[Using Bitwarden in Chrome and Firefox extensions on Windows]
I find the basic procedure for launching a site to be unnecessarily cumbersome, when using a browser extension on Windows. I explain the problems below and suggest the improvements.
CURRENT ACTION
I do a search and get the matching logins. Focus is still in the search field and my hands are on the keyboard. The next things I have to do, whether there is just one matching entry or several, is:
- take my hand off the keyboard
- grab the mouse
- move the mouse pointer to the entry I want (possibly doing some scrolling as well)
- then finally, click on the small launch icon on the right side of the entry.
PROBLEMS
Given that the above action is typically the most common use case (without there being a recently used logins menu):
- The keyboard to mouse handoff is cumbersome.
- The launch icon is small and requires additional eye-hand coordination to click on.
SOLUTION
While focus is still in the search field:
- Enable navigation up/down the list of results with the up/down arrow keys.
- At any time, pressing Enter should immediately launch the currently selected result or the only result if there’s just one in the list.
- Or, if you do want to mouse-click on a result, the default action when clicking on the much larger name portion should be to launch the site, not to view the entry - or at least, make this an option.
- At the same time, the first icon button on the right never changes; it’s always the one to view the entry, and never the one to launch the site.
If you’re already on the site page then still, as is currently the case, the default action for clicking on the name is to do the fill in.
This solution makes more logical sense as well: Clicking on the name of a login is only for doing something directly related to the corresponding site page - either launching it, or filling in the fields. Viewing or editing a login, which happens relatively infrequently, is relegated to the smaller icon button, which is now always visible.