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Firefox Friday Five
By now you should know what this column is all about: Firefox. Everything Firefox. Some of this will be new, some of it old, but generally all of it will be pretty neat if you're a Firefox user. Let's get stuck in!1. You can undo closed tabs in Firefox
You know what Ctrl-T does, right? It opens a new tab. How about Ctrl-Tab? It cycles through your tabs! Now... what happens if you throw shift into the mix? Ctrl-Shift-Tab cycles backwards through your tabs. And Ctrl-Shift-T... guess what... re-opens closed tabs!
Yes, it's basically impossible to pull off with just one hand, but it's still a very neat shortcut to know. Also, you can do it over and over, popping up tabs that have been closed for hours. I don't know how far the history reaches, but if someone wants to find out...
(Incidentally, the same thing can be pulled off by right-clicking any other tab and 'Undo Close Tab', or via the History menu.)
2. Shareaholic for Firefox is really quite awesome
I know, when you think of social media and bookmarking your first instinct isn't to think of Download Squad... but Shareaholic really is very good. Its latest version enabled the 'AwesomeBar' icon, which I suppose allows you to have super-minimal interfaces with just the AwesomeBar and nothing else.
If you look in the bottom right corner there's also a 'Buzz' meter that shows you the latest trending topics from Twitter and OneRiot -- now it's easier than ever to keep up to date!
If you look in the bottom right corner there's also a 'Buzz' meter that shows you the latest trending topics from Twitter and OneRiot -- now it's easier than ever to keep up to date!
Mozilla Labs has just wrapped up a cool competition to raise developer awareness of Jetpack, their new add-on system that will likely make its grand, built-in debut with Firefox 3.7. To enter, developers simply had to create a Jetpack add-on with 50 lines of code or less. This was obviously to prove just how 'easy' Jetpack coding is -- and I have to admit that the three winners have done well with so little code!
4. New version releases: both Firefox 3.6 and Firefox for Mobile reach RC1
Firefox 3.6's main focus is on performance and personalization. Personas, Firefox's theme system, is built-in to 3.6. There are also significant improvements to the AwesomeBar, Firefox's all-in-one navigation bar.
Meanwhile, Firefox for Mobile trudges slowly onwards. It's still only for mobile phones that run Maemo -- a grand total of three high-end Nokia handsets. There are hints of a Windows Mobile version, but that's still stuck in alpha testing. I think 2010 will be another slow year for Firefox for Mobile, but we'll see!
5. VidzBigger -- it's as ghetto as it sounds
It's about time I featured a Userscript! This one, as you probably guessed, makes your, er, vidz... bigger. Basically, depending on the size of your window (and screen resolution), it scales videos as large as possible. It also enables 'HQ' automatically. It also does a whole lot more (like removing ads), but you should just go check the add-on's site for the full list. Basically, if you have the spare CPU cycles and you want to take advantage of all those juicy high-def videos now turning up on YouTube, this is a great add-on to get.
Userscripts require Greasemonkey, one of the most popular (27 million downloads!) Firefox add-ons. Once you have it installed, a massive wealth of neat functionality is then available to you via the repository at Userscripts.
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That about does it for another week. If I've missed anything big, bring it up in the comments!
Userscripts require Greasemonkey, one of the most popular (27 million downloads!) Firefox add-ons. Once you have it installed, a massive wealth of neat functionality is then available to you via the repository at Userscripts.
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That about does it for another week. If I've missed anything big, bring it up in the comments!
Comments
25
Subscribe to commentsTRNTJan 8th 2010 3:15PM
The tab tricks work in Chrome as well.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 8th 2010 7:12PM
Neat, thanks for the tip :)
sitrucJan 9th 2010 12:09PM
Opera as well... although I prefer ctrl+z to undo closing the last tab.
ProlornJan 8th 2010 3:38PM
Eh? Ctrl+Shift+T isn't hard to pull off one-handed, at least with the left hand. It's how I naturally do it on both Firefox and Chrome. Pinky on Ctrl, ring finger on Shift, and reach for T with you index finger.
Come to think of it, most of the keyboard shortcuts I use are left-handed. Since I'm right-handed, this usually leaves my dominant hand available to control the mouse.
ProlornJan 8th 2010 3:39PM
I suppose it's possible your keyboard is just larger than mine.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 8th 2010 5:11PM
The actual problem is I don't type with my left pinky finger! I had forgotten that other people still use their left pinky!
I can still do it without pinky on the left, but it's quite a weird maneuver :P
Praveen PremchandranJan 8th 2010 10:02PM
kinda agree with Sebastian and Prolorn there...
never use my pinky for any thing else other than press Control for the same shortcuts!!!
DimaJan 9th 2010 12:40PM
Wait.. you guys don't use your pinky's at all? how the hell do you type the 'a' key? Does your hand just move erratically all over the keyboard?
Sebastian AnthonyJan 9th 2010 12:43PM
I actually type with 3 fingers + thumb on left hand -- use my pinky on right hand for enter/shift.
It's a weird style I developed back at school, when I was learning to touch-type.
I could do like 120 words/minute with left pinky, but 145+ without left pinky.
Now it just kind of hangs off the keyboard to the left, looking kinda useless :P
Praveen PremchandranJan 16th 2010 5:40PM
yeah...
i never really learnt to type... just kinda came along...
almost always use only the three fingers on both hands... have quite a decent typing speed even without using the pinky!!!
AKJan 8th 2010 3:39PM
Love the open Google Search tab... made me lol =D
greenreaperJan 8th 2010 4:55PM
Ahh, furries - we ruin everything!
Sebastian AnthonyJan 8th 2010 5:12PM
Hello greenreaper!
powerhouselb2Jan 8th 2010 5:36PM
I found shareaholic particularly useful. Though, I've only used it once or twice so far.
On an off-topic not, I was totally tempted to google "furry porn." It's sad, I know.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 8th 2010 5:48PM
You gotta do it once at least. Just once.
AzizJan 8th 2010 6:05PM
eww wtf is furry porn? o_O
don't even want to search it up haha.
aanidaaniJan 8th 2010 6:27PM
Number 1 is a great tip that I stumbled upon by accident one day. So useful.
nate_rioFeb 14th 2010 12:26AM
I really like Copy as HTML Link 2.0.
It creates an HTML link to the current page using the selected text and copies it (into the clipboard) for pasting into other applications.
If you like Shareaholic, you'll love Copy as HTML Link 2.0!
Sebastian AnthonyJan 8th 2010 9:27PM
Shareaholic I think... otherwise it's a default Firefox installation (3.6 beta 5).
cyberguy91Jan 8th 2010 11:50PM
@Sebastian Anthony: I believe he means the buttons on the window's title bar. Just to the left of the minimize button.