The 8472 Reporter
	Description • 8 years ago

Chrome has an UI to let the user customize command shortcuts. Presumably to make it match local keyboard layouts or to resolve conflicts with other extensions.

FF currently provides no way to change the commands.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16281037/configurable-keyboard-shortcut-without-using-content-scripts

	Rob Wu [:robwu]
	Comment 2 • 8 years ago

Dropping a link to bug 1320332 for visibility: That bug is about offering APIs to WebExtensions to resolver conflicts in key registrations.

	Alexander Wang
	Comment 7 • 7 years ago

I just accidentally closed Firefox 57 when I meant to close just a single tab. It's a shame, because I really liked my experience with Firefox 57 so far; the Achilles' Heel of Firefox 57 is the Ctrl+Q keyboard shortcut, which closes the entire Firefox application, sits next to the Ctrl+W keyboard shortcut, which closes just a single tab. This is very frustrating and jarring for user experience. What's the priority for this particular bug? When can users expect functionality to modify or disable keyboard shortcuts?

	Graham Perrin
	Comment 8 • 7 years ago

1215059 - (webextensions-additional-apis) [meta] Extend WebExtensions with custom APIs so more legacy add-ons can be ported
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215059>

- includes bug 1215061, 'Better keyboard shortcut support'
- does not yet include bug 1325692, '[commands] Explicit support for overriding built-in keyboard shortcuts by WebExtensions'
- does not yet include this bug 1303384

	YF (Yang)
	Comment 9 • 7 years ago

(In reply to Graham Perrin from comment #8)
> 1215059 - (webextensions-additional-apis) [meta] Extend WebExtensions with
> custom APIs so more legacy add-ons can be ported
> <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215059>
> 
> - includes bug 1215061, 'Better keyboard shortcut support'
> - does not yet include bug 1325692, '[commands] Explicit support for
> overriding built-in keyboard shortcuts by WebExtensions'
> - does not yet include this bug 1303384

I think this bug is create a UI to manage the assigned commands, instead of an APIs to manage.

	spark
	Comment 10 • 7 years ago

As a user, it'd be much nicer not to need an extension for this. You have to trust extensions and their authors.

	Jean-Marie COUPRIE
	Comment 12 • 7 years ago

"Duplicate of this bug: 1422153" 
NO ! Bug 1422153 functionalities (proposed standard follow-up of keyconfig extension) are far more powerful than Bug 1303384 (that it may solve).
See http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=72994 the Keyconfig forum. Its 225 pages show many examples of codes attributed to key combinations by users.

	Anthony Lieuallen
	Comment 13 • 7 years ago

A user of my extension has reported a bug ( https://github.com/arantius/uppity/issues/9 ) that this would resolve.

	Harold
	Comment 14 • 6 years ago

Such a feature would be also very useful for users of Zotero since the CTRL+S shortcut collides with one of the fundamental action of this extension (saving a document), and I guess this can often happen so the users should be allowed to modify shortcuts according to their needs. See the discussion on Zotero forum (https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/68675/change-default-keyboard-shortcuts-on-firefox).

	warren.postma
	Comment 15 • 6 years ago

I use FireFox with Google Docs, and I want Google Docs to be able to receive complex keyboard commands like Ctrl+Alt+Something, to do various tasks, such as to assign a paragraph style.

I use Firefox with LogMeIn, and when I am in a logmein remote control session, I want to use keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl-N and Ctrl-Q and I want those to go to the remote session I am typing on.  I want to be able to see and DISABLE all global keyboard shortcuts.

I use FIrefox with (continue ad infinitum).

Firefox is a browser. It's a multi-purpose tool.  Every single keyboard shortcut that exists that I can't disable or remap hurts me.

Quantum moved the ball back to about 2008 for me.   This browser is for surfing CNN and Reddit and not useable for me as a daily driver until I have total control over its keyboard shortcuts.

This should not be an extension. This should be something in about:config, or about:config.keyboard or something.

	skyleach
	Comment 16 • 6 years ago

Pretty much ditto to above.  Right at this moment I'm using ghost and nvim-ghost to edit this bugzilla report from vim.

