I gather that you want to stop your search moving from the search bar on the page to the address bar. Search in about:config for handoff and change this preference to false. browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox

Sorry but I've been down that road already,

Droppa, that's exactly what I have now, I simply have Google as my HomePage but opening a new Tab is what I'm trying to fix and yes it opens a new Tab with Google as the search engine but Firefox still puts the cursor on the address bar and not the search box on the page.

Terry, changing the handoff only works when you open Firefox itself, it doesn't work when opening a new tab.

Hi,

If you want to leave feedback for developers, you can go to the Firefox Help menu and select either Share ideas and feedback… or Submit feedback…, depending on your Firefox version. Alternatively, you can use this link.

Your feedback gets collected by a team of people who read it and gather data about the most common issues. Very recently, Mozilla staff started a conversation in that platform looking at the very issue you are asking about here, looking at how to improve the new tab experience.

Hi, If you want to leave feedback for developers, you can go to the Firefox Help menu and select either Share ideas and feedback… or Submit feedback…, depending on your Firefox version. Alternatively, you can use this link. Your feedback gets collected by a team of people who read it and gather data about the most common issues. Very recently, Mozilla staff started a conversation in that platform looking at the very issue you are asking about here, looking at how to improve the new tab experience.

Paul, thanks for the info, I'm more than happy to close this thread when the problem is corrected, until then I'd like to keep this active, if for on other reason other than to get input from others on this topic.

justmehereathome, I am not sure that I understand. Is the issue that new tabs open with the keyboard focus inside the location bar, whereas you'd prefer new tabs to open with the focus starting on an element of the page itself? (more specifically, the Google search box, if Google.com is set as the new tab page?)

justmehereathome, I am not sure that I understand. Is the issue that new tabs open with the keyboard focus inside the location bar, whereas you'd prefer new tabs to open with the focus starting on an element of the page itself? (more specifically, the Google search box, if Google.com is set as the new tab page?)

That is exactly what I want.

Terry, changing the handoff only works when you open Firefox itself, it doesn't work when opening a new tab.

It works on new tabs in regular windows.

It does not work on new tabs in private windows -- those use a different page than the "Firefox Home" page.

justmehereathome, thanks for clarifying. You asked for feedback and mine is that I prefer new tabs to open with the typing focus in the location bar, as is the current situation.

But of course it would be great if they allowed user choice as to where the focus starts. Just as long as they allow us to choose to keep the status quo!

justmehereathome said

Terry, changing the handoff only works when you open Firefox itself, it doesn't work when opening a new tab.

It works on new tabs in regular windows.

It does not work on new tabs in private windows -- those use a different page than the "Firefox Home" page.

Does not do that for me, if I set new tabs to blank, I get a blank page with the cursor in the top bar.

If I set new tabs to "Firefox Home (default)" with Firefox Home Page the same and the "web search" option ticked I get a homepage with a google search box with the cursor on the page as a homepage but if I open a new tab the cursor is back in the top bar not on the page.

If I set my home page to anything else, like just www.google.com, a new tab still opens with the cursor on the top bar not on the page.

Clearly I'm missing something if you can get it to do otherwise.

justmehereathome, thanks for clarifying. You asked for feedback and mine is that I prefer new tabs to open with the typing focus in the location bar, as is the current situation. But of course it would be great if they allowed user choice as to where the focus starts. Just as long as they allow us to choose to keep the status quo!

Fair enough, thanks.

Does not do that for me, if I set new tabs to blank, I get a blank page with the cursor in the top bar. If I set new tabs to "Firefox Home (default)" with Firefox Home Page the same and the "web search" option ticked I get a homepage with a google search box with the cursor on the page as a homepage but if I open a new tab the cursor is back in the top bar not on the page.

Aha, yes, the cursor is ALWAYS placed in the address bar when you open a new tab. There is no setting for that, and the handoff setting controls what happens after you click in the search box in the new tab page and start typing. It is not relevant to the initial location of the cursor.

The following extension has an option to move the cursor into the page. However, I don't know what pages that works with: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/new-tab-override/

jscher2000,

That's done the trick, I'd forgot about that one as I've been using "New Tab Homepage" for years since "New Tab Override" stopped working. Now it works again and the former has a support ticket for an API change for exactly the same problem.

Thanks.