One Simple Button plus Firefox

August 11 by | 11 comments | Lifehack, Technology | Tags: ,

Windows-mostly. And this is really just a micro hack. I use this functionality ALL the time, and it makes surfing lots of things at once really easy. Otherwise, just read the Hooters post twice. : )

Boy, that clickwheel is killer for web browsing, but not just because of scrolling. Do you know this already?

In Firefox, if you push down the clickwheel while clicking on a link, it opens a new tab. Done with that page, push the clickwheel on that tab and it goes away.

That’s it. That one functionality makes it easy for me to keep reading a page while throwing open tabs to check out when I’m done with the page at hand. It’s a good way to check a bunch of things at the same time. And it’s just so darned easy. Between that clickwheel trick and using CTRL-TAB to cycle between tabs, I feel like a Firefox ninja.

–Chris Brogan…

Chris Brogan writes about self-improvement and creativity at [chrisbrogan.com]

  • http://schwuk.com Dave Murphy

    That’s a Firefox thing, not a Windows thing. I use it all the time in Firefox on Linux. As long as you’ve got a middle button/wheel, it will work.

  • Artur

    GREAT!!! Thanks a lot!

  • Kathleen Fasanella

    it doesn’t work for me. why?

  • http://www.perfectblogger.com Gleb Reys

    I constantly use this functionality, and also find that Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDown are better than Ctrl+Tab.

  • http://www.lifehack.org/ Leon

    Works on Linux as well. :)

    I love tabs, and hate new windows – except the time I need two browser windows on each of my monitors.

    You can also use Ctrl+[num] to change the tab.

  • http://kourosism.blogspot.com Kouros

    I have a cordless mouse, and for some reason it doesn’t work for me (it did with my previous, corded mouse).

    Makes no difference, I prefer hitting Ctrl+[Left Mouse Button] anyway. And I didn’t know about the Ctrl+[num] trick, thanks Leon!

  • http://www.interwebworld.co.uk Gerard @ Interweb World

    Nice one! I use the middle click on links all the time, but I’d never tried the tab behaviour…until now! Although CTRL+W does the same thing, I suppose.

  • http://yellek.org/blog Yellek

    If you install the All-in-One Gestures plugin (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/12/) you can use the right mouse button to drag upwards through a whole bunch of links and open them all in different tabs.

    Mouse gestures rock!

  • TESZERACT

    This seems to work on most of the brwosers I used or used. Safari, Firefox, Camino, Shiira (I think), etc. I love it. Also, (on the mac version, don’t know about the PC version of Firefox) a press on the scroll-wheel when you’re not on a hyperlink allows you to autoscroll a page. Slow enough to read – like an autoprompter.

  • http://brndnwrght.blogspot.com/ Brandon

    If you’re a Mac user and happen to be using a laptop, or one button mouse (or have your middle button set to use expose)… you can hold the Command key while clicking a link to open it in a new window – works in Firefox and Safari.

  • k

    Nice hack. It also works in IE 7 btw (just tried it)