[duckduckgo.com] "home" and "end" keys ignored

[alexisfrjp]

I don't know where to post this annoying bug, let me know where I can report it for duckduckgo.com

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open duckduckgo.com
2. Type something and press "Home" or "End"
3. Experience the inactive keys

Expected behavior: Cursor to be back to the beginning or end of the line.

Actual behavior: Nothing happens, keys are ignored.

[lemondevxyz]

I tested on Chrome & Firefox Linux and can confirm the issue exists on both browsers.

Pressing Home or End does not move the cursor to the start or end of "test test" but instead selects the first or last search suggestion. This is default behavior even when a search suggestion wasn't selected beforehand.

[alexisfrjp]

Will that never be fixed? I've stopped using duckduckgo since... Is it that complicated to support a normal form to support normal US keys?!

[sammacbeth]

Thanks for the report. I've filed this issue internally and will get back to you with their response.

[omer-fsdev]

I just tested it and the keys are working.

[samott]

This is still an issue for me. The keys seem to activate the suggestions list instead of going to the start/end of the input.

[pancake-tongs]

This is still a problem.

Consider the use case that the user has entered a query and duckduckgo has no suggestions. This is the case more often than not for me, and results in the keys being ignored with no apparent reason. Even when there are suggestions available, rebinding home/end to functions other than those expected is a pretty huge violation of the principle of least astonishment. Don't screw with basic keyboard functions. The easiest and most correct fix for this issue is to completely remove the home/end binding to search suggestions.

[joecss]

Thanks alexisfrjp for bringing attention to this. I'd like to add my concern that this is still an issue, and a very frustrating one. I'd also like to add some additional information: the behavior of home and end keys being intercepted only happens on the main page, i.e. https://duckduckgo.com/. If I search for something and I'm taken to a query result page like https://duckduckgo.com/?q=search+terms&ia=web, I get full control of my keyboard back. Until this is fixed, I plan to search for something useless first, then do my actual search on the query result page as a workaround.

[kuiperzone]

For a work around, use

https://start.duckduckgo.com/

as described here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/128w291/homeend_keys_intercepted_on_search_webpage_once/

Personally, it difficult to comprehend why it was not fixed quickly.

[imsoumya18]

@sammacbeth can you assign this to me? I would like to work on it.

[Teuniz]

Today it started to happen for me on https://start.duckduckgo.com/ Super annoying! Firefox 125.0.2 (64-bit) on Linux.

[kuiperzone]

Yes, it's happening now also on https://start.duckduckgo.com/

Have switched to Brave for the time being, although nearly but not quite as good as DuckGo

[freebird61]

Same here with https://start.duckduckgo.com using Firefox, Brave Browser or Vivaldi (Linux 64bit). On the initial search page when suggestions are returned, they currently behave the same as Page Up and Page Down keys. Behavior returns to "standard" on the results page.

[fartboygh]

I used to use https://duckduckgo.com/50x.html to get around it.

But they just went ahead and broke that too today.

[freebird61]

Can't wait for DDG to fix and it's driving me nuts as it is. Here's a workaround for Firefox using a FireMonkey script.

// ==UserScript==
// @name             Fix DDG start page
// @match            https://start.duckduckgo.com/
// @version          1.0
// ==/UserScript==

document.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) {
  // End = 35, Home = 36
  if (e.keyCode === 35 || e.keyCode === 36) {
    e.cancelBubble = true;
    e.stopImmediatePropagation();
  }
  return false;
}, true);

[freebird61]

Also works as a .user.js dragged into Extensions manager (developer mode) on chromium based browsers - tested on Brave and Vivaldi.

[cbeckmann486]

Just noticed today on DDG.GG that pressing shift+end no longer selects all text after the cursor as expected. I can't even correct typos without this bug impacting me. Something really needs to be done! Creating friction in such basic ways is only going to drive users away from duckduckgo, and none of us wants that.

[jdifloure]

Home and End have clear meaning and usage across the board. Previously I've used start.duckduckgo.com to get around this. Now I cannot use that as a workaround. It is frustrating to type a long search phrase and have it trashed by hitting Home. Please change this behavior.

I created a github account specifically to comment on this.

[dmaltsiniotis]

Can't wait for DDG to fix and it's driving me nuts as it is. Here's a workaround for Firefox using a FireMonkey script.

// ==UserScript==
// @name             Fix DDG start page
// @match            https://start.duckduckgo.com/
// @version          1.0
// ==/UserScript==

document.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) {
  // End = 35, Home = 36
  if (e.keyCode === 35 || e.keyCode === 36) {
    e.cancelBubble = true;
    e.stopImmediatePropagation();
  }
  return false;
}, true);

Thank you so much for this, I was able to apply the script and work around the issue at duckduckgo.com for now. I don't understand why this is still a bug after so long. Ctrl-Ins, Shift-Ins, and Shift-Home/End are the primary way I copy/paste highlight text, and have been since the 90's. I can't believe that a modern UI would purposefully nerf copy/paste/highlight and not fix it after so long.

[kuiperzone]

Perhaps this is not a bug, but a "feature". Perhaps DDG want to drive people off the desktop and onto mobile etc? In any case, I seem to be pretty happy with Brave now.