Firefox halts keyboard scrolling after embedded Flash video

[ɞєᾐ ἂ.]

Binary package hint: firefox

Firefox's keyboard navigation gets all screwy on pages with embedded Flash videos (FLV files). Scrolling with the Up and Down arrow keys on the keyboard works until a Flash video file is displayed and then scrolling halts. If you use the mouse to drag the main scroll bar on the side down a bit, keyboard scrolling starts working again. I first noticed this bug in Feisty, but it's still effecting the newest Firefox package in Gutsy.

It's a real pain when scrolling through a page like Google Reader, where there might be a dozen embedded videos in various blog posts.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

what flash software are you using?

[ɞєᾐ ἂ. (talkingwires)]

The latest official package from the Gutsy repos. Adobe's version, not the OSS version.

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

I thought it was supposed to be that way, that is, scroll events are sent to the embedded flash.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

if the focus gets automatically to the flash video, I would consider this a bug. But I don't think this is the case here. Can someone verify if scrolling really stops if you *just* scroll by cursor keys (e.g. no mouswheel, no mouseclick)?

Thanks,

 - Alexander

[ɞєᾐ ἂ. (talkingwires)]

If it's a "feature" and not a bug, I think it should be changed. I don't think focus should be given until the Flash video is specifically focused upon, either by mouse or keyboard. And the system caret should certainly not auto-focus on it when only the top third of the embedded Flash is displayed.

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

Alexander: I can confirm that scrolling stops when the mouse pointer gets over a flash animation (like a youtube video) if I scroll using cursor keys. No clicks or focus needed (Is it possible to set focus in a flash animation?). Same behavior using mouse wheel.

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

Ben: I think you're right, it should be changed, but currently the mouse and key events are sent to the flash animation just by placing your mouse pointer over it.

Try this:

1) Go to www.youtube.com
2) Place your mouse pointer over a flash video.
3) Press TAB to "navigate" through the player's controls.

As you can see, no click to get focus was needed. I haven't been able to set focus in a flash animation by using only keyboard; it's "skipped".

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Fri, Jun 08, 2007 at 12:54:29PM -0000, Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín wrote:
> Alexander: I can confirm that scrolling stops when the mouse pointer
> gets over a flash animation (like a youtube video) if I scroll using
> cursor keys. No clicks or focus needed (Is it possible to set focus in a
> flash animation?). Same behavior using mouse wheel.
>

OK, but mouse pointer is involved?

 - Alexander

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

Alexander: yes, if mouse pointer never gets over a flash animation, I can freely scroll, using keyboard or mouse wheel.
You can try it in the www.youtube.com homepage. There should be only 1 flash animation (flash video player) on your right.

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

If you need more info please let us know.

[Freddy Martinez (freddymartinez9)]

I am rejecting this bug for several reasons mainly because the manner in which this occurs is the result of flash-player. First, this does not occur with Gnash, the GNU flash player. Secondly, this is the behavior of flashplayer in other OSs (tested on XP with Firefox). This is likely the result of the manner in which flash player 'steals ' focus in case the content is something that is not video (an embedded video game for example). Lastly, this is confirmed behavior but not unnecessarily a bug (which is undesired behavior usually). Rather this is how upstream wants the player to behave. Thank you for taking the time to report this issue.