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Friday, January 02, 2009

Browser Keyboard Shortcut Basics

I was recently conducting a workshop on some of the methods and tools being described as part of this series and someone asked me how I was opening pages in new tabs. It made me realize that as we are so wedded to our browsers for many of the things I'm describing, I really should point out a few browser keyboard shortcuts that everyone should know:
  • Ctrl+T – new tab
  • Ctrl+click on a Link – open in new tab
  • Ctrl+Shift+click on a Link - open in new foreground tab
  • Shift+click on a Link - open in new window (use for videos you want to play on the side while you continue to surf)
  • Ctrl+Scroll wheel – larger/smaller font size
  • Ctrl+= : Increases font size.
  • Ctrl+- : Decreases font size.
  • Ctrl+F – Find
  • / - Quick Find
  • Ctrl+G – Find again
  • Ctrl+Tab – Next tab
  • Ctrl+Shift+T - In Firefox, (re)opens the last tab that you closed
  • Ctrl+L : Gets you right up into the Address/URL bar.
  • F5 : Reload the page.
  • Ctrl+K : Takes you to the Firefox search box.
  • Ctrl+U : View the page’s source.
If you are not using any of these, go practice these and come back in a week and practice again.

Other Posts in the Series

10 comments:

DrBob said...

Happy Xmas Tony..

you might try using "Mouse Gestures" (an add on for Firefox, inbuilt in Opera and Maxthon) These are even more powerful and look really slick if used nonchalantly in a presentation..

Anonymous said...

I consider your blog entry as an additional spice to the recipe in the classroom. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

If I didn't take the extra time to learn keystrokes, I don't know what I'd do. I'd never have time to finish my work, never respond to e-mails, and in general be overwhelmed.

In fact, I've learned how to do keystrokes AND move my mouse (on my touchpad) at the same time, to increase efficiency. It's gotten kind of sad, actually.

Blogger In Middle-earth said...

Kia ora Tony

Now jes hang on a dag darn minute der - whaja think da pulldown menus is fur, eh? Okay, okay - only joking :-)

I like it. I've been using quick-keys ever since I worked with B20 equipment (Unisys formerly Burroughs, hence the B. That was in the middle of last century - nothings changed with these. That's why I can remember them :-) Ha ha - not!

Yup, practice for a fortnight if pos - see my nu post :-)

Catchya
from Middle-earth

Blogger In Middle-earth said...

PS

A Happy New Year! Gee! Christmas went kinda quick. I can't recall much about it :-)

Check out your post-post date Tony.

Cheers

Tony Karrer said...

Dr Bob - I tried Mouse Gestures just now. I'm sure a lot of it is personal preference. But which commands do you find yourself using? Back and Forward seem interesting. Maybe copy and paste, but tough to compete with keyboard for that.

Ken - good catch on the date. This post was not intended to come out until after the beginning of the year as part of a series.

B.J. Schone said...

In Firefox, Ctrl+Shift+T (re)opens the last tab that you closed. I use this all the time when I accidentally close something.

Tony Karrer said...

BJ - I just used your shortcut, fantastic!

Kevin Thorn said...

I knew some of those as the toolbar menu has them listed. My new favorite is tabbing between tabs! If it's OK, may I link to this on my site as a Learn Nugget? :)

Blogger In Middle-earth said...

Kia ora!

Thanks B.J. and thanks Tony for getting this shortcut Ctrl+Shift+T to us. I've used it so many times it's not true!

Aaaa! The power of collaboration :-)

Best wishes
from Middle-earth