I work in datascience and web development.  Chrome is ok, but I'm a big fan of FOI and FOSS and not having a hotkey for being able to quickly activate and externally edit from firefox is a massive cumulative drain on my day.  Every time I reach for the mouse, I'm thrown off my beat.

Just one more voice asking that you please make this very important feature a serious priority.

	Stephan Sokolow
	Comment 17 • 6 years ago

(In reply to skyleach from comment #16)
> I work in datascience and web development.  Chrome is ok, but I'm a big fan
> of FOI and FOSS and not having a hotkey for being able to quickly activate
> and externally edit from firefox is a massive cumulative drain on my day. 
> Every time I reach for the mouse, I'm thrown off my beat.

I don't want to pull things off topic but, to be fair to Firefox, that's a bit tangential to this issue as it *is* already possible to have such a hotkey.

While it doesn't integrate deeply enough with the editor to support synchronizing unsaved changes, withExEditor does it (Ctrl+Shift+u by default and customizable).

	Melroy
	Comment 18 • 6 years ago

I think the status can become 'Confirmed' right?

+1

	Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] Assignee
	Comment 19 • 6 years ago

My understanding for what is wanted for shortcuts (and is discussed here and in linked bugs) is this:

  * Change a shortcut for a command programmatically/with extension UI (bug 1421811).
  * Change a shortcut for a command through Firefox UI (this bug).
  * Change any shortcut in Firefox through Firefox UI (no bug/many bugs).
    * There are lots of bugs to add/remove shortcuts but not many seem to propose a UI for it. bug 588710 seems like the closest bug for this.
    * bug 1422153 is duped here and suggests this but also other stuff, that maybe shouldn't have been duped.
  * Support any shortcut I want—like escape, j or ]–in extensions (bug 1215061).
  * Overwrite a Firefox shortcut with an extension shortcut (bug 1325692).

All of these bugs are referenced here and this bug should have a fairly specific scope. Comment 0 is something we are planning but the timeline/UX is not clear to me right now. Everything else should be discussed in their corresponding bugs.

	Nameless Voice
	Comment 20 • 6 years ago

Here's how I understand it:

The ask is for a UI that allows the user to see and modify all of Firefox's native keyboard shortcuts.
The user needs to be able to add a new shortcut to a command, and to modify or remove the existing shortcut.

In Firefox 56-, this functionality was provided by the KeyBinder extension.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/keybinder/

I would expect the Firefox native UI to be very similar to the one provided by that extension (screenshots are on the extension page), including having having the commands sorted into sections, and having the ability to search.


Keybinder also showed some keyboard shortcuts created by extensions and allowed those to be re-bound - for example, the key to open the Feeds Sidebar in the extension of the same name.  I don't believe WebExtensions currently support those kind of global hotkeys anyway.

	Sam Bull
	Comment 21 • 6 years ago

And here's how I understand it:

The request is for a UI to display to the user and allow them to modify the keyboard shortcuts a web extension has specified using the command section of the manifest file.

Currently, a user has no standard way to discover or modify an extension's shortcuts, basically making the commands thing useless, and requiring extension authors to ignore it and implement shortcuts manually in a way they can allow the user to customise the shortcut.


As mentioned in comment 19, that appears to be what this bug is about. If you want to change all of Firefox's shortcuts, that should really be tracked in a separate bug. Maybe both issues will be solved with the same solution, but they are still separate issues.

For me, regardless of whether a global shortcut preference is added, I would like to see an extension's shortcuts appear at the top of the extension's settings page (and without the extension author needing to add anything).

	Nameless Voice
	Comment 22 • 6 years ago

Okay, we definitely need to split this out into two bugs.

"Command shortcuts" is ambiguous; I always assumed it meant keyboard shortcuts for internal Firefox commands, but it could just as easily mean keyboard shortcuts for commands in WebExtensions.

Like you said, I'd imagine both issues would be solved through the same UI, but should be separate bugs.

