Use shortcuts for faster web browsing

The web browser has become the most important software on most users’ computers. You probably use your web browser for entertainment, work, learning, and other purposes. Therefore you can make your life easier by using it efficiently.

Here are some tips for keyboard shortcuts that will save you time and effort. These shortcuts were tested in the following browsers:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Chromium
• Midori
• Epiphany

Tabs management

Tabs are the most basic element in modern browsers. You can use the following shortcuts:

• Ctrl+T

  : Open a new tab

• Ctrl+W

  : Close current tab

• Ctrl+Shift+T

  : Re-open last closed tab

• Ctrl+Tab

  : Move to following tab (doesn’t work in Epiphany)

• Ctrl+PgDn

  (

  Page Down

  ): Move to following tab

• Ctrl+Shift+Tab

  : Move to previous tab (doesn’t work in Epiphany)

• Ctrl+PgUp

  (

  Page Up

  ): Move to previous tab

• Ctrl+<Number>

  : Using a number between 1 and 8, opens the tab in that position, counting from left (doesn’t work in Epiphany). In Midori replace

  Ctrl

  with

  Alt

  .

• Ctrl+9

  : Go to the last (right-most) tab (doesn’t works in Epiphany). In Midori replace

  Ctrl

  with

  Alt.
• Ctrl+N

  : Open a new browser window

• Ctrl+Q

  : Quit browser (works only in Firefox and Epiphany). Use this shortcut with caution, since it may close everything without notice

Browsing

From moving around a page to searching inside one, here are some available shortcuts:

• Ctrl+L

  : Positions the cursor in the navigation bar to write a new URL

• Ctrl+Enter

  : autocomplete www. and .com in a URL. Try typing google and then press

  Ctrl+Enter.

   (In Midori and Epiphany this shortcut launches a search on the content in the URL bar, using the default search engine.)

• Ctrl+Shift+Enter

   performs different functions on each browser.

  • Firefox: Autocomplete www. and .org in a URL, similar to the shortcut above
  • Google Chrome and Chromium: Works like
    Ctrl+Enter
  • Midori: Launch a search on the content in the URL bar, using the default search engine in a new tab
  • Epiphany: Launch a search on the content in the URL bar, using the default search engine in a new window
• Alt+Shift+Enter

  : autocomplete www. and .net in a URL, similar to shortcuts above (only in Firefox)

• Ctrl+R

  or

  F5

  : Reload a page

• ←↑→↓

  and spacebar: Move across the page

• Ctrl++

  : Zoom in

• Ctrl+-

  : Zoom out

• Ctrl+D

  : Bookmark current page

• Ctrl+F

  : Search for text in the current page

• Ctrl+P

  : Print the current page

Step by step

Obviously there are many shortcuts available. Don’t try to memorize all of them at once. The idea is to incorporate them slowly into your browsing sessions, until you start using them naturally.

This post is inspired by a blog entry by Elena Santos in ChicaGeek.

Image courtesy Peignault Laurent – originally posted to Unsplash as Untitled.