If you set the "When Firefox starts" preference to "Show a blank page", the address bar receives focus in new windows. Of course you also lose home page functionality, but if that isn't important to you this might be a nice simple solution.

Setting the startup page to a blank page doesn't impact the home page setting, all you would have to do is click the Home button on the Navigation Toolbar to open the home page.

Scott said

If you set the "When Firefox starts" preference to "Show a blank page", the address bar receives focus in new windows. Of course you also lose home page functionality, but if that isn't important to you this might be a nice simple solution.

Sorry, but that doesn't solve this issue. I have always had Firefox to start with a blank page. But since some updates back, instead of starting with the cursor in the adress bar when I launch Firefox the focus of the browser lies somewhere else, I don't know where, and I have to type the <ctrl+L> command to start browsing. It was much easier when the adress bar was marked and all I had to do was to start typing a URL.

cor-el said

Setting the startup page to a blank page doesn't impact the home page setting, all you would have to do is click the Home button on the Navigation Toolbar to open the home page.

I agree to that, but do you have any suggestion on how to make the adress bar marked and the cursor there when Firefox is launched, which was my question from the beginning? Some updates back Firefox used to work that way, as far as I can recall. And to start browsing you could immediately start typing a URL.

Firefox doesn't have a pref to set focus to anywhere specific like the address bar.

When a blank page is used for start-up there is no other place for the cursor "focus" to go other than the address bar. You can still use the Homepage with "When Firefox starts ..." is set to a blank page; that setting will work when the "Home" button is used.

When it comes to the default homepage in Firefox, which was changed to about:home many versions ago, the primary feature on that internal page is the Search Container and that is where to focus is placed.

the-edmeister said

Firefox doesn't have a pref to set focus to anywhere specific like the address bar. When a blank page is used for start-up there is no other place for the cursor "focus" to go other than the address bar. You can still use the Homepage with "When Firefox starts ..." is set to a blank page; that setting will work when the "Home" button is used. You are quite right there, about the "Home" button and the search container. But if you have "blank page as start-up the cursor is not in the adress field when you launch Firefox. But if you, having launched Firerfox, by using <Ctrl+T> opens a now tab , the cursor will be blinking in the adress field. Why can't it do that in the first window at launching? I am sorry if I do not use the proper terms here; my spoken language is not English, and I am not very experienced as a user. But still I hope you understand my Point. When it comes to the default homepage in Firefox, which was changed to about:home many versions ago, the primary feature on that internal page is the Search Container and that is where to focus is placed.

the-edmeister said

Firefox doesn't have a pref to set focus to anywhere specific like the address bar. When a blank page is used for start-up there is no other place for the cursor "focus" to go other than the address bar. You can still use the Homepage with "When Firefox starts ..." is set to a blank page; that setting will work when the "Home" button is used. When it comes to the default homepage in Firefox, which was changed to about:home many versions ago, the primary feature on that internal page is the Search Container and that is where to focus is placed.

I'm sorry, my last post came out wrong. This is how it was intended:

You are quite right there, about the "Home" button and the search container. But if you have "blank page as start-up the cursor is not in the adress field when you launch Firefox. But if you, having launched Firerfox, by using <Ctrl+T> opens a now tab , the cursor will be blinking in the adress field. Why can't it do that in the first window at launching?

Maybe I am not using the proper terms here; my spoken language is not English, and I am not very experienced as a user. But still I hope you understand my point.

"But if you have "blank page as start-up the cursor is not in the adress field when you launch Firefox."

With When Firefox starts: Show a blank page set in Options > General, the cursor does focus in the URL Bar for me, when using a default Firefox 43.0.3 installation = with no add-ons installed, at all. Maybe one of your extensions changed that default action?