Weird tab (tab key, not browser tabs) navigating behavior

Question

Level 1

47 points

Weird tab (tab key, not browser tabs) navigating behavior

From the beginning of my use of Safari until recently, pressing the tab key would take the cursor from one blank field to another (address field to search field) then an additional click would highlight the main browser area containing the site's content if there was no blank field within that site -- otherwise the cursor would go to the first blank field on that page.

Lately, without having made any changes to preferences or upgrading to a different Safari version (can't anyway, without updating to 10.4.11), pressing the tab key now highlights every ****** clickable spot on the browser, whether or not it's on the web page. So, the first click takes me to the address field, the second to the search field (both as before), the next and the next and the next to each and every icon or link on the bookmark bar. Then it goes to the open web page and highlights in turn every clickable thing that appears on the page, whether field or button.

I checked preferences, but there is no difference in behavior no matter which option I click (under "advanced" it makes no difference whether I select "Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage" or not).

I trashed Safari preferences several times, but it keeps doing this annoying new trick anyway.

Perhaps it's time to reinstall Safari (or to upgrade the OS and get Safari 3??? I was wary of the last couple of OS upgrades, having read much negative feedback regarding 10.4.10 and not sure I needed 10.4.11, but maybe it's time.)

I've already learned to work around Safari's other annoyances (1. frequent crashing, especially if it's open for a long time or many windows have been opened - I just quit the application and reopen it frequently; 2. heavy CPU usage with fan running constantly - same solution, quit frequently (and don't run Photoshop at the same time); 3. problems displaying some websites (e.g.: Google Video, some sites with graphics that overlap the text, etc.) - I just use Firefox.). Perhaps I've inadvertantly pressed a secret combination of keys. Perhaps it's gremlins, but if someone has a possible fix for this latest problem, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.

Leonard

G5 iMac (iSight), Mac OS X (10.4.9), 1.5 Gb RAM

Posted on Sep 1, 2008 6:53 AM

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Answer 1

Leonard B. Author

Level 1

47 points

Sep 1, 2008 8:35 AM in response to Mulder

"If you go to Preferences > Advanced and check the box "Press Tab to highlight each item on a web page", that will solve your problem."

Thanks, Mulder, but that's what I meant by

"I checked preferences, but there is no difference in behavior no matter which option I click (under 'advanced' it makes no difference whether I select 'Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage' or not)."

If everything were working correctly, selecting "Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage" would do exactly what I don't want it to do. But it makes little difference whether it's selected or not. Tab still highlights the bookmark bar items and MOST items on the web page when that option is NOT selected. It highlights EVERY item on the page when it IS selected. Wacky stuff. Probably the application has become corrupted.

As to upgrading, I had read of so many problems people were having with 10.4.10, I waited for 10.4.11, then got so busy that I never got to it (or, more correctly, until recently didn't get around to reading the forums to see how people were doing with it). So, it's time, and it looks like the upgrade is behaving itself for most users, but I imagined I could save myself time and trouble by just fixing Safari.

So I'll do the upgrade and comment here again when I see how the new version of Safari works for me.

Thanks again for your input.

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Answer 2

Andrew99

Level 4

1,305 points

Sep 3, 2008 8:14 AM in response to Leonard B.

Perhaps I've inadvertantly pressed a secret combination of keys.

It could be that your System Preferences settings are interfering with your Safari preferences, to an extent, superseding them. Try this...

Under System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts, Full Keyboard Access, make sure you haven't selected the "All controls" radio button. You'd probably would want to have "Text boxes and lists only" selected instead.

Since pressing Control + F7 toggles between the two settings without having to open System Preferences first, it's quite conceivable that you may have inadvertently changed this setting without knowing it. Happens to me occasionally.

Just a thought. Good luck...

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Answer 3

Mulder

Level 6

8,990 points

Sep 1, 2008 8:13 AM in response to Leonard B.

If you go to Preferences > Advanced and check the box "Press Tab to highlight each item on a web page", that will solve your problem.

If you're still running 10.4.9, you should have upgraded to 10.4.11 a long time ago; it's been out more than two years and there's no reason not to upgrade. Your frequent crashing is due to a variety of factors, which are resolved in Safari 3.1.2, along with a variety of security fixes.

Download and install the 10.4.11 Combo Update today.

