One Simple Button plus Firefox
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…
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Comments
Dave Murphy says on August 11th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
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 says on August 11th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
GREAT!!! Thanks a lot!
Kathleen Fasanella says on August 11th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
it doesn’t work for me. why?
Gleb Reys says on August 11th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
I constantly use this functionality, and also find that Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDown are better than Ctrl+Tab.
Leon says on August 12th, 2006 at 1:33 am
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.
Kouros says on August 12th, 2006 at 1:58 am
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!
Gerard @ Interweb World says on August 12th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
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.
Yellek says on August 13th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
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 says on August 14th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
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.
Brandon says on August 16th, 2006 at 5:50 am
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 says on August 17th, 2006 at 7:55 am
Nice hack. It also works in IE 7 btw (just tried it)