Terminally Incoherent

Utterly random, incoherent and disjointed rants and ramblings...

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Learn your browser people!

It is very, very irritating when people can't use the software they like. I mentioned it before, but I'll say it again - learn the keyboard shortcuts and use them. There is nothing more infuriating than watching someone to right click to open a new tab with a 3 button mouse in Firefox! Middle Click! Argh!

Here is a quick cheat-sheet for Firefox - these are the commands that I cannot live without:
  • Middle Click to open links in background Tab (if you have it set to foreground tab, change it). Usually I just click all the links as I'm reading, and switch over as needed to look up referenced pages.
  • CTRL+T for new tab - if you do this differently you are a retard and you need to be shot!
  • CTRL+K to jump to searchbar, and then CTRL+UP or DOWN to change search engines (I often switch between Google, IMDB and Wiki depending on need). This is especially useful in conjunction with CTRL+T. If you need to use a mouse of any of this, I will break your fingers!
  • To search use the search as you type feature: / and start typing. Then use CTRL+G to cycle through all the occurrences of the word. Hands on the keyboard and stay away from the mouse!
  • For instant accesss of the address bar use CTRL+L. Clicking is very retarded because 90% of time when you want to be in the address bar you want to either clear it, or copy the url. When you click you usually go into edit mode and put the carret in the middle of the URL forcing you to do several more clicks/drags to select the whole thing. CTRL+L places you in the address bar with the URL selected - so you can copy, paste or start typing right away. If I see you clicking in the address bar I will hurt you immensely!
  • Tab switching is the only permissible mouse activity, though I find CTRL+TAB (and CTRL+SHIFT+TAB) to move forward and backwards through tabs useful. You can also use CTRL+1 through CTRL+9 to move directly to a tab... I usually only find CTRL+1 useful. Counting of tabs to hit appropriate number key takes about the same amount of effort as mousing it or ctrl-tabbing through bunch of tabs.
  • Long mouse-wheeling through a very, very large page is almost as retarded as using the scrollbar. God created HOME, END, PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN for exactly that purpose - fast scrolling. Alternatively use that middle click move trick on windows - but don't wheel your way through 10 pages of text!
  • Closing tabs is also acceptable mouse task, although CTRL+W works faster when done with left hand. It saves you mouse hunting and clicking. In addition if you right click to close a tab, you always face the risk of choosing the "Close Other Tabs" option which is located right next to the "Close Tab" option.
Also, unless you have an ethical issue with blocking advertisements, install and learn to use Adblock. Learn to use wildcards to block whole subdomains. I can't imagine my life without that extension.

Finally, as much as I love Firefox, I need to emphasize this: use Bookmark Backup extension. Sometimes extension upgrades or uninstalls may wipe your bookmarks clean - especially when you use extensions that deal with sessions, profiles and etc.. This extension saved my ass countless times, and you don't learn to appreciate it until your bookmarks are gone.

I love that you are using Firefox, but for god's sake, please learn to use it the way it was meant to be used. This is not IE - this is the best browsing engine under the sun, that can be hand tweaked to your liking.

Rant rant rant... I'm done.

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