Get Firefox to ignore HTML 5 autocomplete tag setting?

Question

With HTML 5 there is a new attribute called autocomplete. If it's set to autocomplete=off, then the browser does not store the password.

How can I override this setting, short of modifying the source code of Firefox and recompiling it? Is there maybe a Firefox about:config option I am overlooking that I can toggle - an "ignore:autocomplete" or something?

Answer 1

The whole point of autocomplete=off is to provide some level of security for fields which require it. If a site designer has deemed that a field requires autocomplete=off, then there's a good chance that he means it. Why do you want to turn it off?

Short answer: No, there isn't a way to disable it. It's considered a security feature.

(by the way, autocomplete=off has been a feature in various browsers for ages... it may only have been made formally part of HTML as of HTML5, but it's been in use for a very long time, so I wouldn't consider it 'new')

Answer 2

There is an other way to make firefox remember the password thanks to Firebug: just change the value of autocomplete to "on", and save the form. Firefox will show the "remember" pop-up as usual.

Details are given here:

• install Firebug
• on the page with the faulty password field, open Firebug.
• use the blue mouse pointer in Firebug toolbar to select the password field on the Firebug HTML tab, you should have a field selected
• double-click on "off" to edit the value and change it to "on".
• Now, enter you login/password as usual in the page form
• when you hit "submit", Firefox should display the notification pop-up that allows to remember the login/password for that site.

Now, each time you are going to go on that page, firefox will autocomplete the login/password as usual.

Answer 3

The easiest way to do this is:

locate the nsLoginManager.js file under the "Mozilla Firefox" folder, such as:

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\nsLoginManager.js

locate the function

_isAutocompleteDisabled :  function (element) {
        if (element && element.hasAttribute(”autocomplete”) &&
            element.getAttribute(”autocomplete”).toLowerCase() == “off”)
            return true;

return false;
},

now change the first return from true to false such as this:

_isAutocompleteDisabled :  function (element) {
        if (element && element.hasAttribute(”autocomplete”) &&
            element.getAttribute(”autocomplete”).toLowerCase() == “off”)
            return false;  //This is the line of code that changed.....

return false;
},

Now save this change and restart firefox.