MacOS: Allow custom keyboard shortcut for focusing URL bar

[Erick]

Chrome allows this customization by having a menu option for focusing the URL bar("File -> Open Location..."). This defaults to Cmd+L (like Firefox) and you can customize built-in shortcuts natively ("System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> App Shortcuts") on MacOS. With Chrome and Brave I've simply switched around Cmd+D to "Open Location" and Cmd+L to "Bookmark This Tab".

I assume this (a simple menu entry) would be a trivial addition? The lack of this[0] is in fact the only reason that keeps me from switching to Firefox (I love containers). Using Alt+D on Linux for years and later Cmd+D on Mac has made this deeply ingrained in my muscle memory (I keep my thumb resting on Alt on Linux and Cmd on Mac by default).

Cmd+L sucks since it requires me to either use two hands or switch to use only the right hand - which usually rests on the touchpad - resulting in quite a jump. I know F6 works as well but that's also a two-hand operation (since it involves the Fn key).

This would enable me to finally contribute to the fight against Chrome's browser monopoly. 🙏

[0] I have tried various add-ons as well as modifying omni.ja, all without success.

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[Erick]

Seems like it would be low-hanging fruit to implement, but this idea still might not get enough traction.

Would I get notified if the status of this changes (to "In review" or whatever)? Or do I need to check back here (or try Firefox) every now and then?

[Noir-Fox]

I would DEFINITELY like to see this feature implemented.  Would be very nice to be able to use "Control-L" instead of "Command-L"!  Thanks.

[joelpt]

FWIW, I was able to make Cmd+D focus the address bar by using BetterTouchTool to emit Cmd+L keystroke when Cmd+D is pressed. Works like a charm.

[Erick]

@joelptis that tied to Firefox only? Because otherwise it'd mess up Cmd+D for other apps (like Chrome that I have natively remapped).

I worked around this using Alfred, creating a Workflow that only applies to Firefox, which does the same thing - sends a Cmd+L triggered by Cmd+D. By default it's a bit slow, there's a clear lag, but there's a setting for the trigger hotkey, "Trigger behavior", which when set to ""Pass through modifier keys (fastest)" feels instant/native.

So for the time being this is "solved" for me. There's however no way to make Cmd+L bookmark stuff (since that would create an infinite loop), but I can live with that since I don't use bookmarks. Ideally there'd be a menu entry (as per initial description) so that this could be natively mapped.

[joelpt]

Hi Erick - yes you can limit it to only affect Firefox. BTT lets you specify shortcuts on either a per-app basis or globally. There is also no lag/delay - it appears to be identical in reaction speed to pressing Cmd+L directly. 

With respect to bookmarks, I think you could use BTT to assign a mapping to Cmd+D separately; its shortcuts don't trigger when BTT itself emits the keystrokes. 

[TheFrederik]

Hi all, is this needing more kudos? Or someone to implement it?

I think what would already fix this, is to add a menu item called "Open Location..." to make it accessible for the Macos app shortcuts remapping function. Remapping existing menu items already works. (I have remapped "Bookmark Current Tab..." to something else, but can't find a menu item to bind CMD+L to.)