Selecting text in the address bar

Opera lost this ability a while ago, but I'd really like this to coming back:

In FF and Chrome you can select the parts of the URL between the slashes in the the address bar by just double clicking on it, this works like in any text field in most Windows programs. Double clicking in Opera's address bar always selects the whole URL.

I often find it useful to just change a part in the URL for switching quickly to another page of a website which may not be accessible via a direct link or a bookmark, i.e. on twitter:

Jumping from
hxxp://twitter.com/#!/googlechrome
-> in FF or Chrome you just have to double click on googlechrome to get it selected:
hxxp://twitter.com/#!/googlechrome
-> and you can type another user name:
hxxp://twitter.com/#!/opera

In Opera you have to select the part with the mouse as always the whole text is being highlighted.
Even the mouse pointer doesn't change to a text pointer so it's difficult to "target"

A cautious -1

FF or Chrome are more consistent since selecting between slashes is the way they select textportions of URLs no matter if the URL is in the address field or in the page.

Opera behaves the same as FF/Chrome for URLs in the page, but for URLs in the search field the selection pattern is different, but IMHO more useful.
It probably has to do with the most likely action expected. What is the main reason to click the address field? Well, I guess it's to input a new address or search string. In very old Opera versions clicking in the address field would select the text, which made it very easy to input new text - I liked that feature. Now I need to doubleclick to select everything in the text field (or focus the field via shortcut) before I can input new text, but on the other hand editing the current text has become easier. If Opera would behave like FF/Chrome, selecting the whole text would require a tripleclick - and that I think is too much for a common procedure. Selecting only a portion with a doubleclick is nice in cases you described, but still that would not be a frequently required action for most users. In your example all you need is to place the cursor after the last slash (the mouse pointer does change to a text pointer!) and press Shift + End.

+1

Originally posted by mochikun:

A cautious -1

...If Opera would behave like FF/Chrome, selecting the whole text would require a tripleclick - and that I think is too much for a common procedure. Selecting only a portion with a doubleclick is nice in cases you described, but still that would not be a frequently required action for most users.

Sorry, but that's not true:
If you click in the address bar in FF and Chrome the whole text is being selected like it is in Opera now (and was when the double click selection was available there).
And this should not change. It just should be possible to select parts of the URL by double clicking on it. Not other changes

One thing you can do is to use mouse gestures in the Advanced, Address Dropdown Widget context:

GestureLeft = Range go to line start
GestureRight = Range go to line end
Button3 = Paste and go (is also useful)

Originally posted by uhura:

Sorry, but that's not true

Maybe we use different versions, settings, OS. Let's sort this out.

If you click in the address bar in FF and Chrome the whole text is being selected like it is in Opera now

1) When I click in the addressfield in any of the browsers, nothing is selected. Only the text cursor is inserted.
2) When I doubleclick then in
- Opera 11.52 Linux: Whole text is selected
- FF 7.01 Linux: Same as Opera (whole text selected)
- Chrome 10.0.648.205 Linux: URL portion is selected
3) In order to select whole text in Chrome, tripleclick is required.

So FF and Opera behave the same, which I didn't realize before since I only checked Chrome and assumed that - as you claimed - FF and Chrome use the same selection pattern. But again: Maybe Windows and Linux versions are different and we are both right.

Originally posted by mochikun:

Maybe we use different versions, settings, OS. Let's sort this out.

So FF and Opera behave the same, which I didn't realize before since I only checked Chrome and assumed that - as you claimed - FF and Chrome use the same selection pattern. But again: Maybe Windows and Linux versions are different and we are both right.

I'm sorry, I didn't think of the Linux version. I was only referring to the Windows version.
So you are right and I am right also

Originally posted by Pesala:

One thing you can do is to use mouse gestures in the Advanced, Address Dropdown Widget context:

GestureLeft = Range go to line start
GestureRight = Range go to line end
Button3 = Paste and go (is also useful)

If I use mouse gestures in the address field it doesn't affect the text selection, or do you mean a Widget I have to install for this?

Originally posted by uhura:

If I use mouse gestures in the address field it doesn't affect the text selection, or do you mean a Widget I have to install for this?

You don't have to install any widget, you just have to look at the Mouse Setup dialogue where you can define new mouse gestures in the Advanced, Address Dropdown Widget context.

Originally posted by Pesala:

You don't have to install any widget, you just have to look at the Mouse Setup dialogue where you can define new mouse gestures in the Advanced, Address Dropdown Widget context.

Well, this is some sort of a solution, but it is much more complicated to handle than just half-blindly double clicking on a word or a part of an URL.
And why can't Opera handle this like the system standard (in Windows)?
Even this form window where we are writing this discussion and the forum itself is behaving like this: just double click on any word in this text and it will be selected. Or try to double click on the "opera" in this URL and it will be highlighted: hxxp://my.opera.com/.
That's all I like to have back ;-)

Originally posted by uhura:

Or try to double click on the "opera" in this URL and it will be highlighted: http://my.opera.com/.

I'm not sure what the benefit is of selecting just "opera" or "my" or "com" — surely you need to select the whole of http://my.opera.com/ ?

I don't think click + shift click, or click + GestureLeft is complicated, though I agree you do need to click precisely to start the selection.

Originally posted by Pesala:

Originally posted by uhura:

Or try to double click on the "opera" in this URL and it will be highlighted: http://my.opera.com/.

I'm not sure what the benefit is of selecting just "opera" or "my" or "com" — surely you need to select the whole of http://my.opera.com/ ?

Why? As I wrote in the first message:

I often find it useful to just change a part in the URL for switching quickly to another page of a website which may not be accessible via a direct link or a bookmark

Originally posted by uhura:

I often find it useful to just change a part in the URL for switching quickly to another page of a website which may not be accessible via a direct link or a bookmark

Btw, you can press ctrl while pressing the arrow buttons. If you click in the addressbar you can navigate between URL parts quickly with ctrl plus left & right arrow, after which you can press shift + end and replace by whatever you want.

Originally posted by Frenzie:

Originally posted by uhura:

I often find it useful to just change a part in the URL for switching quickly to another page of a website which may not be accessible via a direct link or a bookmark

Btw, you can press ctrl while pressing the arrow buttons. If you click in the addressbar you can navigate between URL parts quickly with ctrl plus left & right arrow, after which you can press shift + end and replace by whatever you want.

Thanks, I knew that.
Still, it is not as comfortable.

+1 !!!!!!!!!!

+1!

+1
It is hard to believe that this is not yet implemented (among other things)... No wonder Opera is no longer the state of art browser it once was... Hope they can catch up and eat market share because they rule, so please, listen to your customers, Opera.