How to enable your tabs in the Mac OS X build of Firefox
There is a "feature" of Mac OS X that allows me to control the way my tab key works. By default when I hit tab it will only scroll between text boxes and lists. This is fine unless I'm using Firefox and trying to fill out an online form that has a drop-down field, at which point the tab key will not select it. For example: I want to buy the domain bengasm.com from Go Daddy and when I enter in my credit card info I can not tab to the State field, Credit Card type field or Expiration fields, it just jumps right past them. In the Windows and Linux builds of Firefox this is not an issue, when I hit tab I will jump from field to field including the drop-down fields. Take a peek at the video below to see how when I hit tab, I just jump right past the drop down boxes.
That's super annoying. For some odd reason this issue does not crop up in Safari for Mac OS X, only Firefox. Fret not faithful Apple + Firefox users, there's a setting in Mac OS X under the System Preferences that allows me to change how my tab key functions. As stated above the default value is 'Text boxes and lists only' but if you go to system preferences - keyboard & mouse - keyboard shortcuts you'll see a tab menu at the bottom. In this menu you are able to change your preference to 'All controls' which will act a lot more Windows like.
In order for you to be able to see this change you will need to quit (CMD-Q) Firefox and re-open it. Once you have done this you will be able to tab to every element on the page. I don't just mean input form-fields, I mean every single link on the page. See the video below to watch the same exact input form behave as one would expect it to.
The original selection of 'Text boxes and lists only' is a great idea if it worked. I have no idea why that option does not work with Firefox but it does work with Safari. Without diving into too much analysis it feels like this is either a Firefox issue that should be resolved, or Apple screwed up the hooks into that preference and they only fixed it in their own Safari browser. Either way it would be nice if the Mozilla/Firefox team came out with a fix for this so I could keep the original Mac OS X setting but still tab to drop-down menus. In the mean time, I hope this tip was helpful.
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Comments
1. Posted by: Ed Kohler on November 5, 2006 9:05 PM:
Thanks, Ben.
This has been a problem for me. Over time, I've managed to adapt to this limitation in the same way I'd adapt to eating with only a spoon if I had to. Now I'll need to unlearn my new found workarounds . . .
Wrote this baby just for you :) Figured that others were running into the same problem. Hopefully this makes it easier, and/or Firefox fixes this problem.
Unfortunally this doesn't work when logged on to an external server. In the external program i have to end the sentence with the tab key in order to save the line. Any other suggestions?
1. Posted by: Ed Kohler on November 5, 2006 9:05 PM:
Thanks, Ben.
This has been a problem for me. Over time, I've managed to adapt to this limitation in the same way I'd adapt to eating with only a spoon if I had to. Now I'll need to unlearn my new found workarounds . . .