There was a time when Mozilla Firefox was the choice browser for many people. It provided a much-needed relief from the disturbingly slow Internet Explorer and it was seen as better than its competitors at the time, e.g. Opera. However, things changed when Google Chrome arrived. Firefox was no longer loved and it was chucked aside.
Fast forward a couple of years later, Firefox is still standing. After all, browser choice really boils down to preference. While Chrome may get points for being light and fast, there are some amazing things that a Firefox browser can do.
Search a site without going to it
For instance, you don’t need to go to Wikipedia then search for Marie Curie. You can do so right from the opening tab of Firefox, and all you have to do is create a search keyword. Here’s how:
- Go to the site you want to create a search keyword for
- Right-click on the search bar
- Choose Add a Keyword for this Search
- Enter a keyword you’d like to use for the site into the Keyword field. For example, you can use wiki for Wikipedia.
- Test it out by using the keyword plus your search term in Firefox’s address bar. For example, wiki Marie Curie.
Change preferences
Of course you can change preferences using the simple menu but you can actually do more with Firefox. How? Just type about:config into the address bar. You’ll be presented with warnings but if you really want to tinker with settings, choose I’ll be careful, I promise!
One of the changes you can do – that won’t break the browser – is modify some settings to make Firefox run faster. Find browser.tabs.animate then set it to False. That alone probably won’t make Firefox run faster as there are other configurations to tweak along with it but it gives you practice.
Jump through tabs easily
If you want to limit hand movement to just the keyboards alone, then this is the trick for you. Here are the keyboard shortcuts to remember:
- Ctrl + Page Up – move to the tab on the left
- Ctrl + Page Down – move to the tab on the right
- Ctrl + [1…9] – jump between tabs
These are just some of the many tips and tricks to enhance your use of Mozilla Firefox. And yes, despite the arrival of Chrome, it still is one of the best browsers to have on your computer.
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