Firefox scrolling problem

March 1, 2006 6:19 PM

Firefox won't scroll until I click in the text, and then keeps jumping back.

When I go to a site in Internet Explorer, all I have to do to scroll is hit the Page Down or Page Up key.

In Firefox (the current Version 1.5.0.1, running under Win XP Home), the Page Down and Page Up keys don't work until I click in the text area. And that puts a cursor in the text, and it jumps back at the end of each page. The only way to move is to use the mouse wheel or the cursor arrows, or click in the scroll bar at the right.

How do I get back the automatic use of Page Up and Page down?

posted by KRS to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Try pressing F7 to toggle caret browsing. Does that help?
posted by helios at 6:41 PM on March 1, 2006

I don't have this problem with all sites, but some sites will "steal focus" and stick the cursor into a f**king search field or something like that, effectively disabling the page down and arrow keys. In that case, just hit tab to change focus. I usually just hit it a couple times and then page down, but you could also hit tab until you see the page (or anything on it) get focus. When tabbing, focus is indicating by a thin dashed line around the focused item, usually links. Keyboard navigation rocks.
posted by intermod at 7:47 PM on March 1, 2006

It would be helpful to know if you are talking about all sites you visit, or just some. Also, where is the cursor jumping back to?

Generally, in Firefox, you need to give "focus" to the window that you want to scroll. Typically this means you have to click into it (or tab to it). If you are on a page with frames or iframes, you need to click in the frame or iframe that you want to scroll. (likewise for other scrolling portions of a page like divs with overflow:auto (bug discussion, fixed as of 1.5).

With that said, you should be able to hit the page dn / page up keys on a new page (I typed in a url, let it load, hit page dn. But, if I click back in the location bar, page dn will page dn in my location bar auto-completer)

So, it appears that you might have some extension or toolbar that is stealing focus after the page loads, breaking your ability to scroll. This is why we need to know where your cursor "keeps jumping back" to. (because that's what is stealing focus)
posted by misterbrandt at 10:35 PM on March 1, 2006

F7 did it. THANKS!
posted by KRS at 4:42 AM on March 2, 2006