Which one should be tracked by this bug, and which should be raised as a new one? 
Either way, the description of this bug needs to be reworded.

	Martin Giger [:freaktechnik]
	Comment 23 • 6 years ago

(In reply to Nameless Voice from comment #22)
> Which one should be tracked by this bug, and which should be raised as a new
> one? 
> Either way, the description of this bug needs to be reworded.

The scope of this bug is clearly stated by the component it is filed in, which is a WebExtensions component. For the generic UI, see the bugs that were linked in comment#19

	skyleach
	Comment 24 • 6 years ago

(In reply to Stephan Sokolow from comment #17)
> (In reply to skyleach from comment #16)
> > I work in datascience and web development.  Chrome is ok, but I'm a big fan
> > of FOI and FOSS and not having a hotkey for being able to quickly activate
> > and externally edit from firefox is a massive cumulative drain on my day. 
> > Every time I reach for the mouse, I'm thrown off my beat.
> 
> I don't want to pull things off topic but, to be fair to Firefox, that's a
> bit tangential to this issue as it *is* already possible to have such a
> hotkey.
> 
> While it doesn't integrate deeply enough with the editor to support
> synchronizing unsaved changes, withExEditor does it (Ctrl+Shift+u by default
> and customizable).

Sorry, I believe I was a bit unclear.  While I am talking about externally editing, it is insufficient for my needs to have a server spawning an editor as this process loop is too slow, and doesn't include numerous other extensions.  Technically, I can copy and paste, edit, save, and paste back to the browser as well.  Having the ability to activate other extensions on text area that maintain an active communication with the text area, and which communicate those changes to the editor in real-time, would be a more accurate description of my needs.

After looking at how to bind extensions to hotkeys, I found my way here.

	steve
	Comment 25 • 6 years ago

This bug is linked in ublock origin's tracker about missing / broken keyboard shortcuts, which broke in Firefox 56. It's odd that currently it is not possible for extensions to make use of keyboard shortcuts for their functionality.
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/issues/2870#issuecomment-322234217 + 3 duplicate tickets. Hope this get's addressed by Firefox. This bug has currently 58 votes and has been open for 2 years.

	Nameless Voice
	Comment 27 • 6 years ago

(In reply to Martin Giger [:freaktechnik] from comment #23)
> The scope of this bug is clearly stated by the component it is filed in,
> which is a WebExtensions component. For the generic UI, see the bugs that
> were linked in comment#19

In that case, we should use bug 588710 for the generic UI for Firefox-native controls.

Can someone rename this bug to make it clearer that it is about WebExtensions and not native Firefox functionality?

	Stephan Sokolow
	Comment 28 • 6 years ago

(In reply to skyleach from comment #24)
> Sorry, I believe I was a bit unclear.  While I am talking about externally
> editing, it is insufficient for my needs to have a server spawning an editor
> as this process loop is too slow, and doesn't include numerous other
> extensions.  Technically, I can copy and paste, edit, save, and paste back
> to the browser as well.  Having the ability to activate other extensions on
> text area that maintain an active communication with the text area, and
> which communicate those changes to the editor in real-time, would be a more
> accurate description of my needs.
> 
> After looking at how to bind extensions to hotkeys, I found my way here.

I understood your message to mean that you had gotten ghost and nvim-ghost working with Firefox, but it didn't have a hotkey to open/focus the editor. Specifically, that you were referring to this bug --> https://github.com/GhostText/GhostText/issues/113

I pointed to withExEditor because it demonstrates a workaround that allows some form of customizable keybindings right now which you might want to poke @bfred-it about.

	Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] Assignee
	Comment 29 • 6 years ago

I think the name was clear since this is filed in WebExtensions, but if it will keep things on topic I hope this helps.

Extensions can currently display their command shortcuts using the `browser.commands.getAll()` API to list them to users. If you think commands should be surfaced to users in other specific cases then feel free to file a bug about that. Currently sidebar shortcuts are displayed in the switcher. Browser action shortcuts could probably be displayed in a tooltip but I don't think that is the case right now.

