Firefox Tip

This is probably so ridiculous it’s just silly.

As I read a blog entry or a web site I will open interesting links in a new tab within Firefox. That way I can read uninterrupted but still have the relevant links available as soon as I’m done. Firefox-context-menu

For example, if I want to know who Scott Hanselman respects, and I do, I have the preference set to open the link in a new tab, however it immediately gives the tab focus—sort of making the whole idea of “don’t interrupt me” a moot point. So I got in the habit of right-clicking and choosing “Open Link in New Tab” which opens a new tab but doesn’t steal the focus. But all that right-clicking gets old pretty fast.

So what’s the tip? If you click on a link with your scroll-wheel, it’s the same as right-clicking and choosing “Open Link in New Tab”! Problem solved! Didn’t I say this is ridiculously silly? Yep. But it’s 2 AM and I should’ve been in bed hours ago.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 11th, 2006 at 2:13 am and is filed under tips and tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “Firefox Tip”

  1. aaron Says:
    August 22nd, 2007 at 11:29 pm

    Pure genious, thanks! :)

    I did notice just now, though, that control-clicking still executes the onclick event of a link, while scroll-wheel-clicking doesn’t. Irrelevant? I think so! But interesting none-the-less.

    Thanks again!
    (And yes, I realize this whole topic is dumb, but that’s what I’m about these days. :) )

  2. Chris J. Breisch Says:
    August 22nd, 2007 at 11:29 pm

    I usuually use “Ctrl-Click” (open in a new tab), or occasionally “Shift-Click” (open in a new window). Both of these work in both Firefox and IE 7. I haven’t tried them in Opera because I don’t use Opera very much, but I would be surprised if they don’t also work there.

  3. Chris Says:
    December 12th, 2007 at 12:18 am

    You might want to look at Snap Shots or Cooliris Previews… both of these add-ons allow you to quickly preview a link without actually leaving the site you are on.

    Snap Shots can also be loaded onto your blog so that readers (like me) don’t have to leave your blog to see something interesting that you have posted that contains a link… You can see an example of this on my website http://www.dscoduc.com.

  4. aaron Says:
    December 12th, 2007 at 12:50 am

    Good idea Chris. I’m not a huge fan of the snap shots approach (at least embedding them on web pages) because they don’t seem to offer much value. On the one hand I tend to scan with my mouse while I read, and it’s annoying when they pop up inadvertantly. On the other hand I find the preview image nearly impossible to see anything meaningful other than the website color scheme. :)