Hotkeys? Yes, please!

[fxpm-nicole]

Hello Connect Community!
This is Nicole from the Fx Essentials Product Management Team. I am in the process of exploring some potential changes around hotkeys/keyboard shortcuts, as this is something that is being asked for quite a bit in the Connect Community.

I have a few questions I'd like to put out there for everyone.
1. What are your top five most used hotkeys/keyboard shortcuts?
2. What shortcuts do you wish Firefox offered?
3. Is there a non-Firefox browser you prefer because of how they 'do' hotkeys/shortcuts?

As always, thank you in advance for contributing to this discussion! Looking forward to hearing all of your answers!

Thanks!
Nicole

[okay_okay]

Thanks for starting this conversation. Not sure if this has already been said but when moving over from a different browser it would be nice to have option of using same hotkeys from previous browser that we're familiar with.  

[wunewww]

The top 5:

1. `Ctrl + [numbers]` to travel between tabs
2. `Ctrl + PageUp/Down` to rotate b/w tabs, I usually change the sequence of tabs for this
3. `Ctrl + w` to close tabs
4. `Ctrl + t` to open tabs
5. `Alt + left/right arrow` to load backward/forward

suggestions:

1. as mentioned in Firefox View Tab Keyboard Shortcut , Firefox view is awesome, it is worthy to have a shortcut to open it.
2. i use firefox both on windows and linux, is it possible to unify the two keybindings? e.g. on linux, `Super(Alt) + [num]` is equal to `Ctrl + [num]` on Windows, is it possible to set them in the same?

[loaf]

much of how I use keyboard shortcuts in FF has been covered by others. however I think a super sweet feature would be a retooling of cmd+k (not sure if that is win+k or ctrl+k on windows)

I use cmd+L to get to the omnibox, mostly for grabbing a url on my keyboard. it would be great if cmd+k would utilize the omnibox differently, so that the default was not simply searching via the default search engine

picture this workflow as being inherently about commands and actions pertinent to FF itself, like:

• opening the settings page or bookmark manager
• directly toggling certain settings, like themes
• search for an extension by name and launching it
• then, lower priority in results list would be specific bookmarks, open tabs, search results etc

so I want to toggle to dark theme? cmd+k "theme" would reveal the option. I want to open some extension or it's settings page? cmd+k "extension_name." I let my tabs get out of control, know that there is a news article open somewhere but don't want to ctrl+tab through thirty tabs. cmd+k "npr" surfaces that open tab with the NPR article

Vivaldi and Arc do pretty great jobs with this. this feature would elevate the FF, in my humble opinion

[jscher2000]

Just as a footnote: Ctrl+K/Command+K is the shortcut to put the cursor in the optional search bar. When the optional search bar isn't displayed, the shortcut is redirected to the address bar with the default search engine selected as filter, so that the input can't be misinterpreted as an address.

More on the optional bar: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/add-search-bar-firefox-toolbar

[loaf]

yes, this exactly describes the current cmd+k behavior. this has me thinking more about my suggestion, so I am just going to riff on it a bit — less response to you and more blue-sky-ing

I think that cmd+k is not currently as useful as it could be, as cmd+L focuses the address bar, and the address bar is capable of search or direct url navigation. although I am sure there are users that value having the optional search bar next to the address bar, for whatever reasons

and thinking now on the Vivaldi and Arc examples I tossed out there, cmd+k is not actually accurate. Arc uses cmd+t to offer a floating search bar that will open a new tab and navigate somewhere if that makes sense based on user input, otherwise it is a general purpose command center to provide instructions to the browser. and Vivaldi offers basically the same thing, except you can program it to whatever you please

the cmd+k shortcut in general is seeing more adoption by web apps as a kind of magic search, so hard-coding an FF shortcut to that combination, with no way to change it, could actually cause some headaches

tl;dr I would like a magic search box, whether it floats or is just a special state for the address bar, that primarily queries the browser itself for settings, bookmarks, open tabs, various other commands, etc., without showing me a bunch of results from the internet first. and without having to type * or % or ^ or whatever to narrow the scope

[lc0]

The previous suggestions already cover about everything. Since extensions aren't working on protected pages it's important that there is a native and flexible way to rebind, define new and export/import shortcuts settings.

Additionally, something annoying is that there exist a kind of failed/suspended tab state where F5 and F6 aren't working. When going to a tab like this the obvious reflex is to do F5 to reload them, but it just do nothing, same for F6.

[dannycolin]

This would be a very useful feature to have especially for both users and addon developers. A lot of keyboard shortcuts are already assigned to browser functionalities and it reduces the number of available ones for the installed addons.

