There is one web browser issue that I consistently fall victim to. This is the problem that keyboard focus appears to jump, for no reason, from widget to widget, and sometimes from a widget to the address bar. I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with starting to type before the page-load is complete. For example, I will be typing my user name into the user field, and halfway through typing the cursor jumps to the password field. Then, thinking I am still in the user name filed, I hit tab and type in my password, but it didn’t go into the password field, because I was already there. Instead the tab caused me to go to the address bar, and my password goes there.

Of course this wouldn’t happen except for the fact that I occasionally type while not paying attention to what is happening on screen. That shouldn’t be a problem, though. Once I have stuck the cursor into the user field things should happen predictably, and consistently. Keyboard focus should not jump randomly.

So, what are the possible negative outcomes of this? The most basic, and most harmless, is that I simply have to type in things again. There is a more dangerous security concern, however. When my password is entered in the address bar then anybody watching me as I type can see what it is, and possibly deduce that it is my password. Even worse, maybe, is that if I hit “enter” after typing the password then people peeking at traffic can spot this request. If they see a strange request for “mypassword” go by unencrypted they might be able to use that knowledge maliciously.

That’s it. This is a concern that is both a usability annoyance, and a security risk.