GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 118395
Way to clear address bar without using mouse or affecting X clipboard
Last modified: 2013-12-15 14:44:07 UTC
A small annoyance while browsing is that there is no way to clear the location bar without altering the X selection, except positioning the cursor at the end of the current URL with the mouse and pressing backspace a long time. Mozilla has a way to clear the location bar, by pressing Ctrl+w when the location bar is focused. However this doesn't seem to be a very good idea since this keycombo should be reserved for closing windows/tabs. Dave already explained me that we're not going to try working around X limitations.. :P So, I propose allocating Shift+Ctrl+l for this purpose: focus location bar and clear it at the same time. It would have no UI impact at all but it would make life a little bit easier. :-)
I'd suggest adding a Clear button besides the Go button.
I think the combination of both actually would make the most sense. The key combo would be used sufficiently often that it makes sense to be a key combo (not restricted to a button), while a button is nice for people who either don't know the key bindings or don't want to / can't use them for whatever reason. And I would find the feature extremely helpful, as I often find myself being frustrated having to hold down the backspace key forever just because I fear wiping out the selection.
I mildly incline to support a secret keybinding (although documenting it in the docs is probably a good idea), as long as it doesn't lead to ugly unmaintainable code. However, I'm strongly opposed to any type of "clear" button. While the x-selection mechanism is nice and is my *favorite* crack feature, I'm not willing to support sacrificing epiphany's ui for it at all.
We could add a "Clear" entry to the context menu, like galeon does.
chpe: a context menu entry would be fine (but shouldn't GTK handle that?!), but the keycombo would be enough for me to mark this bug fixed. :)
Shouldn't Ctrl-U be the shortcut for this just like in Netscape, Mozilla and Firefox? In fact, it's the standard Emacs shortcut for 'clear line', but Epiphany doesn't honour this when Gnome text editing shortcuts are set to 'Emacs'.
Ctrl-U is already in use (View Source), and Epiphany doesn't support emacs keybindings (bug 108094).
Mass reassigning of Epiphany bugs to epiphany-maint@b.g.o
Created attachment 33551 [details] [review] Add "Clear" to context menu popup (copied from galeon code)
chpe, is this patch ready to go in?
Checked in. The patch adds the Clear entry at the top... maybe it should move after "Select all" instead?
Created attachment 34894 [details] screenshot
Possibly a toolbar widget for 'Clear entry' would be nice? We wouldn't have to put it in the UI by default, but I think it would be helpful for a significant amount of people.
I prefer the context click way to be honest. I think under Select All would be best too.
Yes, the context menu item and shortcut key should definitely stay. I was just suggesting an additional toolbar widget.
I've moved it after Select All now. About a toolbar item: its place would be in the location entry toolbar, but having a button there would enlarge the toolbar (it's text-only size). Also, it's a bit unnecessary, IMHO. Convince me :)
If Shift+Ctrl+L can be made to focus the address bar and clear it without affecting the X clipboard, I'm happy with that solution.
Adjusting summary.
Updating fields.
What about a libsexy icon at the right? Rhythmbox 0.9.4 has this and it's slick with very minimal UI impact. I don't like the idea of a toolbar button; yuck. ;)
Andrew: Libsexy can't be used because location bar needs more than libsexy offers. The little icon ala rhythmbox would conflict with a possible bookmark icon (planned in bug #350853) or maybe a feed icon? Maybe this should be closed.
The last Reinout comment seems like a good idea, even with the Clear entry in the popup menu you still have to hit Control+L to get to that widget so your selection is lost. What do you think, is this a good idea?
*** Bug 419522 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
updating version.
I think the solution could be just opening every tab with an empty address bar but at the same time loading the home page. This solves this bug because you will neither use the mouse nor affect the X clipboard. It will be helful to someone that just want to browse using the mouse because having to press a combination of keys to clear the address bar... lets see this: - You highlight an URL (using your mouse) - Open new tab (could be press the new tab button or control+T, so both) - Press a combination of keys to clear the address bar (keyboard) - Press middle button of the mouse to copy the URL (mouse) This gets in the way of a guy that uses just the mouse With just an empty bar this guy: - If you want to browse just with your keyboard there is no problem: Control+T, control+L and start writing the URL To conclude, which is the point to have the address bar filled in every new tab? Firefox default's behavior has an empty address bar here.
Is this still relevant with the webkit version?
(In reply to comment #26) > Is this still relevant with the webkit version? AFAIK, yes.
Would a simple "ctrl-shift-L" that clears the entry before focusing it work?
There is a Clear item in the context menu. Menu can be invoked using Shift+F10. "e" accelerator key. Or just use Control+A, Backspace.