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I would like to be able to start typing a URL directly (with no need to clear the field first) after opening a new tab with my homepage...

  • 8 replies
  • 3 have this problem
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  • Last reply by martina

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I've just installed the newest desktop version of the Firefox browser because my Opera doesn't feel very well these days. I'm trying to become friends with Firefox, and that's why I've changed the new tab settings in order to have my offline homepage loaded every time I open a new tab. There is an inconvenience — when I press Ctrl+T, the cursor appears at the end of the URL. It means that when I start typing, the letters show in the address bar after the URL of my homepage, so what I need is to clear the field first.

Is there a way to get rid of this? (If it helpes, I'm currently using Windows 7.)

I would appreciate if I could just press Ctrl+T, type a URL, and press Enter when I want to go to a website different from my homepage. Thank you for your replies!

I've just installed the newest desktop version of the Firefox browser because my Opera doesn't feel very well these days. I'm trying to become friends with Firefox, and that's why I've changed the new tab settings in order to have my offline homepage loaded every time I open a new tab. There is an inconvenience — when I press Ctrl+T, the cursor appears at the end of the URL. It means that when I start typing, the letters show in the address bar after the URL of my homepage, so what I need is to clear the field first. Is there a way to get rid of this? (If it helpes, I'm currently using Windows 7.) I would appreciate if I could just press Ctrl+T, type a URL, and press Enter when I want to go to a website different from my homepage. Thank you for your replies!

Chosen solution

Finally found a solution: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/custom-new-tab/

It does exactly what I want with the option "Place focus in URL bar." enabled.

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All Replies (8)

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the best way to obtain result with the same shortcut (ctrl + t) is to remove your current homepage.Also,try these steps:

1) Go to Tools at the top of Firefox. 2)got to OPTIONS. 3)under GENERAL, there will be a START UP option. 4)Change it to SHOW A BLANK PAGE. 5)click OK. 6)try restarting firefox and try the same shortcut.

Hope it works for u...

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Thank you for a quick reply but I think you didn't understand my question.

1) I want my homepage appear on a new tab.

2) I'd like to change the cursor focus settings — I want the whole address to be marked, so that it disappears when I start typing a URL.

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Note that you can press the ESC key to highlight all the text, so if you start typing then you will delete/replace the present URL automatically.
If you set the about:newtab page to a page different then a built-in page like about:newtab or about:home then the URL in the location bar isn't selected.

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Well, I know that but am I really not able to change it?

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No That is not possible. You either need to open a new tab otherwise (e.g. middle-click an about:blank bookmark on the Bookmarks Toolbar) or set the home page to an about page that leaves the location bar empty.
Pressing ESC once shouldn't be that hard to remember if you do not want to change the browser.newtab.url pref to a page different from the home page.

Note that you can middle-click the toolbar Home button to open the home page in a new tab and that you can move this Home button to the tab bar and place both the new tab button (set to about:blank) and home button next to each other.

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Thank you.

The problem is that the Esc button is quite 'far away' from the rest of the keyboard, so pressing it before typing the URL makes the browsing less comfortable.

Since I hardly ever use mouse with my laptop, I don't appreciate any clicking solutions.

Anyway, I'll keep trying to solve the question by myself and will be glad for any suggestions or ideas.

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Then you can use (Ctrl+L and) Ctrl+A to select all the text in the location bar or Shift+Home/End.

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Chosen Solution

Finally found a solution: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/custom-new-tab/

It does exactly what I want with the option "Place focus in URL bar." enabled.

Modified by martina