Text input loosing focus after switching tabs (Google Docs)

DoctorG

Strange issue, i have Google docs open, Ctrl+Tab to next tab, Ctrl+Tab to go back to Google Doc, No focus, Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+Tab, and i get focus again on Google docs.

marzukhasan1007

@marzukhasan1007 Yeah later I realized that disabling Blocking was sadly just a fluke.

vrnvorona · Windows 10 x64 19044.1320, 5.5.2770.3 (snapshot) (64-bit)

2 years and no fix. Is it this hard?

Komposten

@vrnvorona It could be. Or maybe it's not considered a serious problem and thus not prioritised.

DoctorG

@vrnvorona Such focus issue does not have a high priority.
For me it is disturbing but not a serious issue.

sscout

I noticed this issue more than a year ago, which is why I use Palemoon for the 1 doc in google docs I keep open all the time, and use Vivaldi for smaller docs where I don't care I have to click in the text to regain focus.
Bump.
Hopefully.

ldexterldesign

I just re-read this thread and I'm unable to grok the issue here - everything works as I expected IMO ??

If the issue still exists (likely given thread activity) then would someone be kind enough to describe it more clearly for my (and perhaps others) benefit; before I consider unsubscribing from this thread?

I'm just trying to understand if this issue relates to another issue I care more about

Hope to hear back

Thanks in advance

DoctorG

Bug is still valid 5.2.2604.*

blahsum

Hi - I have just switched to Vivaldi from Firefox, and I've also noticed this issue. If I ctrl+tab to a Google Docs window, it does not focus on the text field and I have to click on it. Only fix is to run the docs window separately and alt+tab, though that can still cause focus problems.

Is there a plan to fix it? I've never had the issue in Chrome or Firefox. It's very bad for workflow and might be a reason to stop using Vivaldi.

Using Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS and Vivaldi 5.1.2567.66 (Stable channel) stable (64-bit)

thanks.

DoctorG

@blahsum Workaround could help: Ctrl+Tab twice brings focus back https://forum.vivaldi.net/post/545927

blahsum

@doctorg Thank you for the suggestion. Alas, I have multiple tabs open, so it just cycles to the next tab. I've found using alt+tab works for now.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the other great features (tiling, notes, background tab hibernate), I've have switched back t Chrome or Firefox by now. I can't understand why such a power user browser has such an obvious workflow issue. Don't even get me started on the inane 'address bar' vs 'page' focus issue.

agieluma

I recently switched to Vivaldi but have a rather unique problem. I'm a writer and when I'm working on Google Docs and switch to another tab, I have to click on the text field I was typing on whenever I return to the Google Docs tab. This isn't the same when I use other browsers and it only happens on Vivaldi. I even deleted UserData folder to reset the settings, in case I'd tampered with something while I was setting up. But I still have the same problem. Can someone help me?

Pesala

@agieluma It is a known issue:

PodlecMerzavec

Fix it please. I want to start using the browser, but I can't just because of this.

DoctorG

@PodlecMerzavec I can understand that such focus bug can nag users and disturb their work-flow.

See workaround: https://forum.vivaldi.net/post/566579

mindplay

I've run into a pretty serious focus issue in Google Docs.

As you can see (in the screen recording below) when switching between tabs, Google Docs will sometimes randomly not receive the focus.

Notice how, after switching (typically maybe 3-5 times) the cursor in Google Docs isn't blinking.

This also means I can't type - which is absolutely detrimental to a focused workflow. (I'm a heavy Google Docs user, and this is serious enough that after only 1 day with Vivaldi, I'm already forced to switch back to Chrome to get any work done.)

I realize that Google Docs isn't a typical web application - this isn't a "real" cursor, it's a <div> or something, but the app itself is somehow not receiving the focus event and doesn't respond to key strokes - so something Vivaldi specific is going on with the browser focus/events here.

I've tested for the same bug in Chrome and Firefox (by opening the same two tabs and switching between them) and neither of them exhibit this issue, which also seems to suggest something Vivaldi-specific.

As you can see from the screenshots, I do have a couple of extensions installed - these are the same extensions I'm using in both Chrome and Firefox, so I didn't think these were at fault. But I did test for this issue with all extensions disabled, and the issue is still present.

Please let me know if you can recreate the issue. (If not, I suppose the next step would be to try a clean installation of Vivaldi without any of my personal settings?)

As shows in the screen recording, the issue happens at random - you might need to spend a minute switching back and forth before this issue occurs.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help isolate the issue. (I'm a senior web developer, so feel free to get as technical as you need to.)

DoctorG

@mindplay That is a known and confirmed issue with Google Docs. Unfixed.

DoctorG

@mindplay Welcome in our Vivaldi Community

Enjoy browsing with Vivaldi.

Some useful links for you:

DoctorG

@mindplay said in Input focus issue (in Google Docs):

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help isolate the issue. (I'm a senior web developer, so feel free to get as technical as you need to.)

I am a webdev and IT pro, too.

Unfortunately the Vivaldi developer needs a simpler page where such issue happens, the JavaScript of Google Docs is so much encrypted and obfuscated that it is not debuggable.

Can yo help with a different page where the focus loss can be detected?

mindplay

Can yo help with a different page where the focus loss can be detected?

I haven't seen this happening anywhere else.

I thought I might see a similar issue with something like Figma, since they also use completely custom UI and focus management, but there was no issue there.

Unfortunately the Vivaldi developer needs a simpler page where such issue happens, the JavaScript of Google Docs is so much encrypted and obfuscated that it is not debuggable.

Like anything else on the web.

I have noticed a very small visible difference, when switching between tabs - in Vivaldi, if you watch the cursor in Google Docs very closely, when the tab gets focus, there is very small flickering of the cursor. If you look closely in Chrome, you won't see any flickering of the cursor.

It's extremely subtle - you will likely need to do this many times in both browsers before you notice.

What this might suggest, is an event is being fired twice in rapid succession.

I've occasionally noticed other subtle glitches in Vivaldi's address bar after switching tabs - for example, in a few cases, attempting to create a tab (CTRL+T) and immediately pasting a URL (CTRL+V) the address didn't always have the focus yet, and nothing was pasted. I suspect this might stem from the same focus issue.

I experimented a bit, and I did notice a focus-related difference between Chrome and Vivaldi - so I do have something here you can reproduce:

Open a document in Google Docs and one other tab. (for consistency, a Wikipedia tab like I used.)

Paste the following into DevTools:

["focus", "blur", "focusin", "focusout"].forEach(eventName => {
  document.documentElement.addEventListener(eventName, e => console.log(eventName, e))
});

This should log every focus event to the console, as long as it's reaching the document root.

Try this in both Vivaldi and Chrome - if you're seeing what I'm seeing, when switching tabs in Chrome, there are no focus events; but in Vivaldi, there are.

Wild guess, but developers tend to get into "patch mode" - if someone was trying to fix a focus related bug, they might have solved it by just firing an extra event. Which would explain the flashing cursor - if it's somehow focusing twice in rapid succession. Google Docs likely isn't expecting that, and likely has some async operations happening in response to these events, which could cause a race somewhere. (so it's getting focus/blur/focus events, and the event handlers end up randomly running in e.g. focus/focus/blur order, if that makes sense?)

You would probably need the Chrome debug protocol monitor and/or a native debugger to pinpoint this issue.

But it's clear there's some sort of difference here, right?