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Firefox looks for a website when I type something to search...

  • 7 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by Happy112

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I have the designated search bar disabled and want to search in the adress bar. But when I type soemthign else than a url, something that I want to look up with search engine, then firefox gives the error: Hmmm, can't find that website or similar error. Very annoying. What I also find annoying is that the first part of the adress bar (the description of a website) takes up much space and then I can hardly see the rest of the url...especially when I have some icons in the tolbat and some addons installed that also take up some space after the adress bar. Isnt't it an idea to make thew https part green and leave the lock away? That saves some space too. And please make it configurable if I want to see the description of a site in the adress bar. I DON'T...So it would be nice to be able to configure that with a selection in the settings/options. Thank you very much. I love Quantum. it is so much improved. So much faster. And it doesn't crash so much anymore. Only sometimes tabs crash. But that could also be lack of memory in my pc. Regards, Johan Korthout

I have the designated search bar disabled and want to search in the adress bar. But when I type soemthign else than a url, something that I want to look up with search engine, then firefox gives the error: Hmmm, can't find that website or similar error. Very annoying. What I also find annoying is that the first part of the adress bar (the description of a website) takes up much space and then I can hardly see the rest of the url...especially when I have some icons in the tolbat and some addons installed that also take up some space after the adress bar. Isnt't it an idea to make thew https part green and leave the lock away? That saves some space too. And please make it configurable if I want to see the description of a site in the adress bar. I DON'T...So it would be nice to be able to configure that with a selection in the settings/options. Thank you very much. I love Quantum. it is so much improved. So much faster. And it doesn't crash so much anymore. Only sometimes tabs crash. But that could also be lack of memory in my pc. Regards, Johan Korthout

All Replies (7)

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Hi Johan,

Would you please take a look at these two threads, which cover your questions (I hope) :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1201396

and also :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1183981

Does this help  ?

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Another thing for you to try (to make the whole URL display) :

Type in the address bar about:config (press Enter) (promise to be careful, if asked)

Type in the search bar and look for the preference :

browser.urlbar.trimURLs

and set its value to false

Type in the search bar and look for the preference :

browser.urlbar.formatting.enabled

and set ts value to false

Then close and restart Firefox.

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As for the padlock :

That does not just tell you whether you're on a secure site or not - it gives you access to the Page Info, where e.g. you can change permissions under the Permissions tab (and more).

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Another related problem I have is this: When I right click the first part of the adress bar - the part with the desciption and lock for https - I cannot remove it. The option is greyed out unfortunately. I don't need a lock to tell me I am on a https site. I can see it from https:// So how do I get rid of that lock and description in first par of adress bar? I have added an image with an example. As you can see the description of the bank - which i DON'T need - takes up way too much space and also the lock I don't need as advanced user. So how to get rid of all that? I tried to adjust the menu bar and drag the part away, but that doesn't work... Thx for a solution John

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Happy112 said

As for the padlock : That does not just tell you whether you're on a secure site or not - it gives you access to the Page Info, where e.g. you can change permissions under the Permissions tab (and more).

Yes, the padlock DOES tell you you are on a secure (HTTPS) website/webpage. (if it does not tell that, then what on earth does it tell?) But I don't need that lock to tell me that, because I can see it from https in the adress bar I am on a secure site. The only thing I could not see when the lock part is gone is when it warns me if I am on a mixed security site. (the red strike through sign that you sometimes get). But I don't care for that. I know which sites I go to and which sites I trust.

So my question remains how to get rid of that lock? (custom css code ? Does anybody know about this? Example code? Where to fix that?) Thx John

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Hi John, in another thread, I posted the custom CSS to hide the Extended Validation SSL owner name from the address bar. That doesn't hide the icons, just the text. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1183981#answer-1099034

korthouj said

I have the designated search bar disabled and want to search in the adress bar. But when I type soemthign else than a url, something that I want to look up with search engine, then firefox gives the error: Hmmm, can't find that website or similar error. Very annoying.

Firefox will not search if you have text with a dot and there are no characters illegal in a URL, such as a space. Or in examples:

  • window open => search
  • window.open => check for a website
  • 'window.open => search

If your Firefox won't ever search from the address bar, please check this setting:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste keyw and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If the keyword.enabled preference is bolded and "modified" or "user set" to false, double-click it to restore the default value of true

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korthouj said

Another related problem I have is this: When I right click the first part of the adress bar - the part with the desciption and lock for https - I cannot remove it. The option is greyed out unfortunately. I don't need a lock to tell me I am on a https site. I can see it from https:// So how do I get rid of that lock and description in first par of adress bar? I have added an image with an example. As you can see the description of the bank - which i DON'T need - takes up way too much space and also the lock I don't need as advanced user. So how to get rid of all that? I tried to adjust the menu bar and drag the part away, but that doesn't work... Thx for a solution John


John, did you even read my post about the padlock  ?

You copied and pasted this from your post in the other thread (and thank you for that) :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1201396

But : the padlock is not part of the title, as shown in your screenshot - I can see why you would think that it does, though.

Modified by Happy112