Apple Newbie

If you were a power user on Windows, you’re probably used to using the keyboard to the maximum so that you’ll get things done faster without having to move your hands to the mouse all the time.

If you’re like me, you probably use the TAB key alot when filling in web forms. Type in a field, use the keyboard to focus on the next field, and type again.

But once I switched to a Mac, filling in forms using the keyboard only on Mozilla Firefox became frustrating. It seems that pressing the TAB key switches between text fields fine, but it refuses to focus on drop down boxes, check boxes, and other types of fields.

Here’s how to fix that behaviour and make the keyboard focus selection behave the way you expect it to behave.

1. Click the Apple icon on the top left of your screen and click System Preferences to open your System Preferences.
2. Click on the Keyboard and Mouse icon.
3. Make sure you are on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
4. Choose the option “All controls” at the bottom of the preferences pane, under “Full keyboard access”.

Pressing the TAB key should now focus on all types of form fields instead of just text fields. Happy filling in forms!