Firefox 105.0.1 restores focus behavior on startup
Mozilla plans to launch a small update for the stable version of the organization's Firefox web browser later today that restores the original focus behavior on startup.
Firefox users who installed Firefox 105, either as this week's stable release or a development release, may have noticed that the browser's startup behavior changed in that release. Firefox would focus the address bar on startup, which it did not do in previous versions of the browser.
The automatic selection of the address bar caused issues in several use cases, for instance when a search engine website was loaded in the active tab. The search engine's search field was focused in previous versions of Firefox, but in Firefox 105, the address bar was focused instead.
Firefox users who wanted to search had to activate the search field to do so. Similarly, input fields were not selected on other sites automatically. Another related issue was that users could not use keyboard shortcuts to scroll or interact with the active webpage anymore, as Firefox was focusing the address bar and not the webpage. Keyboard shortcuts such as down-arrow or up-arrow may be used to navigate sites without use of the mouse or touch.
The changed behavior required an extra click or action from the user to use webpages affected by the change.
Firefox 105.0.1 is a bug fix release that restores the original behavior of the browser. Users who have not updated to Firefox 105 yet may never experience the issue; those who have updated may download and install the update to resolve it.
Mozilla notes in the official release notes: "Reverted focus behavior for new windows back to the content area instead of the address bar".
Additional information is available on Bugzilla.
Mozilla plans to launch Firefox 105.0.1 later today. A check for updates via Menu > Help > About Firefox displays the current version and installs the update once it is released.
Now You: which site(s) do you load on startup of your browser?
Mozilla Firefox 105.01 is a bug fix update that restores the original focus behavior of the web browser on startup.
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a web citizen said on September 23, 2022 at 4:25 pm
Why does anyone use Firefox at this point? It's trying really hard to be a Chrome clone, but it's laggier and slower than it.
And to boot, typing text or watching video in that browser feels disgusting, it's like there are extra steps involved in showing things onscreen so any action done has a tiny, but noticeable delay that makes it feel like you're browsing through a virtual machine. This was not something it did 5 years ago.
With all the buzz over V3 I've been looking in this direction, I want to love Firefox, I love the configurability and the flexibility even if Mozilla are slowly taking it away. I don't like Chromium browsers on principle but in reality browsing the web feels like it's almost an extension of my own computer when they use them and this is very enjoyable.
Herman Cost said on September 23, 2022 at 6:30 pm
I'm not sure what kind of computer you have but I am primarily operating with a two year old DELL Optiplex All-In-One and I don't notice any lag when using Firefox. I have not used Chrome for years so I can't compare it to Firefox at this point, but I do have chromium-based Vivaldi as a secondary browser and Firefox appears to be noticeably faster.
My question is why would anyone would use Chrome? V3 is only their latest of their many efforts to forcibly stop users from protecting their privacy. They clearly have no concern at all for user concerns in this important area (although I will admit that their efforts to pretend to be privacy advocates do provide a modicum of entertainment value). And they will continue to try to force increasingly targeted advertisements on to hapless consumers until and unless people finally wake up and desert them en masse. Why support a monopolistic entity that voraciously works to obtain your data at any cost?
Frankel said on September 24, 2022 at 4:07 pm
https://www.ghacks.net/2022/09/24/mozilla-reaffirms-that-firefox-will-continue-to-support-current-content-blockers/
Because FF users are tech literate.
Iron Heart said on September 24, 2022 at 7:53 pm
@Frankel
> Because FF users are tech literate.
That's why only 3% of them run uBlock Origin.
Did you miss the sarcasm tag when you wrote this? ahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Most FF users are normies as is the case with any browser.
Rust Hurt said on September 25, 2022 at 12:08 am
Brave: 0.03%
Mothy said on September 23, 2022 at 6:19 pm
For years I have only used a blank page (about:blank) as a home page or new window/tab. I want a blank clean state when the browser starts until I choose to navigate somewhere usually via a bookmark.
But either way it's good Mozilla reverted this change as I think it was a poor decision to implement it in the first place as they should not be attempting to place user focus in a particular area of the browser. Just launch the browser and allow the user to choose where they want to focus.
