More and more people are making the switch to Firefox. The reasons are clear: it\u2019s a superior and more intuitive Web browser that makes browsing the Internet fun and productive. Here are some power tricks to supercharge your online productivity.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been using Mozilla Firefox for years. I first made the switch from Internet Explorer because of Firefox\u2019s superb tabbed browsing feature, which allows users to open multiple websites inside the same browser window. It\u2019s a killer feature, and immediately improved my productivity on the Web. When I do a Google search, for example, I simply open the results I want in new tabs. I then quickly flick between those tabs using keyboard shortcuts until I find what I\u2019m looking for.<\/p>\n
Many Firefox users will already know that the browser is highly adaptable with third-party extensions. Power users will typically have half a dozen or more of these little programs installed, giving the browser great new functionality. Popular add-ons include tools that improve Firefox\u2019s already excellent tabbed browsing and applications that block banner advertising. But I\u2019ll talk about the add-ons in part two of this column next week. For now, I\u2019d like to reveal some of the nifty tricks and time-savers included in the basic browser (even if you\u2019re a Firefox whiz, I\u2019ll bet you don\u2019t know all of these):<\/p>\n
* When you have multiple tabs open, you can flip between them by clicking on them at the top of the browser window. But there\u2019s an easier way: try flipping through your tabs using Ctrl-Tab. Want to do that from right to left instead? Use Ctrl-Shift-Tab. To close a tab, you can always click on the \u201cx\u201d in the tab heading, but it\u2019s much easier to type Ctrl-W. And if you accidentally close a tab, get it back by pressing Ctrl-Shift-T. Need a new tab? No sweat, right-clicking on an existing tab and selecting \u201cNew tab\u201d will get the job done, as will selecting \u201cNew tab\u201d from the file menu. But it\u2019s much easier to press Ctrl-T. Last tip on tabs: to open a Web link as a new tab, you can right-click on it and select \u201cOpen in new tab\u201d from the pop-up menu. But I prefer simply pressing Ctrl and clicking on the link.<\/p>\n
* There are other great shortcuts for accessing different parts of the browser window. Ctrl-L will take you to the location bar \u2014 the bar at the top where you type in Web addresses. And Ctrl-K will take you to the search bar at the top right. Google is the default search engine \u2014 to change it, click on the \u201cG\u201d logo to the left of the search bar to bring up a list of other search engines. You can even add your own. And you don\u2019t have to use the mouse to change search engines: pressing Ctrl and the up and down arrows on your keyboard gets the job done.<\/p>\n
* The new Firefox 3, released last month, has big improvements to the location bar. It does a great job of guessing where you want to go when you begin typing in a Web address. But there are other cool location-bar tricks that also work in older versions. Visiting a website that ends in.com, such as google.com? Simply type \u201cgoogle\u201d (without the quote marks) and press Ctrl-Enter, and Firefox will take you to the website. Try Ctrl-Shift-Enter for.org and Shift-Enter for.net address endings.<\/p>\n
* Another location bar feature is the ability to go directly to specific Web pages. For example, if you\u2019re interested in reading reviews at the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) about the Coen brothers\u2019 Oscar-winning thriller No Country For Old Men, simply type \u201cimdb no country for old men\u201d (without the quotes) in the location bar and press enter. It\u2019ll take you directly to the database\u2019s entry on that movie. Neat.<\/p>\n
Know more Firefox tricks? eMail Duncan<\/a>, give your tips on FMTech<\/a> or discuss it in the forum thread<\/a>.\u00a0 Next week, in the second part of this column, I\u2019ll take a look at some of the best extensions for Firefox that will help maximise your Web experience.<\/p>\n