Of course, these browser shortcuts may or may not apply to browsers other than Internet Explorer.

For example, I use Opera. Middle-click works identically. The others don't.

I also find Alt-Enter to be a bad keyboard shortcut, as Alt-Enter already has a standard meaning: Switch to fullscreen mode.

> these browser shortcuts may or may not apply to browsers other than Internet Explorer.

I only tested with Firefox and IE; they're identical in these two. I'd argue the burden of compatibility-- particularly for such essential shortcuts-- falls on all those other browsers.

For Firefox, you could use Ctrl + L and Ctrl + K respectively instead of Alt + D and Ctrl + E. Also, Ctrl + Up/Down arrow could be used in browser search box to switch between different search engines.

If you have only two mouse buttons, crtl+left click opens a new tab. So it makes more sense to crtl+enter open a new tab than the alt + enter

Another great shortcut for IE: Alt-F4 :-)

I can't live without CTRL+w (close tab) and CTRL+Tab/CTRL+Shift+Tab to switch tabs

just fyi, in case you end up using it, shorcuts for epiphany:
ctrl-l: location bar
ctrl-enter on location bar: open in new tab
ctrl-pageup/pagedown: change tab

and you search in the location bar

I don't like clutter, so the search box went bye-bye. It's no big deal because a general search (like www.google.com/search) is no more special to me than images or encyclopedia. Instead, I set up single-letter shortcuts in Firefox bookmarks. Then, I can type:

CTRL-T i cat<enter>

to get a google image search of cats in a new tab. Or:

CTRL-L g nis<enter>

to get a regular google search in the same tab. And so on. The speed of this approach, compared to mousing, is impressive.

I would think that CTRL-T belongs on the list (or maybe the MSIE equivalent).

I prefer Opera's Mouse Gestures.

CTRL-Enter in the address bar to automatically convert what is typed to include "http://www." and ".com" around said word.

CRTL-left click to force links to open in new tabs. I'd never get through my feeds without this one!

I read your blog from Live Mail feeds. It took me a while to realize that the reason the middle mouse button did not open a new window for me was because I was not in a browser. Clicking the links from Live Mail already opens in a new tab in the browser.

I did not know the other shortcuts - Thanks.

Jeff,

If you want to close taskbar windows with a middle click, you should install Taskbar Shuffle. =)

It also lets you reorganize your taskbar items.

Hey Now Jeff,
This is one of my favorite posts I've read. A few other hotkeys I commonly use:
F5 refresh
Escape Key as 'Stop'
Alt + Left arrow as back
F6 (same as alt + but one key) to pass control to the address bar.
F11 as full screen (stream lined)
Cntl Q - Quick view of all tabs
I think in the future more people will use more & more mouse gestures (hot clicks) too as it may be in IE8 by default & not need an addin like IE7Pro similar to the middle mouse click. I remember your post http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000946.html you asked 'And how do you deal with the dissonance between Alt+Tab (switch apps) and Ctrl+Tab (switch tabs within an app)?' I think everyone should use alt+tab & after a little while of using Ctrl+Tab people learn the difference. I really like this post & feel it is so true. The top couple of hotkeys make us more efficent.
Coding Horror Fan,
Catto

> If you want to close taskbar windows with a middle click, you should install Taskbar Shuffle. =)

Thanks for the tip! I love your site, by the way. http://www.howtogeek.com/ is full of much better tips than the ones in this post!

> I would think that CTRL-T belongs on the list (or maybe the MSIE equivalent).

Interesting; that's the same thing I do, but in a different order. Pressing Ctrl+T opens the tab *and* places the focus on the address bar automatically. I do think most users will want to make use of the built in search box, though.

If you are using Internet Exploder you forgot the most useful shortcut... ALT + F4...
Can't believe you are using Internet Exploder... Firefox is where it's at... and the mouse gestures.

Quick key for anything...Launchy. It's the bayste thing to hit Windows since notepad. Alt+space and 'f'.

For the record, the ALT+D and ALT+E shortcuts don't work in Ffx under Kubuntu. CTRL+L and CTRL+K work fine, though.

Also, no combination of ALT, CTRL, SHIFT, and [Enter] opened an address bar URL in a new tab under Kubuntu. Which sucks, because I would use that a lot if it worked.

Ummm, why are you using Internet Explorer?

For Safari on Mac (not sure on Windows), the respective shortcuts are:

1. Same, although Command-Command "saf" Enter works just fine for the one time of the day Safari isn't already open.
2. Command-L sets focus on the Location (aka "Address") field.
3. Command-L, Tab sets focus on the Search field (I don't think there is a direct shortcut)
4. Command-Enter opens the entered / edited location in a new tab
5. Command-click and middle-click (if set to mouse button 3) both open the link in a new tab.

I'd also add Command-} and Command-{ (that's the curly bracket, so you need Shift in there too) go from tab to tab in the current window, and Command-` shoves the current window to the back of the z-order stack and sets focus to the next one down.

IMHO, Control-Enter would make more sense for the "open in new tab" shortcut, but IE long ago used that shortcut for the stupid "wrap in www and .com" function as though that's remotely useful (especially as IE does that for you automatically when you hit enter anyway).

