Firefox 105.0.1 restores focus behavior on startup

Mozilla plans to launch a small update for the stable version of the organization's Firefox web browser later today that restores the original focus behavior on startup.

Firefox users who installed Firefox 105, either as this week's stable release or a development release, may have noticed that the browser's startup behavior changed in that release. Firefox would focus the address bar on startup, which it did not do in previous versions of the browser.

The automatic selection of the address bar caused issues in several use cases, for instance when a search engine website was loaded in the active tab. The search engine's search field was focused in previous versions of Firefox, but in Firefox 105, the address bar was focused instead.

Firefox users who wanted to search had to activate the search field to do so. Similarly, input fields were not selected on other sites automatically. Another related issue was that users could not use keyboard shortcuts to scroll or interact with the active webpage anymore, as Firefox was focusing the address bar and not the webpage. Keyboard shortcuts such as down-arrow or up-arrow may be used to navigate sites without use of the mouse or touch.

The changed behavior required an extra click or action from the user to use webpages affected by the change.

Firefox 105.0.1 is a bug fix release that restores the original behavior of the browser. Users who have not updated to Firefox 105 yet may never experience the issue; those who have updated may download and install the update to resolve it.

Mozilla notes in the official release notes: "Reverted focus behavior for new windows back to the content area instead of the address bar".

Additional information is available on Bugzilla.

Mozilla plans to launch Firefox 105.0.1 later today. A check for updates via Menu > Help > About Firefox displays the current version and installs the update once it is released.

Now You: which site(s) do you load on startup of your browser?

Firefox 105.0.1 restores focus behavior on startup

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