Tip #4613 - Redesigned: Firefox Tabbed Browsing
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Redesigned:
Firefox Tabbed Browsing
As you probably
know, tabbed browsing has been around for a number of years. I first
came across it when exploring the Mozilla Firefox Web browser that
came bundled with Ubuntu Linux. A relative latecomer to the tabbed
browsing party was Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7, but to Microsoft's
credit, they have produced a fine implementation of the technology.
In particular,
IE7 offers two exceedingly useful features in their version of tabbed
browsing. First, a partial tab is always visible on the right hand
end of the line of open tabs, as shown below. Clicking on that mini
tab creates a new tab, thus avoiding the need to use the File, New
Tab menu.
The second feature
is more obscure. Tucked away, deep down in the Tools menu (Tools,
Internet Options, Tabs/Settings) is a checkbox that says “Open
homepage for new tab instead of a blank page.” This one is killer!
IE7 allows you to specify that any new tab should display your default
Web page. Talk about convenience!
In fact, I found
this feature in IE7 so useful that I was actually reluctant to continue
using Firefox and having to resort back to the File, New Tab option
on its menu system. But then I got to thinking! Firefox is well known
as an open source browser and there are many available add ons that
extend the program's functionality. So, I was thinking perhaps there
was an add on that would provide a link to a new tab and a default
Web page.
A little searching
with Google took me to a Firefox extension that showed some promise!
It's called New Tab Button on Tab Bar 2.0 and it
simply adds a button to the tab bar. Then, when clicked, the button
opens up a new tab. If that's something you think you might enjoy,
you can install that extension right here.
But, Firefox still doesn't let you specify a Web page to be opened
on the blank tab.
So, I sent an
e-mail to Mike Goodspeed, the add on's author, asking if he had considered
extending his program code so that each new tab can be configured
to open a specific page (like Internet Explorer 7).
I received a same
day reply that I found both interesting and informative! I really
admired Mike's minimalist programming philosophy. He said, “I
try really hard to keep out any options. Plus, I see this extension
as trivial enough to be one feature and one feature alone.”
But, he was also gracious enough to provide the information necessary
to solve my problem. He wanted me to try this extension
instead.
The latter turned
out to be New Tab Homepage 0.3 by Ben Basson. As
it states, this add on to Firefox “loads your homepage when
you open a new tab. If you have multiple homepages, the first is chosen.”
So, having installed
the two add ons, I now have the best of both worlds: Mike Goodspeed's
button to quickly bring up a new tab and Ben Basson's routine to load
my homepage when I hit the new tab button. It doesn't get any better
than that!
Give both of them
a try for yourself today!
~ Alan German
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