Speaking of browsers and middle click closing tasks and tabs, I was pleased to see the same support in QTTabBar (smooth integration of tab support for Windows Explorer). I think that and Taskbar Shuffle as mentioned pretty much cover the ground. ;)

Control-left click on a link to open in a new tab (Firefox and other Gecko-based browsers and also Konqueror). I think Opera uses shift-left click for this. Not sure about IE7 as I'm on Kubuntu tonight.

Control-T is highly useful, as is control-R (only IE and Konqueror use F5 for reloading the page, while CTRL+R is almost universal).

Thanks for the tips Dibble. Was wondering if there were Mac equivalents for any of those.

Hey Jeff
a most excellent post. 100% useful

"Have you set up a keyboard shortcut to launch your preferred web browser? If not, why not?"

Sounds like pre-mature optimization to me. I start a browser process less than once a day.

Very practical and useful entry. You think of everything. Just a quick addition: I think you mentioned in an earlier entry that you sometimes have even a hundred tabs open. CTRL - W is useful to quickly close a tab or a Window and a perfect corollary to your list.

boring.

Use Opera.

> I do think most users will want to make use of the built in search box, though.

I'm sure they will. Many people like visual prompts. However, if you're using a hotkey already (like CTRL-E), it's a logical next step to get rid of the control entirely. After all, you've already begun to access the feature by a remembered method rather than clicking on it. Of course, it does take a *slight* motivation for the reduction of visual clutter.

If middle-click to open/close new tabs qualifies as an important shortcut, then so should ctrl_pgup/pgdn (to switch between tabs). Likewise, Ctrl+F4 (close tab alternative).

Less important would be ctrl+0-8, to select the first 9 tabs individually. ctrl+9 selects the last tab.

These are essential shortcuts for firefox, I'm not sure if IE or Opera have equivalents since I hardly touch them.

My all-time favourite Firefox shortcut:
Ctrl-Shift-T to reopen the last tab you closed (and it keeps a history too so you can reopen many closed tabs). It's the "Ctrl-Z" of the tab world.

IE 7 doesn't have this shortcut but you can download an add-in from here: http://www.muvextoe.com/manualolct.php

not all shortcuts work in every language. For example, Alt-D, Ctrl-E don't work on a German IE

My favorite:
WINDOWS+R (shortcut for run) then http://www.mysite.com/ (fires up your default browser with whatever url you've inputed)... Nice "history" feature available... killer for cut&pasted url :P

"boring.

Use Opera."

Boring, use Firefox.

This could go on all day!

I just had to say that I use the side buttons on this mouse...
http://www.softwareandstuff.com/media/ACC10750_LG.jpg
...to navigate back and forward. Left is back, right is forward. I have grown so used to it, it is priceless.

Middle clicking to close also works on Visual Studio tabs

talking about using the middle mouse button,
clicking the middle mouse button anywhere on an open tab will close it. No need to hunt for the tiny close button.

On many laptops, or at least on ones with a synaptics touchpad, clicking the left and right buttons will emulate a middle click, which is nice if you're at your laptop with no mouse to use.

If you use Firefox, the slash key '/' to open the incremental search (quick find) text box. No more relying on Ctrl+F.

"I just had to say that I use the side buttons on this mouse..."

Yeah, i think you didn't think to mention about the mouse back and forward buttons. Which i personally take for granted these days and i'm not even sure if they're shortcuts anymore? Anyway, it pains me considerably to have to use a mouse without them.

I must second the comment about Mouse Gestures - they are also available in Firefox with the All-in-One Gestures add-on. It's a bit like the scroll wheel on the mouse, once you get used to it you can't live with out it, and now I keep trying to do mouse gestures in Visual Studio...

Konqueror (that's a browser in KDE) keyboard shortcuts:
ctrl-l: focus address bar
typing in address bar results in navigating to that URL if you typed URL, or searches (by default with google), if it's not URL. Firefox has the same behavior (except that it looks like that it goes to the first link if it is relevant enough).
ctrl-t: opens a tab
ctrl-w: closes a tab
ctrl-[ and ctrl-]: next and previous tab
ctrl-shift-d: duplicate tab
ctrl-d: duplicate window
ctrl-shift-b: move tab to new window
ctrl: enable access key (navigating through page elements with keys)
alt-left, alt-right: history
/: incremental search

Synaptics touchpad support under Linux/KDE (ksynaptics):
touching with two fingers simultaneously: middle button
touching with three fingers simultaneously: right button
move finger in circle: circular scroll (cw &#8212; scroll down, ccw &#8212; scroll up).

My most frequently used browser shortcut: spacebar to page down. Biggest target on the keyboard; Fitt would be proud.

Here's my favorite shortcuts on Firefox (some of them work on IE too):

CTRL+TAB = Next tab
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB = Prev tab
CTRL+W = Close current tab
CTRL+T = New tab
CTRL+CLICK = Open link in new tab
CTRL+K = Search
F6 = Address-bar

Come on people.. vim is the only thing you need and that applies when dwelling in browser land too
http://vimperator.mozdev.org/

:)

No one has mentioned hitting the backspace key, to go back to the previous page. Probably works only in Firefox though.

I use Firefox:
Ctrl+L: Address link focus
Ctrl+K: Search forcus
Middle click: Close tab or open new link in new tab
F5: Refresh
Esc: Stop
backspace
Shift+bakcspace
Alt+letter
. . .

Rather than promoting my personal top 5 list of keyboard shortcuts, I would argue that anyone (other than the 1% text-only diehards) can benefit from observing your own mouse/keyboard usage and trawling through the list of documented shortcuts.

