Some useful and handy tricks for Firefox 3

Here are some shortcuts and suggestions which will help you get the most out of Firefox 3.

Zoom In, Zoom Out

If you want to see an image or a text, then you can easily zoom in and out of Web pages using this feature.

Zoom In : Ctrl + "+"
Zoom Out : Ctrl + "-"

Tabs

If you’re the type of person who used to open a lot of Web pages at the same time then you should surely be benefited by this tabbed browsing.

Open a new empty tab : Ctrl + "T"
Open a link in a new tab : Middle Click on link
Close a tab : Ctrl + "W"
Reopen a closed tab : Ctrl + Shift + "T"

Add Bookmarks

Keep track of all the sites you like with one-click bookmarking and just save time. When you visit a page, just click on the star icon in the location bar to remember it later on. Firefox will add it to your bookmarks list so you can easily visit it again without much efforts.

OR go to Bookmarks menu -> Bookmark this page OR also you can simply press: Ctrl + "D"

Security Alert

A common tactic among Web scammers is to set up fake sites, known as phishing sites, that impersonate your bank, your favorite e-commerce site, etc. Firefox makes it easy to determine if sites are what they say they are.

1. An attack site or forgery. This is definitely phishing site which will take your personal information and also may be harmful if you just opened it. Marked in RED colour.
   
2. The site which provides you verified identity information and protects your personal data from online eavesdroppers and is marked in GREEN colour.
   
3. The site which provides basic identity information and protects your personal data from online eavesdroppers is marked in BLUE colour.
   
4. The site that doesn't provide any identity information is simply marked in GRAY colour.

Basic Shortcuts

Firefox is having a lot of keyboard shortcuts designed to make your life easier.

Move cursor to location bar : Ctrl + "L"
Move cursor to search box : Ctrl + "K"
Scroll down the page : "SPACEBAR"
Scroll up the page : Shift + "SPACEBAR"
Reload the page : Ctrl + "R"
Back : Alt + "Left Arrow"
Forward : Alt + "Right Arrow"
Open New Window : Ctrl + "N"
Close Window : Ctrl + Shift + "W"

Tags

Once you build up a large list of bookmarks, keeping track of all of them maybe a little messy. To organize these bookmarks, you can assign tags to your bookmarked sites: just double-click on the star icon and just enter the tags.

You can assign a tag to a site with as many terms as you want (separated by a comma), and then easily find the sites again by typing that tag into the location bar.

Add-ons

There are more than 5,000 Add-ons in Firefox that you can download to enhance almost any task you can think of.

Go to Tools -> Add-ons

Search in a better way

You might be familiar with the search bar built in to Firefox, but do you know you can customize it with just about any search engine you want? Just click on the icon to the left of your search bar to see the menu of default options.

If you want even more better then click Manage Search Engines to rearrange the list, add additional choices and even assign keyboard shortcuts to your favorite search engines.

Delete History

For security and privacy reasons, it's not good to leave a trail behind you as you browse (especially on a shared computer). Firefox allows you to delete your browsing and download history, clear your cache and delete your cookies in a single click.

Go to Tools -> Clear Private Data OR simply press Ctrl + Shift + Del

Move to Favorite Sites Directly

You can add keywords to your bookmarks for easier and faster access. From the Library, just add a short name in the keyword field, and you’ll be able to access that bookmark by simply typing that keyword into the address bar.

Create Folders

If you’re an advanced Web surfer who keeps track of a variety of sites, this will help you a lot and also save your time. Firefox 3’s Library will help you create and save searches into folders which can automatically be updated as you add sites to your bookmarks and history.

From Bookmarks menu, select "Organize Bookmarks" option. Open Library and enter your search terms in the search box. Click the Save button to create a Smart Folder.

Organize Downloads

If you’re a frequent downloader, you can use the download manager window to keep track of all your downloads. You can pause and resume downloads, and save yourself time by opening files directly from the manager.

Go to Tools -> Downloads OR simply press Ctrl + "J"

Discover Developer Tools

If you’re a Web developer, Firefox’s developer tools will make your life easier. The Mozilla Add-ons site offers many tools to streamline the development process, including Firebug to edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any Web page, Tamper Data to view and modify HTTP/HTTPS headers and POST parameters, and the DOM Inspector to examine any HTML or CSS element with a simple right click.

Set the Web Up Just Like You Like It

Now you can use Web-based protocol handlers to provide quick access to your favorite Web applications. For example, you can set Firefox up so clicking on a mailto: link on any site will open a new message in your preferred webmail provider rather than your computer’s default mail program (note: this feature is only available with webmail services that have registered with Firefox 3).

Go to Tools -> Options -> Applications to select the default application for each protocol or to select “Always Ask” if you prefer to choose the application yourself every time.

If you’re a Web app developer, check out more about how to add support for Web-based protocol handlers in the Mozilla Developer Center.