Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Stupid Tech Question Tuesday: Links in Blogger on Firefox

Yes, I am sincere about the "stupid" part. And about the question part. And yes, I did try to find the answer - by googling and by checking on Blogger's help page and help sites. But the answers I'm finding don't seem to address the problem I'm having with Blogger on a Firefox browser. I do also have Safari, and I switch to that browser to complete posts in which this problem crops up. (I actually prefer Safari, but both browsers have different limitations that make me switch between the two. As a matter of fact, if I don't find a solution to one of my Safari problems, that will be next week's post.)

So here's the problem. When I try to do a link in a post on Blogger, a little window pops up for me to enter the URL. The idea is that I copy the URL and paste it into that little window. However, when that window pops up on Firefox, every other option on the Firefox menu at the top, including "Edit," disappears. Nor can I paste the copied item in using keyboard commands. So I usually save the post, exit, and switch to Safari.

The Firefox version I currently have is 3.6.13.

New information added on 18 January a.m.: After reading GrannyPam's comment, I decided to try the keyboard cut-and-paste option again. This time I was on my MacBook, which has both a control key and a command key - and it's the command key that is used for this function. The keyboard on my desktop computer doesn't have a "command" key, but I'll check to see if there is a key with a different label that performs this function.

6 comments:

  1. Hold the control key [Ctrl] and push the letter V for paste. [Ctrl} and C copy. If you wish to copy a field while using Firefox, push [Ctrl] and then the letter A (for all), and without letting the control key up, push the letter C (for copy).

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  2. GrannyPam - Thanks for the tip - I had been trying this solution and it didn't work, but I think that I have figured out why it didn't. We have Macs at home, and for them it's not the control key, but the command key that is used for copy and paste. My new MacBook has the command key, but the keyboard for my desktop computer did not. However, on that keyboard there may be another key that can function as the "command" key that will work.

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  3. Greta,

    I have a similar problem adding a link to Wordpress while using Firefox. I doubt the two issues are related, but apparently the problem as it relates to Wordpress has to do with the fact that I use AVG anti-virus. To "get around" this issue, which only popped up about a month ago, I now use Chrome when I want to write a blog post. ;-)

    Donna

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  4. Donna - I gave some thought to using Chrome when I started having this problem (and various others, some in Safari and some in Firefox) and I may still check it out. There are just so many variables to consider - and in this case, it happened to be the "Mac vs PC" variable that was key.

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  5. Greta,

    I just want to make sure I understand your question. You are highlighting the text that you want to be hot? THEN pres the hotlink icon?

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  6. Darlene - Yes, but I have figured out the problem - it's that on Macs I have to press the command key instead of the control key for copying and pasting - so the steps are as follows: press Command+C to copy the URL, highlight the linked text, click on the hotlink icon, then press Command+V to copy the URL to make the link. I had realized that in Firefox you can only use keyboard commands, not menu commands, for these functions, but I had forgotten the "Mac element." This works fine on my laptop, but now I have to check to see whether there is an equivalent to the command key on the Windows keyboard I use with my desktop Mac.

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