In the web browsing domain, I would recommend aiming for elimination of switching between keyboard and mouse, rather than just maximising keyboard use; web pages themselves tend to be heavily geared towards mouse input. Shuffling tabs around en doing other things that typically involve either menus or navigation between major sections of the interface are good candidates for keyboard shortcuts.

I can't speak for IE (which I try to avoid as much as possible on general--though quite possibly outdated--principle) but FF has a truckload of available add-ons, that very often supply a handful of very specific usability features. Mouse Gestures is a good example, but there are many more smaller (less features, narrower target audience) add-ons as well.

Last point to make is that it is often possible to adjust keyboard shortcuts to your liking or expectations, either from within the browser configuration or through external tools that emulate a series of keypresses.

An add on to Chris H

Ctrl + [ENTER] will place the leading http://www. and the trailing .com ONLY if you have a English OS... if Danish it will place .dk if French will place .fr

to change this value you can edit your registry

follow this link: http://blogs.msdn.com/jeffdav/archive/2004/09/09/227502.aspx

I use the wheel button as the Back button (configurable via Intellimouse), so it is not treated as mouse button 3.

To open links in new tabs i use Ctrl-Click. Another way i navigate the historical chain of visits is to use Alt-left arrow/right arrow.

In the german Firefox version ALT+D will open the File Menu (File = Datei in German) ... Ctrl+L seems to be working on english and german Firefox.

Ctrl+K and Ctrl+E do work both on german Firefox.

I think its easier for the user, if pages in other sites opened automatically into a new browser, because that way the user doesn't have to first check is the page in a other site or not. Then if the user wanted to open a page in the same site into a new tab, he could click the middle button.

Oh wooow! I didn't know the one about middle-clicking, it's fantastiterrific! I'm so excited that you shared this, I kept having to download plugins for automatic opening in a new tab and I never once saw someone mention this!

Thanks, Jeff! This is a real timesaver!

PS: The other shortcuts were cool too, I personally use Ctrl+D a lot to save bookmarks :-)

In Windows, you press Win+R to open the "Launch Program" dialog and type the address of the site — and it will be opened in the default browser. The same for Alt-F2 or whatever-your-key in Linux

As for shortcuts 2-4 — you actually don't need them in Opera. When you open a new tab, your focus is always in the address bar, you don't need to press anything. If you want to search with Google, you type "g something" in the address bar. And you can set an option to always open in new window, if you press enter (or you can just open new tab with ctrl-t — focus will be at address bar, remember?)

So, primary shortcuts in Opera:
Ctrl-T - new tab
Ctrl-N — new browser window
Ctrl-B (or Ctrl-Shift-V) — paste and go

As for middle-click — I used it like that in Opera for ages, before IE7 came out. Nya-nya-nya :D

Another very usabe shortcut in Opera and Firefox — right-click+left-click for Back and left-click+right-click for forward

new tab in opera with mouse guestures is leftmouse-down by default, very very easy. Check out the mouse guestures.

Shortcut keys for Opera
http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/keyboard/

Haven't set the browser to start with winkey-1 yet. gonna do now.

Who thought up the Alt-D shortcut for the address bar? "Alt" is for activating menu options. It's also inconsistent with pressing "Ctrl" -E for the search bar.

The keyboard shortcut standard falls apart once you try using windows on a non-english system. Its also non consistent between different versions of IE. For example on my system some applications use alt-a to select All - consistent with the english editions, others use alt-e.
Some versions of IE (the latest included) use alt-d, others use alt-c to select the address bar.

Many translations are also not tested. A form will contain two or more options which are available under a single alt key. The typical one is alt-n for next. In spanish this is 'siguiente' so the translator will often select the s to be the alt selector, but there is often another button with the same letter. Sometimes a different tranlator will use a different letter. And this is just the MS products.

Frustrating.

Konqueror of course. System-wide shortcuts, System-wide mousegestures and browsing theweb and the local file system with the same application. Searchbox? Sure, but why not type "gg:" and the query in the addressbar to search Google? Or any other abbreviation you like, to search a specific site: http://www.codinghorror.com/mtype/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=2&search=\{@} for searching Coding Horror, \{@} is the placeholder.
Ctrl shift l for a vertically split screen, ctrl shift t for top/bottom split (and both to get 4 panes, etc.). Easy for comparing websites or local directories. Not being able to split a screen would be a severe handicap for me, it's something I got used too very quick. Ctrl shift R to close the active view.
"Middle click closes a window." Not here, middle click is paste. I copy/paste more often than I close windows so I'd rather have that setup, ctrl c/v/x works too of course, ctrl w to close a window.

Opera is perfectly usable without a mouse. You don't need it for anything (well, maybe apart from Flash). Spatial navigation kicks ass, and unlike the lesser browsers out there, all keyboard shortcuts are easily configurable and can be made to do multiple actions.

OMG there are people who don't know the middle click?

Wow, more "Why are you using IE" comments than I expected. IE7 may be late, but it's tolerable.

I couldn't live without my rocker gestures for navigation, but they're not for everyone (though it's fun watching people try and adapt when they're using my machine).

I use Ctrl+T to open a new tab and then type the URL in for the new tab - it's 1 key shorter! ;) (Ctrl+T, URL, Enter as opposed to Ctrl+L, URL, Alt+Enter) though Alt+Enter is always useful to know.

