects-all" behaviour can actually be enabled by changing the value for the about:config preference browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll to "true".

Wouldn't it be a good idea to set browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll to "true" by default, just like in Pale Moon for Windows? (Not only would this make the two versions of Pale Moon more alike, but I think it would also be another advantage for PM4Linux over Firefox for Linux..)
Last edited by Antonius32 on 2014-06-29, 22:39, edited 10 times in total.

jumba

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by jumba » 2014-06-21, 15:31

I prefer it too, but either way is fine for me for the default value. Having the same default values on both platforms would be better though.

I have set them this way:

Code: Select all

browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll;true
browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll;false

User avatar
Night Wing
Knows the dark side
Knows the dark side
Posts: 5151
Joined: 2011-10-03, 10:19
Location: Piney Woods of Southeast Texas, USA

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-06-21, 17:16

Antonius32 wrote:In Pale Moon for Windows, when a user (single) left-clicks the URL bar, all text in it is selected, so one can start typing a new address right away. In Pale Moon for Linux on the other hand, clicking the URL bar simply positions the cursor there. So if a user wants to type a new address, he/she first has to manually select and/or delete the old address, which can become a bit of a hassle.
In linux Pale Moon, all you have to do is "double left click" the address in the URL bar which then highlights it and then you can start typing the new address. This is how I do it in linux Pale Moon.
Linux Mint 21.3 (Virginia) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
MX Linux 23.2 (Libretto) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
Linux Debian 12.5 (Bookworm) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox

SvenG

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by SvenG » 2014-06-21, 17:34

Either way would be fine for me (personally I use double click to select all) but unless there is a good reason default settings should be identical in all systems.

User avatar
Antonius32
Add-ons Team
Add-ons Team
Posts: 695
Joined: 2014-05-25, 11:18
Location: Netherlands

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Antonius32 » 2014-06-21, 18:06

Night Wing wrote:In linux Pale Moon, all you have to do is "double left click" the address in the URL bar which then highlights it and then you can start typing the new address. This is how I do it in linux Pale Moon.
You're right, I guess, in that this is not such a big deal. But when I started dual-booting (not so long ago), this was one of the first differences I noticed between Firefox on Windows and on Linux. Then, when I recently switched to Pale Moon both on Windows and on Linux, I very soon noticed the same difference between the two versions of Pale Moon.

Even when users can either just ignore such a minor difference, or fix it by changing a preference in about:config, I still think it makes sense for the developers to strive for cross-platform consistency in Pale Moon - that's why I decided to post my suggestion.

User avatar
Night Wing
Knows the dark side
Knows the dark side
Posts: 5151
Joined: 2011-10-03, 10:19
Location: Piney Woods of Southeast Texas, USA

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-06-21, 18:52

jumba wrote:I prefer it too, but either way is fine for me for the default value. Having the same default values on both platforms would be better though.

I have set them this way:

Code: Select all

browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll;true
browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll;false
Thanks for the above settings tip in "about:config". :D Since I prefer the "single left click" to highlight the address in the Navigation Bar, I didn't know about these settings. Works in both linux Pale Moon and linux Firefox. :thumbup:

Again, thanks.
Linux Mint 21.3 (Virginia) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
MX Linux 23.2 (Libretto) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
Linux Debian 12.5 (Bookworm) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox

User avatar
Antonius32
Add-ons Team
Add-ons Team
Posts: 695
Joined: 2014-05-25, 11:18
Location: Netherlands

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Antonius32 » 2014-06-21, 19:15

I think many PM4Linux users would be happy to know about this about:config tweak (which, by the way, I opened the topic with ;) ).

In fact, I think most users prefer single click selection for the URL bar, and for that reason (and because of cross-platform consistency) I think it should be enabled by default on Linux too!
Last edited by Antonius32 on 2014-06-21, 22:47, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35473
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-06-21, 20:10

Good suggestion - will unify this behavior for Linux in the next release by default.
Not sure myself why Mozilla chose to specifically have it behave differently on "unix but not mac"...
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

User avatar
Night Wing
Knows the dark side
Knows the dark side
Posts: 5151
Joined: 2011-10-03, 10:19
Location: Piney Woods of Southeast Texas, USA

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-06-21, 20:17

Antonius32 wrote:I think many PM4Linux users would be happy to know about this about:config tweak (which, by the way, I opened the topic with ;) ).

In fact, I think most users prefer single click selection for the URL bar, and for that reason (and for cross-platform consistency) I think it should be enabled by default on Linux too!
It made me very happy. So happy I put these "about:config" tweak settings on three of my computers running both linux Pale Moon (default) and linux Firefox ESR (backup).
Linux Mint 21.3 (Virginia) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
MX Linux 23.2 (Libretto) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox
Linux Debian 12.5 (Bookworm) Xfce w/ Linux Pale Moon, Linux Waterfox, Linux SeaLion, Linux Firefox

User avatar
Antonius32
Add-ons Team
Add-ons Team
Posts: 695
Joined: 2014-05-25, 11:18
Location: Netherlands

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Antonius32 » 2014-06-21, 22:36

Night Wing wrote:It made me very happy. So happy I put these "about:config" tweak settings on three of my computers running both linux Pale Moon (default) and linux Firefox ESR (backup).
Good for you! :D I'm glad that sharing my thoughts on this has proved helpful to you.
Moonchild wrote:Good suggestion - will unify this behavior for Linux in the next release by default.
Not sure myself why Mozilla chose to specifically have it behave differently on "unix but not mac"...
Great! :thumbup: It's good to know that constructive user feedback is indeed appreciated!

aliceif

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by aliceif » 2014-06-22, 08:17

Moonchild wrote:Good suggestion - will unify this behavior for Linux in the next release by default.
Not sure myself why Mozilla chose to specifically have it behave differently on "unix but not mac"...
There *is* a good reason: X11's ways of handling the clipboard.
In addition to the Ctrl+XCV clipboard most other Operating Systems use, X11 also has one that copies by selecting text and pastes by middle-clicking. If left-clicking selects the text in the URLbar, the X11 way of copying gets more or less broken.

