when will we get drop down field support?

[rmathes]

I'd emailed the developers about this when I switched to OW 5.x and they said it’s a webkit limitation, but dang, this seems pretty elemental and it’s a real hassle not having this functionality.

What I'm looking for is when I'm completing a form that has a drop down list of values, like ‘state’, I should be able to tab to that field and just type the values and have the matching selection highlighted. Does this in Safari and FireFox, but in OW I have to use the mouse to scroll all the way down to my selection. No keyboard integration.

Is there any update on when we might get this functionality? If it is indeed a webkit limitation, is there anything that can be done within OW itself to enable it?

Seems like a very small thing but I do it enough on various sites I utilize that the pain in the butt factor is significant.

[Handycam]

It works for me, in 5.5.2b3.

1. tab to menu
2. hit "space" to activate menu
3. type first letter of item, scroll with arrows
4. hit space again to release menu and make selection

[rmathes]

perhaps I wasn’t clear. I’m not talking about navigating OW’s menus.

I’m buying something online. I’m filling out the shipping address. I come to the “State” field. In Safari and Firefox I type ‘TX’ and it automatically selects ‘TX’ from the drop down list and I tab and move on. In OW, I have to click the down arrow and scroll down to select it manually.

Or in the web-based application our business uses to manage clients, do scheduling and record sales, when I get to payment type I can’t just type ‘ch’ and have it select ‘check’ like Safari does, I have to manually select it with the mouse.

Every other browser I've used has this elemental functionality.

Except OmniWeb.

[gumby]

When the field is selected, press the space bar. Then press T.

I believe this is the standard behaviour on Mac OS X; identical to Safari.

[Handycam]

I wasn't talking about OW menus; I understood you, I was talking about the same menus you were. And it does work in OW, as it does in others. The space bar to pop the menu is what might be new to you.

[rmathes]

OK, now I see. That does work.

But it’s still not the desired behavior, and is still inferior to what I can do in safari or firefox.

In Safari, for example, I can tab to such a field and just type a few letters and it’ll display the matching value. I can then tab out of the field to the next field and repeat. I can’t do that in OW. I have to tab to the field, hit the space bar to display the drop down list, type to get the match, hit enter to populate it, then tab to the next field. Decidedly more keystrokes, and thus more inefficient. Better than using the mouse, but still not on par with other browsers.

So I'll repeat the question: is this functionality coming sometime soon or is OW going to continue to lag its competition in this regard? Don’t get me wrong, I love this app, it’s my default browser and I've recommended to literally hundreds of people, many of whom have bought it. But this is simple stuff that should work.

[rmathes]

if you wanna do a quick test, go to OmniGroup’s store. Select any product, go to checkout and on the page where you enter your cc info, put your cursor in the field before cc type, then tab over to it and try typing ‘ame’ and see if it will populate the field automatically with ‘American express’. It’ll do it in Safari. It will just sit there in OW.

[Handycam]

if you wanna do a quick test, go to OmniGroup’s store. Select any product, go to checkout and on the page where you enter your cc info, put your cursor in the field before cc type, then tab over to it and try typing ‘ame’ and see if it will populate the field automatically with ‘American express’. It’ll do it in Safari. It will just sit there in OW.

I don't know what you're tlaking about, frankly. I just tried it it OW 5.5.2b3 and Safari 2.0, and they both behaved the same exact way.

I put my cursor in Credit Cart Number (text field). Hit "tab", the blue focus ring appears around the card type menu. Hitting "A" in either browser does nothing. In fact, if I type "A" then nothing works in the menu. I need to repeat the process: click in CCN text field, tab to CCType, hit SPACE and the menu opens. NOW I can hit "ame" to select Amex, hit space to close the menu, then tab to the Expiration Month menu, which I can also open with SPACE and then type my month.

Everything works basically as you want, you just need to use Spacebar to open and close (which enters) the menu.

Or use a non-web-kit browser like Camino, Firefox, or Opera. They work exactly the way you describe. But I see no difference in OW and Safari.

What version of OW, Safari, and MacOS are you using?

[rmathes]

not sure what to tell ya. Works for me. I tab to the cc type field, type ‘a’ and it auto populates with ‘American express’. Same for the month and year fields. I don’t have to hit space to get it to work, I just start typing.

works the same way in FireFox.

Using Safari 2.0.4, Mac OS X 10.4.8 and OW 5.5.1. FireFox is 2.0.0.1.

I wonder if we have some difference in system preferences that enables this behavior in Safari and FireFox for me.

[Handycam]

I see now. In Safari, do you have "Auto Fill Web Forms" enabled? Specifically, the third check-box "other forms"? I have all three options off. If I turn on the third one, then "A" brings up Amex.

Not sure if this only works if you've already used it before or not.

Also not sure if using Form completion in OW will accomplish this. I always keep form completion off in all my browsers.

I do agree that autocomplete in OW has always been confusing, and doesn't seem to work for me -- but I might not understand how it works.

[rmathes]

hmmm...i did have all 3 enabled. Tested by disabling the ‘other forms’ box and it still functions the same for me.

In any event, yep, that’s what I'd like OW to do, or at least have the preference option to dictate that behavior.

[troyb]

This is functionality provided to us by WebKit. In 5.1.x we behaved the same way as Firefox does and I miss it greatly, I tried it in a recently nightly and it looks like this has returned to WebKit so it should begin working again in OmniWeb at some point.

[rmathes]

very cool, thanks for the heads up.

Seems like a little thing, but it makes a usability difference. Looking forward to seeing it in a beta release.

[kga1978]

Ya, I agree that it would be a great thing to see this feature again - I miss it greatly as well.