I'm surprised no one added this one yet, which is VERY helpful.

If you want to see how adaptive your web design is or if you have problems seeing a tiny font:

Hold down the CTRL key and use the mouse wheel.

It increases/decreases the size of the font.

It works on Firefox and IE. Nice testing utility to see how fluid your design is.

Great Post, Jeff!

JD

I only need to memorize one shortcut (Alt+BackSpace) which launches Launchy. Everything else is simple from there on. No need to configure different keys for different apps.

I prefer Opera even without mouse gestures! The gestures are impossible on a MacBook with no dedicated right-click. Thing is, I'm posting this in Safari in XP because of the superior font rendering.

Konquerer sounds good. I want some of those things in Opera 10.

My top shortcut gets combines your 2, 3 and 4:
Search: CMD/CTRL+T opens a new tab, then type g, then type your search terms and hit enter. Who needs a separate search UI element?

Opera's search inside a page by typing '.' is teh hotness. I use it all the time.

I also like fast-forward: CMD/CTRL+right_arrow. Why bother finding the 'next' link on a multipage news story or in search page results?

Middle click to close tabs? sounds weird. Just use CMD/CTRL+W (or the close gesture)

Opera also has a great zoom. Just hit plus or minus. Or hold CMD/CTRL and use the scroll wheel. It resizes all page elements, except the odd unruly flash one. In the past this was bad because the pictures looked horrible at anything other than 100%, but now it's pretty good.

Catto
> Cntl Q - Quick view of all tabs
erm...not in opera...it closes all tabs in opera, be aware.

and thanks to whoever wrote about using / for incremental search, thats excellent, works in opera too,

ctrl mousewheel, doesnt work in opera.

i use the shift key when im navigating using Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Tab, as it will go through the list in reverse.

Also using tab to go through forms, but surely everyone knows that already.

I couldn't agree more with the underlying idea of using keyboard shortcuts for common tasks. However, there's the drawback of having to memorize a new bunch of them when you switch applications, even if they share identical navigation conventions.

I've never seen the point in that. Actually, as a user I often miss a World Keyboard Shortcuts Consortium devoted to the standardization of keyboard shortcuts in all applications. If you have to give focus to the address bar or the search box in IE and Firefox, why use different shortcuts? It's the same functionality! Let the user customize them if they wish, but please use a _standard_ default. The world would be a happier place with a WKSC.

Also, in my experience, one of the most efficient ways to access your apps is by using a command line tool that supports aliases, such as SlickRun. I think I use it to get started with 90% of the tasks I have to deal with daily. And the advantage over shortcuts is that you don't have to learn them, you can create arbitrary names that are friendlier for your brain, much in the way doskey works under CMD.

I only want to add a small Opera tip, which I think is one of the most useful features ever: in Opera, you can use the address bar like a search bar.

So, wether I want to look for something in any search engine or type in a specific addres, I just it F8 (address bar shortcut in Linux Opera). All one has to do is left click on a search field in any search engine or site and assign a search alias to it.

My most common task:
Ctrl+T (new tab)
F8 (focus address bar)
'wp <search term>' (look for something in wikipedia)

All I can say is IE7Pro - can set up new web sites (and searches) to always open in a new tab so Alt+D type + enter. Also give you mouse guestures in IE !!!

Simon

"Hold down the CTRL key and use the mouse wheel."
Ctrl+0 (top row or number pad) restores text to it's default size. Very useful in combination with this :)

"Hold down the CTRL key and use the mouse wheel."

That's just zooming (magnifiying) the page, isn't it, rather than changing the font size. (IE here at work - won't let me install FF)

I use Launchy to quick open any application, so usually:
- ALT+SPACE+O opens Opera
- ALT+SPACE+E opens Explorer
- ALT+SPACE+F opens Firefox

Opera is my favorite browser, and the shortcuts I use the most are:
- CTRL+T New Tab
- +/- Zoom the page (best zoom ever)
- CTRL+D Add Bookmark (am I the only one still using bookmarks in my browser?)
- CTRL+F Search the Page

For everything else I use the mouse, even if I never got used to advanced mouse gestures.

Keyboard shortcuts are nice but there's one thing in the post that I don't get: using the windows-key + l to launch your favourite browser. That shortcut is much better left as standard: lock the computer (on Windows, obviously).
I second the use of windows-key + r for start-->run, it's very nice (mainly for running cmd in my case, though). Another one I use a lot is windows-key + m for minimizing all open windows.

Regards
Fake

How could I forget the most important shortcut of all in Opera!
Paste and go: CMD/CTRL+B

@nameless the address bar is already in focus after CMD/CTRL+T.

And just to add to my previous post, I actually find IE7 worse than IE6 for general browsing because Opera, FF and Safari are so good and I feel like IE7 is holding me back when I try real surfing. At least I have no illusions when using IE6. Safari needs some of Opera's features desperately, at least most of Opera's features are available to FF as extensions.

And as for bookmarks, the only time I use them is for icanhascheezburger.com

Forgot another very useful one:
Windows-key + E opens Windows Explorer

Fake

CTRL+ENTER is still my favorite. I see some people who claim that your browser does this already when you do not add this in the location bar. That is incorrect... you are actually doing a search (like Google's I feel lucky), defaulted to your default search engine.

If you want to go directly there, CTRL+ENTER saves a lot extra typing.