The scope of this bug is well defined in comment 0, I don't think this bug needs more discussion right now. If you don't think this is going to solve your problem them adding to this bug is unlikely to provide a solution. You may want to look at the bugs linked in comment 19.

	Tradewatcher
	Comment 30 • 6 years ago

In my opinion this is a very important feature and I cant understand why Mozilla ignore it. I also think the guys from Mozilla do a great job but their strategy/tactic to reach more people is not good. The biggest part of user come from "OS installs from a friend/vendor". So it should be the main target to improve and support the usability for power users. The power user will install Firefox on the computer of "normal dying people". Shortcuts, Tab Grouping, Web Development, Performance, Privacy, Security should be the main targets. "Why should I use Firefox if the IT-Professional tell me Chrome is "faster" and better?"

This problem could be ?easily? solved with an extra menu under settings "Shortcuts" and offer a fully customizeable shortcut menu. We only need a Shortcut API and an integrated Firefox Shortcut API to customize.

Example:

[Del. Shortcut]   [KEY]                  [Source]               [Description]     

[X]               [STRG+T]               [Firefox Core]         [Open a new Tab]
[X]               [STRG+ALT+F1]          [Tree Style Tab]       [Open TST Sidebar]
[X]               [STRG+ALT+F1]          [Tree Style Tab]       [Open TST Configuration]
[X]               [STRG+SHIFT+ALT+X]     [Feedbro]              [Open Feedreader]
[X]               [                ]     [           ]          [               ]

[[Add new Shortcut]] [[Restore standard Shortcuts]] [[Delete All Shortcuts]]  (Buttons - self explanatory)

[ ] Allow new installed Addons to change this configuration.
[ ] Allow Addons to change Firefox Core shortcuts.  (Checkboxes - self explanatory...)


Key: Self defined up to 4 keys. (Click in and push combination)
Source: Name of the source which provide the shortcut [Dropdown menu of available Sources (FF Core, FF Dev Bar, Addons as ex.]
Function: Offer the provided Shortcuts by the chosen source [Dropdown menu - depending on Source]

Firefox Core need to offer the basic Shortcuts. The Addons only need to provide a "Description" of each provided shortcut and an internal function which is linked to the selected keystroke. Source = Addon Name

A warning after Addon installation would be fine.

Simple - Efficient - Future proof and all the shortcut issues are gone.

	Tradewatcher
	Comment 31 • 6 years ago

A hardcore enhancement would be an option to add something like "Open Website" and insert Adress under "Description".

"Shift-X" to open a self defined "daily visited" website as example? (Google, Webmail, News, Mobility Connections...) I'm sure there will be some more ideas and the fight for shortcuts will end.

Sorry for double comment.

	sgl4kn
	Comment 33 • 6 years ago

A GUI would be great, but will take long. Alterative is to implement prefs, or Webextension API that can change these prefs for all shortcuts FF is currently using. E.g. "browser.shortcuts.closeWindow;Alt+F4" and extensions like https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/shortkeys/?src=search would be able to change those.

	Ronald Greenberg
	Comment 34 • 6 years ago

I want to second the focus of Comment 20 and also several other comments about interference of shortkeys with other applications. The mentions here are far from complete. (The most irksome thing for me is trying to use Emacs in the Guacamole remote desktop gateway and having interference with ctrl+n, ctrl+t, and ctrl+w.)
It is surprising to me that complaints about this go back as far as 2 years on this bug and sometimes even further on related bugs, but there still has not been a resolution.
See also e.g.,
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215061#c69
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1320332#c12
The issue is in other bug threads as well, and is something for which other people are searching for solutions in other online fora.
I don't think this should be left for random extension writers but rather should be a high priority fix.
(Sorry I am a newbie to Bugzilla so I'm not sure how things actually do ultimately get fixed; this is the one place where I was able to find that the bug is marked as assigned to somebody and given a priority. I don't know exactly what the priorities mean; P2 sounds pretty good, but I do hope somebody can resolve this soon.)

	Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] Assignee
	Comment 39 • 6 years ago

These patches are WIP, when attempting to overwrite an existing command (like ctrl+w) the existing command is executed (in this case the tab is closed). This isn't ideal, and I'm not sure if we want to support overwriting commands right now (although it would seem reasonable).

Regardless, I'd say having the tab close if you try to set something to ctrl+w is a blocker for now.

	Rob Wu [:robwu]
	Comment 40 • 6 years ago

(In reply to Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] from comment #39)
> These patches are WIP, when attempting to overwrite an existing command
> (like ctrl+w) the existing command is executed (in this case the tab is
> closed).

Bug 1325692 is about overriding built-in shortcuts, FYI.

	Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] Assignee
	Comment 41 • 6 years ago

MozReview-Commit-ID: E1RTINVtrbQ

	Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] Assignee
	Comment 43 • 6 years ago

MozReview-Commit-ID: KeZsoB6qj88

	Rob Wu [:robwu]
	Comment 44 • 6 years ago

I tried out your patches and posted some review comments.

Your isSystem validator is stricter than what is allowed in the manifest file.
By default, I am able to override Cmd-Q on macOS (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disable-ctrl-q-and-cmd-q/ ). The UI complains about the use of this shortcut, but when blurring, it still reverts to the previous Cmd-Q shortcut.
I hope that you fix this by allowing built-in shortcuts such as Cmd-Q/Ctrl-Q rather than blocking all "system" shortcuts.

(In reply to Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] from comment #39)
> Regardless, I'd say having the tab close if you try to set something to
> ctrl+w is a blocker for now.

On macOS, the default action of Cmd-W is successfully prevented already.
On Linux, I can prevent the default action using a system listener in the main process:

// document is the browser.xul document
Services.els.addSystemEventListener(document, "keydown", e => {e.preventDefault();}, true);

I tried to register a listener in the content process, but that did not work, possibly because of the "reserved" attribute on the key.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/XPCOM/Reference/Interface/nsIEventListenerService#addSystemEventListener()
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/XUL/Attribute/reserved


It is probably a good idea to ask others whether this is a good approach before committing to it though. There might be a footgun that I'm unaware of.

	Andrew Swan [:aswan]
	Comment 45 • 6 years ago

Comment on attachment 9004759 [details]
Bug 1303384 - Part 1: Extract extension commands management to a module r?aswan

Andrew Swan [:aswan] has approved the revision.

	Andrew Swan [:aswan]
	Comment 46 • 6 years ago

Comment on attachment 9004760 [details]
Bug 1303384 - Part 2: Move some extension shortcut utils to ShortcutUtils r?aswan

Andrew Swan [:aswan] has approved the revision.

	Andrew Swan [:aswan]
	Comment 49 • 6 years ago

The part 5 patch here makes command description localizable, setting dev-doc-needed for that specific bit.

	Anand
	Comment 50 • 6 years ago

Related bug (perhaps duplicate): https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1411795

	Liz Henry (:lizzard Please n-i to RyanVM, jcristau, or pascal)
	Comment 51 • 6 years ago

Are you still planning to land this on 65?

	Mark Striemer [:mstriemer] Assignee
	Comment 52 • 6 years ago

I think I've run out of time for 65 on this one. The patch has been brought up to date with inbound but with reviews needed and soft freeze around the corner probably best to wait for an early 66 landing.

	Pulsebot
	Comment 55 • 6 years ago

Pushed by mstriemer@mozilla.com:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f4697feb30df
Part 1: Extract extension commands management to a module r=aswan
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d1eacc92d6d6
Part 2: Move some extension shortcut utils to ShortcutUtils r=aswan
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/456b9b7963eb
Part 3: Manage extension shortcuts page r=aswan,Gijs,flod
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/77c0cf8378df
Part 4: Localize command descriptions r=aswan

	Pulsebot
	Comment 63 • 6 years ago

Pushed by mstriemer@mozilla.com:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/41184f42f451
Part 5: Fix TODO and string in .ftl r=flod