Mulder

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Answer 4

Leonard B. Author

Level 1

47 points

Sep 1, 2008 9:23 AM in response to Leonard B.

Well, now...

I have upgraded to 10.4.11. SLOW restart, but I have attributed that to adjustments the machine has to make to the OS. Hopefully it won't take so long next time. Safari is also slow, but could be the network. We'll see. I know not to jump to conclusions right after an upgrade or a new installation. If I have further issues there, I will post in the 10.4 discussion area, not here.

BUT...the tab thing is still happening. Every single field, button and link, whether on the toolbars or in the web page gets highlighted by pressing Tab if I select "Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage" in advanced preferences; and ALMOST every single field, button and link, whether on toolbars or in the web page is highlighted by pressing Tab otherwise. (What is not highlighted in the latter case is any link within a web page, but all other fields and buttons do get highlighted.)

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Answer 5

Mulder

Level 6

8,990 points

Sep 1, 2008 9:33 AM in response to Leonard B.

If you're still having a problem with Safari tabbing through every field, even on the browser, you can try removing the Home/Library/Safari folder, then restarting Safari to test it out.

Don't delete that folder until we know it's working for you again, since you will need one or more files from it.

Mulder

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Answer 6

Leonard B. Author

Level 1

47 points

Sep 1, 2008 9:52 AM in response to Mulder

Thanks for the reply.

I hid the Home/Library/Safari folder in the trash and restarted Safari. I tried out a web page and created a couple of bookmark bar links and tried both tab key preference settings. Same as before.

It's not that I couldn't get used to this, however annoying I find it, but I'd rather have it as it was before. Furthermore, it is not a good sign that it just started happening without my setting it to do so. What ELSE could the software "decide" to do on its own, ya know?

I have put the original Home/Library/Safari folder back where it belongs for now, pending further suggestions.

Thanks.

Leonard

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Answer 7

Mulder

Level 6

8,990 points

Sep 1, 2008 10:21 AM in response to Leonard B.

I can't speak to your experience, but Safari has always tabbed through each item on the browser as well as the web page for me, unless I choose the option in Preferences > Advanced to only do it for fields on the web page itself. I know of no other setting that could possibly control this, and there has been no update to Safari that would change that.

Be sure to update your version to 3.1.2 if you haven't already.

Mulder

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Answer 8

Leonard B. Author

Level 1

47 points

Sep 3, 2008 7:15 AM in response to Mulder

Thanks again for replying, though I am still puzzled. My Safari experience -- with any and all of the previous updates right up to the version I just replaced with the new one (which I did update, per your suggestion) -- has been that the tab key moves the cursor from address field to search field and then to the first available field on the open web page (also selects "drop down" items, but no links or anything else)...UNLESS I select "Press Tab to highlight each item on a web page" in Preferences>Advanced, in which case it selects (as it should) each and every clickable item in that page. But it never - ever - selected any items on the bookmarks bar.

Just in case I am losing it and am not remembering properly exactly how the computer behaved week before last, I went to my other iMac and started it up. Safari does what I have described above: TAB moves the cursor from address to search to the open web page (to the first field, if any; otherwise it just makes the browser window active so the up and down arrows and page up/page down move the page as desired). The only way I can make it do anything else is to select the previously referred to item in Preferences>Advanced. Even then, it does not select anything in the bookmarks bar.

Anyway, it's not a fatal annoyance, just a serious puzzlement and a modest vexation. It slows me down a bit, but I can deal with it. As I said, my main concern is that it just started to do this on its own after YEARS of working the other way. Maybe its old behavior was a result of a glitch, and it merely straightened itself out by and by (but that would be a different puzzlement, wouldn't it?).

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Leonard

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Answer 9

Leonard B. Author

Level 1

47 points

Sep 3, 2008 8:55 AM in response to Andrew99

Thank you! That fixed it.

I should have listened to my (not merely half-joking) idea that I might have pressed a "secret" key combination and investigated further. How silly that I did not look at keyboard preferences.

Thanks again so much; this makes a big difference in how fast I work online, especially considering that I spend way too much time there already.

Leonard

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Answer 10

Andrew99

Level 4

1,305 points

Sep 3, 2008 9:15 AM in response to Leonard B.

Leonard,

Glad to hear you got things fixed. Thanks for posting back.

Regards, Andrew99

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