Firefox 3 – Opening a URL in new tab using command-enter
Download/Install UseMetaKeys FireFox Extension
In celebration of the release of Firefox 3 yesterday (and since I had forgotten to install my extension previously), I am posting this quick, dirty, and oh so helpful firefox extension.
Firefox has long been my preferred browser, although for the last year or so Safari had been gaining ground. Firefox 2 was just to bloated and slow, especially on OS X, and Safari was much faster. I always had a hard time choosing between the additional functionality Firefox provides, and the simplicity and speed of Safari. With Firefox 3, that’s pretty much over, and it is back in its place as my primary browser.
However, one thing that has always bugged me about firefox on Mac OS X was that you can’t open a URL in a new tab using Command+Enter, it only works with Option(alt)+Enter. I couldn’t find a fix a year or two ago, and with some quick searching today, I still did not find a good way to reassign the key sequence. So, I looked up a couple howto’s, found a sample/donor project, and whipped up a simple extension with a single purpose – remap Command-Enter to open a url in a new tab (i.e. when typing in the address or search bars). As expected, no support is provided, no warranty intended, etc., but if you’re using Firefox on OS X, I highly suggest installing this.
For some reason, I called it “UseMetaKeys”, and now, a year later, I am too lazy to change the name.
2 responses so far
> With Firefox 3, that’s pretty much over
It’s definitely come a long way
.
When I do use Firefox, I’m still using your UseMetaKeys extension. Thanks!
I just kind of got used to the other key sequence, (alt+return). But I may give this a try soon.