According to Bugzilla, they reversed the focus behavior change because of significant negative feedback. They were then going to provide users with a choice in FF 107 regarding where the focus should be upon startup, but after further feedback and additional internal discussion on the topic have decided to simply leave it as is.
It was clear that their preference in a vacuum would still be to focus users on the address bar (which makes no sense to me at all). But I'm surprised and pleased that they moved this quickly to react to very clear and specific user feedback regarding the problems associated with that approach. It was a nice change from their more usual approach.
Tom Hawack said on September 23, 2022 at 6:31 pm
Just updated Firefox to version 105.0.1
> which site(s) do you load on startup of your browser?
A customized local html page which also handles new tabs.
New tabs (so called the 'New tab') is handled via a userChromeJS called 'newtab-aboutconfig.uc.js' which allows to set it as an about:config pref : pref("browser.newtab.url", "file:///F:/firefox/homeboard.html"); which is set to be the same as the homepage : pref("browser.startup.homepage", "file:///F:/firefox/homeboard.html");
Homepage and New tab need to be the same in order to have a blank urlbar.
That's about it. I appreciate customized homepage/new tab pages, though several extensions perform an excellent job (for home or home + new. Free of the default Homepage and especially of the default New tab which I've never appreciated. Besides the customization I really like to have the same url for both Home & New Tab pages.
Firefox is really a tweaker's heaven. I have an old PC and yet Firefox is running fast, startup is instantaneous, ~60 extensions, a bunch of CSSs and userscripts, several userChromeJSs as well and Daddy Tom has never been happier with a browser. Getting better and better (the browser, Daddy Tom no idea, lol).
I forgot to mention that Drive F: is a RamDisk on which I locate my Firefox profile. I mention this because of course this participates to velocity not to mention total lack of hard disk read/writes.
Anonymous said on September 23, 2022 at 7:05 pm
None, I want Firefox to startup as soon as possible.
I always make sure I have blank tabs in my Firefox windows before closing Firefox.
some1 said on September 23, 2022 at 8:50 pm
A black empty page, just like my heart.
Fred said on September 24, 2022 at 4:08 am
@some1
Likewise. The black Google page with ten bookmarks of my choosing. I don't like clutter or mess which is probably why I despised W8 and WM so much.
GrofLuigi said on September 23, 2022 at 10:24 pm
This is no small update, it includes two new executables: notificationserver.dll and private_browsing.exe (and few manifests) which were not present in 105.
I think they are related to these:
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-unified/rev/23d27ffb8a81
m3city said on September 23, 2022 at 10:28 pm
Frankly speaking, It's has to be sad to publish articles about firefox these days on this site. Like this news piece – it's informative, has briefing, reasoning, change desrciption, summary, links to in-depth information on bugzilla. And what does one get in comments? First of all, moaning of some incels who feel hurt and abandoned by a browser. A perfect world shatters because developers of FF released another inperfect version of their browser. The only thing missing is that dude that would say that Brave does is better.
Bob B. said on September 23, 2022 at 10:54 pm
Well right now, Chromium based browsers are working better for me. I used to be a Firefox fanboy years ago. Then they changed the UI and that turned a lot of us long time users off.
I was recently trying out the latest Firefox and of course, right away a problem came up. I have a bunch of YouTube sites bookmarked that have live video on them. The video refuses to play. Regular YouTube videos play just fine. I tried EVERYTHNG I could think of and that I found on the web to solve this issue. Nothing works. And then I decided to try the 101 version and videos play fine. upgraded back to 105 and once again had the same issue. Tried the latest beta build and still the same thing. Frustrating as heck. Edge, Chrome, and Opera all work fine and all of the live YouTube videos play for me immediately.
Mele20 said on September 25, 2022 at 11:47 am
Don't use regular Fx then. Use Fx ESR and you will avoid most of the issues I read about here. I've been using Fx since its inception and the ESR version is the way to go.