Be careful using these shortcuts in Explorer though: Alt+D might go to the address bar, but Ctrl+D deletes files. Oops!

- James.

Mouse Gestures FTW

Another shorcut I use sometime, CTRL+scroll to change the font size =)

Chris H.: CTRL-Enter is the 6th shortcut I'd recommend - I use it 50 times per day.

"Boss is coming" shortcut. Windows key + M

"Ctrl + [ENTER] will place the leading http://www. and the trailing .com ONLY if you have a English OS... if Danish it will place .dk if French will place .fr"

Ctrl + Alt + [ENTER] will place the leading http://www. and trailing.com and open in a new tab.

Jeff,

Perhaps Antonio was asking that you change your links default behaviour to be like shift middle click is (in firefox at least, I'm too lazy to check ie) ?

When you want to eventually read another page middle click on the mouse is the behavior you probably want, but if you want to read the other page wheNOW you really want middle click to open the tab and automagically take you to that tab, also when you ctrl+f4 to close the tab you want the browser to automagically take you back to what you where reading (without all that looking at the tab bar realizing that you have 5 tabs that say 'Coding Hor...' open with the only indication of what you where on being if the text is in red or black...)

They should make middle click anywhere inside a tab that isn't a link or otherwise active close the tab. I usually waste one of my extra Logitech mouse buttons for ctrl-f4 because being able to close inner panes without mousing up there is so handy.

For people who don't have a middle mouse button:
Ctrl + Left Click : Open link in new tab
Shift + Left Click : Open link in new window

I don't know about you guys, but the fact that I can't close tabs with the middle button on Firefox OSX drives me insane. It works in Windows but not in OSX.

I think CTRL+L is a better advocated choice for going to the address bar. It works in more browsers, including Firefox and IE on the Mac, on which ALT+D does not work.

I prefer to use ctrl+left-click to open a link in a new tab. Especially since most mouse software makes the third button configurable and the default usually doesn't have the function you describe. I also find ctrl+w easier to close a tab than moving the mouse and middle-clicking.

I agree Chris,

CTRL + L and CTRL + K is a better than ALT-D and CTRL-E mentioned in the original post.

alt+d works in to move to the address bar in Firefox 2.0.0.11 for me...it's also easier to type with one hand.

Am I the only weird one who uses Ctrl+PageUp/Down to switch tabs in Firefox?

Also, to search in a new tab, I use the "Search On Tab" extension. Definitely one of my favorite add-ons.

Middle mouse clicking is useful for more than just links in pages!

In Firefox, middle mouse clicking on any button (such as home or back) will open that link in a new tab. Also, try left clicking on the bookmarks menu item then middle clicking on a folder of bookmarks. The entire folder will open in tabs in one click. Be careful with that one, though as it will override any other open tabs. Useful when you need it but tragic when you hit it be accident.

The lack of this feature in IE is one of the most annoying things I've found when switching between browsers.

CLICKING THE MIDDLE MOUSE BUTTON TO OPEN IN A NEW TAB IS TEH DEVIL

Clicking that scroll wheel on an exact point on the screen is a 50-50 proposition. You miss the link, you get the DREADED CROSS OF DEATH. And God help you if you move the mouse during this crisis, your link will scroll off the end of the world.

Also, being as the button, when rotated, controls the vertical position of the page, if you don't click it dead center you risk scrolling the link out from underneath the cursor as you click. This results in the DREADED CROSS OF DEATH. See above for reprocussions.

There are only two solutions:
1) Shift-left click opens the link in a background tab. This requires two hands which sucks.
2) Stop being lazy and make all non-navigation links that point off the page open off the page.

to PaulG:

try Windows-D when "Boss is coming" because pressing it again restores your windows.

many know ctrl-enter adds "http://www." and ".com" around the text in the addressbar but you can also use shift-enter to add ".net" instead.

However, if anyone knows a shortcut to add ".co.uk" (without replacing the ".com" shortcut) i'd be v. greatful ;)

The most useful shortcuts I've learned are Ctrl + Home to jump to the top of a file or directory listing and Ctrl + End to jump to the bottom. It saves me from a lot of scrolling. Bookmarks in Ultra-Edit, FrontPage, and Visual Studio are pretty useful too for jumping around in a long code listing.

By the way, I like that CSS you used to make your letters look like keyboard keys.

I'm a keyboard purist, with opera I can set every single shortcut of the browser. These are the ones I use the most (in order) and wich key they are set:

New Tab, ctrl+n (also set the focus to the adress bar)
Close Tab, F4 (I changed from the default ctrl+F4 for more quick acess)
focus adress bar, F8
open incremental bookmark search tab ctrl+b (_the_ most time saving one, I do not even divide my bookmarks in folders anymore)
Paste in the adress bar and "go" ctrl+d (ctrl+shift+d to open in new tab)
1 next tab
2 previous tab
auto-logon ctrl+enter
spatial navigation (ctrl+arrows)

I do not know about you, but It's been ages since I type any full url in my adress bar, 80% of my navigation bookmarked, 10% is links from pages that I bookmarked, the other 10% is in search pages. The built in search in Opera works great, I can set a nickname for each search, and use it from the adress bar (I do not have a search bar). If I want to search for bunnys in google just press F8 and type "g bunnys", If I want to search for bunnys in wikipedia "w bunnys".

Since I do not close my browser, I have not set a shortcut to open it. But It might be usefull to use it to open new tab when I do not have opera with focus. Thanks for the tip I will set one right now.

