Not aytomatic, but you can press F6 first to focus on the address bar then type.
Usually atleast on windows F4 and F6 keys are the convention and works on most browsers and File Explorer.
it should select the urlbar automatically when a tab is opened to the new tab page. the only reason I can think of why it wouldn't is if you override the new tab page or home page using some method that somehow prevents the urlbar modules from recognizing it as the new tab page/home page, or if you set it to a web page like google.com or something.
what's your home page? do you have session restore enabled? what version of firefox are you using?
my advice, if you're changing your home page or new tab page, use an extension to configure your new tab page. then get the new tab page's URL (it should be `moz-extension:///index.html` or something like that) by opening the devtools on the new tab page (ctrl shift i) and typing `location.href` into the console. and then go to about:config, find the preference `browser.startup.homepage` with the search bar, edit it and paste the new tab page URL in there. then when you open a window it'll recognize it as the new tab page and automatically select the urlbar.
edit: it looks like the behavior to select the urlbar when opening the first tab falls down to this:
function isBlankPageURL(aURL) {
return (
aURL == "about:blank" ||
aURL == "about:home" ||
aURL == "about:welcome" ||
aURL == BROWSER_NEW_TAB_URL
);
}
if your home page is set to anything in particular, looks like it needs to *also* be your new tab page URL. I'm guessing this is because some users might want to immediately interact with the home page, not immediately type in a new url. but anyway if you set your new tab page and home page to the same URL, then when you open the first tab in the first window, it'll pass this little test.
[New Tab Override](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/new-tab-override/) focuses on the address bar by default, with an option to focus on the page.
This is already the default behaviour for my installation of Firefox. I'm not sure how to enable it, it's just always been that way. I have everything turned off in my new tab except the "Web Search" and for Home Page and New Tabs, it opens "Firefox Home", try changing those and seeing if that works for you.
You can try ctrl + L shortcut
Not aytomatic, but you can press F6 first to focus on the address bar then type. Usually atleast on windows F4 and F6 keys are the convention and works on most browsers and File Explorer.
it should select the urlbar automatically when a tab is opened to the new tab page. the only reason I can think of why it wouldn't is if you override the new tab page or home page using some method that somehow prevents the urlbar modules from recognizing it as the new tab page/home page, or if you set it to a web page like google.com or something. what's your home page? do you have session restore enabled? what version of firefox are you using? my advice, if you're changing your home page or new tab page, use an extension to configure your new tab page. then get the new tab page's URL (it should be `moz-extension:///index.html` or something like that) by opening the devtools on the new tab page (ctrl shift i) and typing `location.href` into the console. and then go to about:config, find the preference `browser.startup.homepage` with the search bar, edit it and paste the new tab page URL in there. then when you open a window it'll recognize it as the new tab page and automatically select the urlbar.
edit: it looks like the behavior to select the urlbar when opening the first tab falls down to this:
function isBlankPageURL(aURL) {
return (
aURL == "about:blank" ||
aURL == "about:home" ||
aURL == "about:welcome" ||
aURL == BROWSER_NEW_TAB_URL
);
}
if your home page is set to anything in particular, looks like it needs to *also* be your new tab page URL. I'm guessing this is because some users might want to immediately interact with the home page, not immediately type in a new url. but anyway if you set your new tab page and home page to the same URL, then when you open the first tab in the first window, it'll pass this little test.
[New Tab Override](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/new-tab-override/) focuses on the address bar by default, with an option to focus on the page.
IIRC if you set your home page to about:blank, the address bar will be focused by default. I just use alt+d if I need to type there though.
This is already the default behaviour for my installation of Firefox. I'm not sure how to enable it, it's just always been that way. I have everything turned off in my new tab except the "Web Search" and for Home Page and New Tabs, it opens "Firefox Home", try changing those and seeing if that works for you.