5 Quick Tips for new Firefox Users

Mention Firefox to someone and you're likely to get back one of three responses:

1. It's my browser of choice!
2. It's on my computer but I use Internet Explorer (or another browser)
3. I loved those books!  I learned to clean my flintlock, butcher a hog, and make dandelion wine after reading the Firefox series (see http://www.foxfire.org/ if you don’t get this joke)

If you answered #2 or #3 above, then this TechBits article is for you.  I’m going to share with you five quick tips that will make your transition to Firefox virtually painless!

1) Tabbed browsing makes web browsing faster and easier

Once you start using tabs to navigate the Web, you’ll never go back to multi-window browsing again (less of an issue these days now that IE supports tabbed browsing).  Here are three keyboard shortcuts that will improve your tabbed browsing experience:

Ctrl T opens a new tab

Ctrl TAB navigates from one tab to the next; Ctrl + Shift + Tab goes back the opposite way

Ctrl W closes an open tab

2) Multiple tabs can open when you launch Firefox

Want more than one webpage to open when you launch Firefox first thing in the morning?  No problem:  First,  open all your desired tabs within the browser.  Then, go to “Tools > Options” and choose the “Main” section. 

There, you’ll see a button labeled “Use Current Pages.” Click the button, click “OK” and the next time you launch Firefox, all of your tabs will automatically open.

3) / is a quick way to search for text on a page

If you need to quickly search for a word or phrase on a webpage, click the "/" key. A quick search box will open in the lower-left corner of your browser:

and any text inserted in the box is highlighted on the page above.

4) Dragging the icon in the address bar to your desktop makes a shortcut

Need a shortcut on your desktop to a specific webpage?  Simply drag the icon to the left of the URL address to your desktop:

and you've created a shortcut to that webpage.

5) Ctrl +- changes the font size on a page

If you ever encounter a webpage where the typeface is too small to read, Ctrl and the + (plus) key will increase the size of the type.  Ctrl - (minus) will decrease the size.