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35473
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-06-22, 08:46

aliceif wrote:
Moonchild wrote:Good suggestion - will unify this behavior for Linux in the next release by default.
Not sure myself why Mozilla chose to specifically have it behave differently on "unix but not mac"...
There *is* a good reason: X11's ways of handling the clipboard.
In addition to the Ctrl+XCV clipboard most other Operating Systems use, X11 also has one that copies by selecting text and pastes by right-clicking. If left-clicking selects the text in the URLbar, the X11 way of copying gets more or less broken.
I see. I thought they had done away with that legacy functionality a long time ago because it's more habitual than intuitive to use... Then again, people still use VIM as well... ;) (please don't hit me!)
As a critical note to X11: IMHO, "select to copy" is too ambiguous. Selecting text and copying text to the clipboard are two distinctly different things and you shouldn't be doing both at the same time every time.

It's not necessarily broken, it just means that the URL gets copied to the clipboard when you click the address bar.
That method of copying would also be interfered with when using Pale Moon's context searching (You have to select text then use the context menu).

So, we have:
1. Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V
2. Ctrl+Ins, Shift+Ins
3. Select, Edit->Copy, Edit->Paste
4. Select-to-copy, Right-click to paste

So, the question is then: how many people use steering wheel number 4? How easy is it to disable this in X11?
How is it different than the URL getting copied to the clipboard when people double-click on the URL bar, "breaking" copying in the exact same way?

Also, remember, we are changing defaults, not completely removing the option, and it'll be very simple for people with legacy knowledge of Linux to flip the preferences to the old way again if it interferes with their workflow.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

SvenG

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by SvenG » 2014-06-22, 11:30

Memory is so bad... I thought there was something :oops:
Moonchild wrote:How easy is it to disable this in X11?
Uhm, from what I remember it is next to impossible without editing X11 itself because it is part of X11 specifications. On the other hand it should not interfere with the CTRL+C/X/V thing cause it should use a different clipboard. However, I am not an expert on that, I just remember that this behavior drives a lot of (former) Windows users nuts.

User avatar
Antonius32
Add-ons Team
Add-ons Team
Posts: 695
Joined: 2014-05-25, 11:18
Location: Netherlands

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Antonius32 » 2014-06-22, 14:59

aliceif wrote:If left-clicking selects the text in the URLbar, the X11 way of copying gets more or less broken.
I see. This is new to me; I am not an experienced Linux user :mrgreen: . Willing to learn, though.
I did a little internet research on this, just now, and at http://standards.freedesktop.org/clipboards-spec/clipboards-latest.txt I found some more information:
The correct behavior can be summarized as follows: CLIPBOARD works just like the clipboard on Mac or Windows; it only changes on explicit cut/copy. PRIMARY is an "easter egg" for expert users, regular users can just ignore it; it's normally pastable only via middle-mouse-click.
So I guess the question is: should the default behaviour in PM4Linux when single clicking the URL bar

a) be convenient for regular users;
b) accommodate an "easter egg" for expert users, who are more likely to know how to manipulate the concerned behaviour anyway?

My vote goes to option a.
Last edited by Antonius32 on 2014-06-27, 19:35, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
Antonius32
Add-ons Team
Add-ons Team
Posts: 695
Joined: 2014-05-25, 11:18
Location: Netherlands

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Antonius32 » 2014-06-22, 15:40

By the way: I realise that my previous post did not really add any new arguments. But I think it may have clarified the subject discussed, for regular users like myself.

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35473
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-06-22, 16:36

Antonius32 wrote:By the way: I realise that my previous post did not really add any new arguments. But I think it may have clarified the subject discussed, for regular users like myself.
No, you make a real good point, and add some reference material to boot ;)
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35473
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-06-23, 18:40

It's been implemented, to be in the next release.
See the following Github commit
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

User avatar
Antonius32
Add-ons Team
Add-ons Team
Posts: 695
Joined: 2014-05-25, 11:18
Location: Netherlands

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by Antonius32 » 2014-06-23, 19:26

Moonchild wrote:It's been implemented, to be in the next release.
See the following Github commit
I think it's a good decision, and I think most PM4Linux users will consider this an improvement. :thumbup:

dinosaur
Fanatic
Fanatic
Posts: 165
Joined: 2014-06-03, 09:26
Location: France

Re: Feature suggestion: enable "click-selects-all" by defaul

Unread post by dinosaur » 2014-07-06, 11:57

Moonchild wrote:Good suggestion - will unify this behavior for Linux in the next release by default.
Not sure myself why Mozilla chose to specifically have it behave differently on "unix but not mac"...
I STRONGLY vote AGAINST that request to unify Linux with Windows' behaviour for this setting. Please, do read this message and that one too... Thank you !

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35473
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: [CLOSED] Enable "click-selects-all" by default

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-07-06, 12:41

As explained in the other thread, unifying the behavior for clipboard use as opposed to primary buffer use is more in line with normal desktop usage patterns.

Repeating your opinion in increasingly bold formatting doesn't change that fact and doesn't provide any compelling additional arguments to the discussion. If the official X11 documentation even agrees with clipboard use over buffer use, then I consider it a sane default.
Maybe someone else will come along after changing to clipboard who prefers to use the secondary buffer? Will we get a rinse and repeat again of this? No thanks.

Locking this thread, discussion is over, topic closed. If you want to use the buffer, flip the prefs. :)
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Locked