The reason my shortcuts are somewhat strange (like ctrl+n for new tab) is because those are the same I used 4 years ago in Opera 7.0. The deafult in Opera has changed, but I still keep the same profile since those days...

On a somewhat related note for those you with more than one monitor: I've got a dual monitor setup at work and home and use Ultramon, which aside from allowing you to put a taskbar on each screen, has some nice built-in shortcuts, such as extending any window across both screens, moving a window from one screen to the other, opening an app, etc. There are about a dozen or so more shortcuts, all of which you can set to whatever keys you so desire.

My current setup:
Ctrl + Alt + A : Open Firefox
Ctrl + Alt + Z : Move window to next monitor
Ctrl + Alt + X : Maximize window across all screens/de-maximize
Ctrl + ALt + S : Maximize window to current screen/de-maximize

Also use a G15 keyboard and map those shortcuts to macros.

Uh, ok after a mess of comment, I've noticed a handful of errors no one seemed to want to correct, or at least, they've worked for me.

I think the best idea, Jeff, if you want, is to add a table of the (best) shortcuts for all the (major) browsers (official shortcuts). Some things seem to work or not to work depending on the OS also.

If I can add another shortcut one I haven't seen posted in the comments so far. Middle(mouse wheel)-click to close tab (even tabs not active). It's worked for me on firefox (win+linux) and opera (win).

To Will Sullivan: Use a Logitech mouse ;) just kiddin...

My middle-click on my touchpad is mapped to hte useless scrolldown button, so there's very little chance of me misclicking. Also, the tab bar is large enough to not miss a middle-click... if your mouse jitters around that much, it's time to get a heavier mouse (i.e. a Logitech), hehe

Thanks. I didn't know about those. Though I was shocked to see IE7 screenshots, they work on FF too.

captcha: orange (same as last time)

Only problem with using the middle mouse button for closing/opening new tabs (and other things, like rotating the cam in Neverwinter Nigths..) is the new mice that also support left and right scrolling. The ones I've used make it a lot harder to use the wheel as a button - especially if you've assigned something to the left/right scroll of the wheel that you DON'T want to do!

It still amazes me that EVERYONE doesn't use Firefox and All-In-One-Gestures. You don't need ANY key strokes for the usual things like:

- Open new tab
- Open link in new tab
- Forward
- Back
- Close

and many more, but those are the biggies.

Keith

Jeff, this is absolute drivel. honestly. A post on shortcut keys that even my five year old nephew knows about- weak sauce.

Jeff,

Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it. I was pleasantly surprised to find the the middle button click also closes tabs in Visual Studio 2005 :) Always enjoy your posts, keep up the great work.

"I'd argue the burden of compatibility-- particularly for such essential shortcuts-- falls on all those other browsers."

On the other hand, IE didn't even have tabs until just recently. Those "other browsers" are the ones being innovative.

just to say that using the middle button in a link to open it in a new tab won't work in all the pc's (not to say in all the web browsers), you can configure all the buttons in your mouse to do whatever you want. I think that you shouldn't assume that everybody has the same configuration setting in their mouses, I suggest that you make the links open in a new window/tab.
Thank you

The real WTF is that people need to launch their web browser frequently. Rather than just having it permanently open. ;)

My awesome sauce for the day is: Thumb mouse button = "Back".

People are still using Internet Explorer?

Didn't you know the US Government recommends against that?
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/713878

Do you guys hate America and support terrorism, or what?

Taskbar shuffle seems to allow closing with the middle button... I only realised just now when I went middleclick crazy on my taskbar expecting it to do nothing !

>I'd also add Command-} and Command-{ (that's the curly bracket, so you need Shift in there too) go from tab to tab in the current window

There's another way to do this, which I feel is more natural. Command-Shift-arrow (right or left) moves through the tabs the same as if you had used brackets.’

I love Middle-Click=Close.

I also love Middle-Click=MoveViewableArea. Sadly, this is implemented in far fewer applications.

> My awesome sauce for the day is: Thumb mouse button = "Back".

I'm more a fan of mouse rocker navigation.
Right->Left = Back
Left->Right = Foreward

Works in Opera or in Firefox with the right extension.

Suggestions 4 & 5 are great! I've already got #1 set up for my most commonly used programs. I'd like to suggest Alt+F4 to close a browser, especially if anyone is like me and is constantly closing and reopening a browser, so the shortcut to open and the shortcut to close is very handy.

I've also memorized the shortcuts to switch between tabs in Firefox. Ctrl+Tab to next tab. Ctrl+Shift+Tab for previous.

I've seen a few posts on the Ctrl-Enter shortcut, I use that one all the time. I even saw someone post about the Shift-Enter shortcut to switch the appended TLD to ".net". You can also use Ctrl-Shift-Enter to append ".org" to the address bar entry. So to summarize:

Ctrl + Enter = "http://" + address bar entry + ".com"
Shift + Enter = "http://" + address bar entry + ".net"
Ctrl + Shift + Enter = "http://" + address bar entry + ".org"

Thanks I only knew two of them!

Expanding on Tom Dibble's list of Safari/Mac shortcuts:

1. Command-Space, "saf", Return launches Safari using Spotlight—of course it keeps running after you close its last window, so you can always command-tab to it later
2. Command-L sets focus on the address field
3. Command-F to search on the page, add the Option ("Alt") key for the Google search field (many OS X apps use these for Find and Find in Place)
4. Command-Return or Command-click opens in a new tab from the address field, search field, bookmarks menu, bookmarks bar, or a link, form field, or submit button (!) on the page. Add shift key to open the tab in front. Option key downloads the target instead.