Bob B. said on September 25, 2022 at 3:07 pm
Nope. Tried ESR. Same thing. Tried the current Beta. Same thing. Tried the nightly. Same thing. My PC has a Ryzen 7 processor, 16 GB ram, and a Radeon RX560 video card.
I just want the option to put the Firefox tabs at the bottom. But no, I must do exactly what they want.
ryker said on September 24, 2022 at 11:54 am
no you don't–I'm using FF 104.0.2 and my tabs are on the bottom, and have been always with .css code. on second thought–are you talking about the bottom of the bar up top–or the bottom of the whole page?
@Fred
This is doable via custom userChrome.css:
https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/tree/master/classic/css/tabs
You need to set toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets to true in about:config before you introduce custom CSS. I would also recommend switching to Firefox 102 ESR for this, because ESR versions remain stable for one year (they only get security updates). Normal versions of Firefox receive major updates every four weeks and can potentially break your custom CSS each time. Yep, it's a mess.
Browsers with native tabs-on-bottom functionality include Pale Moon and Safari.
Vivaldi can have tabs on bottom via custom CSS as well: https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/56809/tabs-below-address-bar-and-bookmark-bar
Memoryless said on September 24, 2022 at 11:00 am
Updated to v105.0.1 earlier today & a popup says it's incompatible with 105.0? It won't launch. And I really don't want to re-install it. My password isn't what I thought it was, so I'll lose my bookmarks etc.
Anonymous said on September 26, 2022 at 6:58 am
I hope you fixed it, but you should have your bookmarks exported a html file or sync everything
to a Firefox account.
45RPM said on September 24, 2022 at 2:52 pm
I got the 105.0.1 update but it still defaults to the address bar. Anyone else? I hate that. 99% of everything I do starts with a search if it doesn't from a shortcut of favorite pinned to the top.
Just an average long time pc user said on September 25, 2022 at 5:46 am
one of the main reason for me to ditch firefox was that big title bar and other cosmetic changes which I have found annoying. Now, I know that some of you may argue to go and configure that CSS and use the ESR version. But then again after some update I need to redo all those things which is time consuming for me and not worth at all. this is also the reason for me to ditch windows 10/11. some damn update will reset my changes in the registry file or setting. if not at best it ll make bing and edge default without throwing up error. this is the reason i gave up using the windows last year after using for around 30 years since msdos/ win 3.1 days.Some of you may also suggest to use LTSC version which I have done for few years also. Similar thing is also happening with the MS office. I don't want to fight with my system or a bunch of useless code called software/app as long as I have an option. I have gave up doing that, If an organization or developer has a different point of view as how the user like myself use their work then it's better to move to the lesser evil one on rather than wasting the time. Any way over the past year I have moved to GNU/linux and I have stopped using firefox at all, It may sound irony to some of you. I sometimes come to this website just to know what is going on in this world, so that the kind of prevention I need to take just in case. till the days of win 7 I can set the system once as per my requirement and it will work without any problem for years with updates, now I am able to find that kind of stability and customization only in linux. Also it takes less time to setup and customize a linux box rather that win 10/11. well this the end of my rant.
max said on September 25, 2022 at 10:39 am
So they've added tons of telemetry and snooping to "enhance the user-experience" or whatever, but now that's at least the second time in a short period they have to revert a decision because of negative feedback in a release-version, because they had no idea that change would have that effect. Previous ones were removing the "Compact"-density in the toolbar-customization, or the download-panel behavior.
And the bug to change the bad behavior mentioned in the article was opened a month ago.
What a clown-show. Just read the comments on the original bugticket: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1770818
"Henry has repeatedly emphasized that we always want to be driving users to the address bar, which was the original motivation behind this patch"
Makes me wonder if Mozilla-people are actually using Firefox themselves.
@max
> Makes me wonder if Mozilla-people are actually using Firefox themselves.
"If even Eric–who heads Mozilla's marketing team–uses Chrome every day as he mentioned in the first sentence, it's not surprising that almost 65% of desktop users are doing the same."
source: https://andreasgal.com/2017/05/25/chrome-won/