Update (1/11/2007): I think (knock on wood) I’ve solved my troubles. I’ve rolled back to Firefox 2.0 on both the MacBook Pro and Powerbook and things seem to be working again.
It’s likely a bad idea to blog while angry (okay, not angry, but upset in this case), but here goes nothing. I’ve grown increasingly displeased with the performance of the latest version of Firefox (currently version 2.0.0.1) for the Mac. A little bit of history…
I’ve been a Firefox user since the days when it was called Phoenix, and later Firebird. I liked (and still do like) its speed, extensibility, and security as compared to the competition. Firefox 1.5 was a great browser and I (like most) eagerly anticipated the arrival of 2.0.
Version 2 arrives and it’s pretty good, it’s got some cool new features, but not the Earth-shattering release that everyone was anticipating. Not a huge deal, as a software developer, you can’t always hit home runs. I will, in fact, applaud the Firefox crew for working to keep the browser lean and mean.
All that aside, I’ve been having more and more trouble with my Mac install of Firefox 2.0.0.1. With increasing frequency, when filling in web forms, the browser has lost focus on the form field and gone into Quick Find or Find mode. Thinking at first there was an issue with the “search for text when I begin typing” feature, I quickly disabled that. No good, the issue persisted.
The problem only occurs when entering form data and does not appear to discriminate between inputs or textareas. When using Gmail, the character that seems to blow things up is the apostrophe. In other fields, typing a single letter will often cause things to go haywire.
Additionally, using Command+L (location bar focus) and Command+K (search box focus) will often not focus on their respective inputs. Not sure if the two problems are related, but could very well be.
I removed Firefox and all associated profiles and started from scratch, hoping maybe it was a bad profile. Things worked great for about an hour and the problems came back, so it doesn’t seem to be a bad profile.
For what it’s worth, the issue is occurring in Mac OS X 10.4.8 on both PowerPC and Intel machines (my Powerbook and work’s MacBook Pro). The extensions I have installed are:
- Adblock Plus
- del.icio.us
- ErrorZilla Mod
- Firebug
- FLST
- Gmail Notifier
- HTML Validator
- Operator
- Organize Status Bar
- Stop-or-Reload Button
- Tails
- Web Developer
The versions on all of the extensions are the latest-and-greatest.
I don’t want this to come off as an attack on the fine folks that develop and contribute to Firefox. I still love Firefox, I’m simply annoyed at some of the odd behavior in the latest version of my browser of choice. My hope is that this post will get noticed by others who may be experiencing the same issue and (hopefully) someone will have some insight into the issue.
This post brought to you by Camino – my backup browser o’ choice.
Wow, that’s a LOT of extensions. Have you thought about maybe removing some of them to see if performance improves?
I’ve had the same problem with Firefox on a PC. Even the 1.5 version would occasionally go to “find as you type” when typing in a text box/area.
I’ve been having performance problems with 2.0. I installed it on Mary’s laptop (~2.5 years old) and it maxes out the CPU…especially if I browse to a site with Flash.
I’m having similar issues. The focus seems to get stuck and I am unable to regain control of it. Thanks for the revert tip…will try that.
Stu
similar issues(only on Mac)! When opening up the pop-up login from this site you can’t focus the password fields(though now i’ve got it to href to a duplicate of the form)
when i viewed the form by just typing in the address it worked so it seems to be something to do with fields in a pop-up window!!! bit annoying
I have the exact same problem, except I’ve noticed a slight trend to it. This is with Firefox 2.0.0.1 on both a G4 iBook and an Intel iMac. Initially when I open a new window the apostrophe brings up the search and the arrow keys will not function.
If I minimize the window and restore it all is fine. And, as I indicated, this only happens when the window is initially opened.
I’ll probably roll back to 2.0 on one of the machines and see if it works for me too. Just don’t want to have to take the time to configure everything as I like it again. Have to bite the bullet I suppose, because this is very annoying.
Firefox 2.0.0.3 and PC. I keep losing focus when I open Gmail in a split browser. Whether I click on the search, subject line, or any other form field, I cannot type in Gmail. If I want to type anything at all I have to hold down the Shift button as I type.
I have a lot more extensions(15 maybe)than you and I didn’t start to have this problem until a couple of days ago.
Let me know if you find a solution to this problem.
Thanks.
I have this same problem on WinXP, FFox 2.0.0.3. It’s most often triggered (for me) by the comma, apostrophe, or slash. Any idea whether the FFox team is looking into this?
I have this same problem occasionally as well. (Windows XP, FF 2)
However, I can usually get rid of it by restarting Firefox.
I have exactly the same problem on my Intel MacBook with os x 10.4.9. I have firefox 2.0.0.4
I type in here and whenever I do an apostrophe ‘ it opens ‘find’ and I start typing in there (if I don’t notice the jump) however, as you can see it works here but often messes up around 1 hour into use and oftenly on hotmail and forums.
I also then get the copy and paste bug. I’ve heard it’s fixed and that the other copy and past bug is malware on the PC. Well, guys ‘I’m back!’ and on the PC. I’m also very annoyed with these two bugs.
Hopefully someone out there is listening.
Ha, it just happened to me as I typed in my http: slash slash for my site. Wonderful. Going to try and disable some extensions and work my way backwards. Most annoying bug ever.
Just installed Firefox 2.0.0.6 on my Mac and the copy and paste bug and the ‘find’ bug is still going strong. I hate this bug, soooooooo much.
Although I’m using a PC, Firefox 2.0.0.6 broke the copy/paste function for me as well. Hate having to go to IE in the interim, but nothing much more to be done.
Just an update to mylast post. now on version 2.0.0.10 and the bug is still active on the mac. Are the people at Mozilla just ignoring this bug?