(By the way, you can cycle through links and form elements on a page using Option-Tab. Or go to Safari &#8594; Preferences &#8594; Advanced and check "press tab to highlight each item on a webpage" to reverse the behaviour.)

5. Each tab has a close button, or Command-W to close the current tab.

Command-[ and ] to navigate the history, add the shift key to navigate tabs, Command-` to cycle windows.

Additional handiness:

Command-1, etc. opens the first nine bookmarks in your bookmarks bar—I have them set to my weather page, the local bus trip planner, Google movie listing, and TV listings.

Command-+, Command-minus, Command-zero to resize text.

Real keyboard jockeys will also set System Preferences &#8594; Keyboard & Mouse &#8594; Keyboard Shortcuts &#8594; Full keyboard access to "all controls", and learn all the text-entry keyboard shortcuts.

What happens when I hit CTRL-F-U?

I would argue that IE is the one that has to handle the "burden" of compatibility.

Every browser that I've recently used regularly (except IE of course) which are:
- Firefox
- Safari
- Konquerer
- Opera
- Camino

Uses the standard shortcuts of:
Ctrl/Cmd - L = Adress bar
Ctrl/Cmd - T = New tab
Ctrl/Cmd - W = Close Tab

I forgot to mention Microsoft's Keyboard Assistance and Shortcuts page. Pretty comprehensive.

http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/keyboard.aspx

"Keyboard shortcuts are nice but there's one thing in the post that I don't get: using the windows-key + l to launch your favourite browser. That shortcut is much better left as standard: lock the computer (on Windows, obviously)."

It's a one, not an L.

"Clicking that scroll wheel on an exact point on the screen is a 50-50 proposition. You miss the link, you get the DREADED CROSS OF DEATH."

I recognise that not everyone has great mouse skills, but I've never come across this problem. Worse case, I miss it a little, I've not ever had it scroll off for miles. Maybe I just don't move the mouse as fast as some.

"Stop being lazy and make all non-navigation links that point off the page open off the page."
NO, NO, NO, NO! I want to decide where something opens, not the web author. I know much better what I want. If I want it to open in a new window/tab it's trivial, but if something opens off site it's very difficult to get it to open in the same tab if you want that. And then there's the issue of marking things off site so people know what will happen when they click. Will it open in the current window? Will it open in a new window? Much better to consistently open in the current window and let users decide where to open it.

I too am a fan of rocker gestures over dedicated mouse buttons. My fingers are already hovering on the buttons, so with a little practice it's much quicker. However, it's not for everyone.

Also, with regards to middle click, I find IE's behaviour of placing tabs after the active tab quite irritating. I find it difficult then to know where a tab is, even though thinking about it it should make sense. I guess it's just what you're used to.

If I had a dollar for every shortcut I've learned and 'forgotten' over the years, for what seems like an endless array of half-baked software products I'd, well, I'd retire and then I wouldn't have to remember any more shortcuts (man, am I sick of having to remember shortcuts! :-)

Isn't that computer thingy s'posed to make my life easier and remember things for me?

thanks for the new, shortcuts i didn't know..

ctrl + alt + del : I often use this when my browser crashes.. try it.. xD

It's really sad to read this post - how is it possible to not have seen all this on linux (copy-paste using high-light/mark and middle mouse button) and firefox during the last two-three years?
Most of the entries here are insightful - this one's just lame. It makes you wonder if M$ or rather how much they payed you to publish this.

Amazing. :(

Forget the middle mouse button. Turn on the "search for text when I start typing" option in Firefox. Then when you see links you want to navigate to, you just start typing some of the letters in that link and the focus will go there. Then you hit ctrl+enter to open the link in a new tab.
Much more efficient than mousing all around when you're reading.

Does anyone else you "add keyword for search" option in firefox?
I use it religiously:
1) Alt+D Sends me to address bar
2) "g Horse Porn" googles horse porn
3) "y Horse Porn" YouTubes for horse porn
etc...

> Clicking that scroll wheel on an exact point on the screen is a 50-50 proposition. You miss the link, you get the DREADED CROSS OF DEATH

I'm so glad you brought this up. You're absolutely right, of course; who uses that wacky middle-click-anywhere scrolling cursor mode? I need to disable that cursed thing.

But..

> I also love Middle-Click=MoveViewableArea. Sadly, this is implemented in far fewer applications.

Some people like this behavior, evidently.

> Expanding on Tom Dibble's list of Safari/Mac shortcuts:

Thanks so much for posting the Safari equivalents. I really struggled with the Windows version of Safari. I think it's important for every user, on every browser platform, to know these five crucial shortcuts.

I'm assuming Mac users have mice that allow a middle click, and that Safari behaves the same way as IE/FF for middle clicking links?

> It still amazes me that EVERYONE doesn't use Firefox and All-In-One-Gestures.

I'm not sure mouse gestures will ever be mainstream. I've tried to use them. I have mixed feelings. Even in games, where experimental UI is expected and welcome, they're kind of aggravating.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000521.html

> The real WTF is that people need to launch their web browser frequently. Rather than just having it permanently open. ;)

As monitors get larger, and for multi-mon (I have three), you need multiple browser windows.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000928.html

> A post on shortcut keys that even my five year old nephew knows about- weak sauce.