A good example is User A might not need Ctrl+P to be assigned to "Print page" because they rarely use it and the menu entry is good enough those rare occasions they need it. They could reuse it for a functionality provided by an addon that they use daily.

[strangler01]

bro i wish you do something for the realoading key please add a feature for that, i use vimium on firefox so to go to normal mode i press escape and it stops the website from loading it's been so annoying to repeatedly press escape and then again Ctrl+R

[whatever2024]

Not only remapping, but also the ability to disable a shortcut entirely.

[Rebel_Bell]

Good call. I think this is the first time it has been mentioned, but it's a good point. I thought at first "Why? Surely you just ignore it?" but then I remembered a problem I had with Yahoo mail where they had a shortcut to send (it was something like Shift or Ctrl+Enter maybe). The number of times I sent a half written email because I'd done something such as Ctrl+V and not fully  released the Ctrl key before pressing enter to find the email sent! I got over it by doing exactly what you are asking for. At least if the don't implement this but do allow remapping it can be stuck somewhere on the outer limits of the keyboard!

[MrKistic]

Please let us disable or re-map them. Try using any sort of modified keyboard and see how insane things get. Especially the Tab navigation keys which are pretty bad to start with on a Mac. Using Command + Option + arrows for tab navigation is a terrible idea, and in my case it means my word selection keystrokes start changing tabs 🤦‍♂️ Chromium browsers use Ctrl + arrow but even better put it in the menus so you can override it at OS level. Firefox gives you wacky shortcuts and NO option to change them! That may have been okay in 1994 but it's just not cool in 2024.

[ieteilyiteylhtr]

As someone with a disability that requires me to use a special keyboard, I am so excited this is getting attention. On macOS, I am able to map custom shortcuts in System Settings, but they need to refer to menu items in an application. Adding common actions in the menu, such as "next tab", "previous tab", "back" would help a lot (Chrome has these).

A fully customizable config file, as others have mentioned, would be even better. No fixed layout can account for every input device, keyboard layout, and preference.

[Rebel_Bell]

Good points. In an odd way, the more control over the keyboard, etc. for a user, the simpler the app can initially be because all the random bases don't need to be covered for all users, whilst letting individuals add in what they might specifically need. The config file though is also really important as it means you don't have to keep refiguring when updating or moving across platform/devices.

[Mutzu]

Hello @fxpm-nicole,

Ok, let's answer your questions. 🙂

The only shortcuts I use regularly are Control + B to to toggle the bookmark side pane and Control + P to open the print dialog. Sometimes I use PageUp, PageDown, Up or Down to navigate within the page. But I would need other shortcuts I'll mention later. And of course, Control + C and Control + V for copy and paste.

I guess I don't use many more as they are rather complicated and therefore hard to remember. Also, I have one hand on the mouse and I would need to move it on the keyboard, since some hotkeys feel quite awkward or impossible for me to be pressed with one hand. E.g.: "Control + Shift + O".

So I would appreciate it if there was a hotkey approach for one hand.

One Key Approach

I think it's for historical reasons that the Control key (or Alt, Alt Gr, ...) needs to be held down simultanously for shortcuts.

Actually, the additional Control key is only necessary if an input field has the focus. That’s why I'd suggest using the Escape key to remove the focus from input fields if they have it.
The I or Insert key could reset the focus as it was before. Of course, this could also be done with a mouse click. Then it's possible to use only one key.

But you could still use the control key version in addition.

I'm thinking about how hotkeys are used in the 3D software Blender.

It's the concept of pressing keys serially. (This means the next key must be pressed within a short time span.)

The ideal shortcut map for my current workflow would be:

First key	Second key (serially)	Third key (serially)	Action
G			open Simple Tab Groups Plugin side pan
G	1		open Simple Tab Groups Plugin side pan; and open the first group of the tab groups
G	2		open Simple Tab Groups Plugin side pan; and open the second group of the tab groups
G	{number}		open Simple Tab Groups Plugin side pan; and open the {number} group of the tab groups. (0 is the tenth group.)
N			new tab
P			open print dialog
B			toggle bookmark side pane
+			add page to bookmarks (same as clicking on the star)
-			remove page from bookmarks
H			hide current tab in a tab archive at the very right of the tabs bar.
C or W			close current tab
Left			go to left tab in the tab bar
Right			go to right tab in the tab bar
1			open first bookmark from the bookmark bar
{number}			open {number} bookmark from the bookmark bar. (0 is 10)
Alt (hold)			show assigned number key on the bookmarks in the boomark bar
F			focus on search input field at the bottom of the frame

If this serial key mapping for shortcuts was customizable, it would be awesome.

Best regards,
Mutzu