It is indeed my hope that this post is completely obvious to everyone, eventually.

> If I had a dollar for every shortcut I've learned and 'forgotten' over the years, for what seems like an endless array of half-baked software products I'd, well, I'd retire and then I wouldn't have to remember any more shortcuts (man, am I sick of having to remember shortcuts! :-)

> Isn't that computer thingy s'posed to make my life easier and remember things for me?

I sympathize. I used to use Wordstar, and learned a lot of keyboard shortcuts for it. Then I used qedit, which came with Wordstar key bindings, and was very happy. But times change and now I use vim. Then there are the people who mastered WordPerfect in all its function-key majesty. Too bad for them.

I'm not afraid to keep spending time learning shortcuts, though, especially since I do most of my work in Linux. Its Unix heritage means that much of what I need to know has been the same for two or three decades, and is likely to last much longer.

> Does anyone else you "add keyword for search" option in firefox?
I use it religiously

Preach it, brother! Way to master the web.

The very first thing I do when I install Firefox, is go into about:config and change browser.search.openintab to true. This seems to reverse the default, except when in a blank tab.

hey the Ctrl + L is going to help me out a lot ,now i can restore focus to the address bar easily after it has been stolen by my homepage.BTW nothing can beat Ctrl + T!

I'm glad to see quite a few other people use the keyword searching. I might resurrect my project to create a unified search/url bar complete with search history. Currently in Firefox if you type "g something" you get no auto-complete on your searches.

Hey.. I used to consider myself really good at using keyboard shortcuts, until I read this article.

I realized I never knew 4 out of these 5!

Great info, thanks!

Being a Firefox user, I use Ctrl-L and Ctrl-K all the time to access the location and search boxes. But I tried your Alt-D and Alt-E and they work just as well. As as a right-handed mouse user, they are perfect for me. The Ctrl-L and Ctrl-K combinations I currently use would be perfect for a left-handed mouse user. Thanks for the tip!

@Will Sullivan
It's even worst on Linux! Instead of the Wheel, you get the contents of your clipboard used as an address and loaded inb the current tab.

most useful comments thread ive read in a while! thanks for the notes.

I always assign "Backspace" to the middle button.
Result: it behaves as "Back" on every browser.
I can go back to the previous page without moving the mouse too much, without using the keyboard and without using stupid gestures (like the ones one can use in Opera)

Aha, this is one of most useful posts I've read.
I use IE, and few shortcuts used:
F5: Refresh
<-: backspace key
Ctrl + t: Opens a tab
Enter:
...

Of course, if you use one of those laptops, you are still quite screwed for the usage of middle click.
No, both button presses don't cut it at all.
Might I humbly recommend a partial solution to be found in the ctrl+left-click?

Both mouse buttons work just fine, if you're on Linux and your X server is set to handle that (which is default). Otherwise, ctrl-click works in firefox, and maybe in IE.

My shortcut to run my web browser is alt-f2, firefox, enter
alt-f2 gives me the run dialog, from which I can run any program on my computer just by typing it's name! An operating system that sets the path environment variable properly is a wonderful thing.

Interesting that nobody has brought up my favorite curiosity/debugging keyboard short-cut in Firefox (and it truly irks me that it doesn't work in IE!): CTRL + U
Shows the HTML code of the page you're on, in case you're looking for the email address a form gets sent to, need to check on your web analytics tagging, or any other of a number of geeky trips I've taken.

Great list Jeff - though I do use Firefox 99.9% of the time.

The only two helpfull shortcuts for IE are Alt+F4 or Ctrl+Alt+Supr
Cheers!

I have a commodore 64 and none of these work?

Dantheman

Hmm. I don't know the Alt + Enter trick. Thanks to you!

Hey,

Nice site with a lot of good tips I haven't thought of!

But there is one thing I'm missing, when you use all of these nifty shortcuts in adress bar, search bar and so on, how do I put the focus back in the main window so I can use arrows for scrolling up/down again?

Now, if only IE implemented '/' for incremental search... This is standard in Epiphany, konqueror, Opera, Firefox, links, lynx, w3m, heck in less, across Gnome (in listboxes eg). Yet, if I hit F3 or Ctrl-F in IE, I'm greeted by the dreaded Search box of Notepad 1.0 fame.

As far as I know, IE still hasn't even implemented incremental search at all. (IE8 anyone?). How braindead is that?

Firefox still (no longer?) has no way to navigate back more than one browser-location (ie. request) at a time. This makes it impossible to go back in the case of redirects/postback info. IE and Opera have similar ways to address this, although Opera (of course) has superior keyboard control (z, Z in 9.2 compatible keys).

Seth
----
PS the word is still orange. But you *knew* that. You deliberately keep it that way, because you abhor security by obscurity, like any pro!
Question: if you have alternative means to block abuse, why don't you just fill in the word ahead of time. It's annoying to tell your webserver that he has guessed the correct captcha.. again and again

Thanks cafemurce for sharing this information. It must mean the oranges have gone :)

*sob* *sob* *sob*

no cafemurce's spammy post got deleted (yes Jeff, I keep tabs on things :_) but I have no way to delete my now-obsolete reply to him. Sad thing.

Great to see that Jeff is keeping an eye on all entries anyhow