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Instructional Technology » Web Browser Tips and Tricks

Web Browser Tips and Tricks

Internet Shortcuts that work (almost) on all browsers

If you are on a Mac, you'll most likely just substitute the Command Key (Command Key Icons - Download Free Vector Icons | Noun Project) for the control key.

History & Bookmarks

Ctrl+H – Open the browsing history.

Ctrl+J – Open the download history.

Ctrl+D – Bookmark the current website.

Ctrl+Shift+Del – Open the Clear Browsing History window.

 

Tabs

Ctrl+1-8 – Switch to the specified tab, counting from the left.

Ctrl+9 – Switch to the last tab.

Shift+Scroll Wheel on Mouse – Will scroll through the history of that tab

Ctrl+Tab – Switch to the next tab – in other words, the tab on the right. (Ctrl+Page Up also works, but not in Internet Explorer.)

Ctrl+Shift+Tab – Switch to the previous tab – in other words, the tab on the left. (Ctrl+Page Down also works, but not in Internet Explorer.)

Ctrl+W, Ctrl+F4 – Close the current tab.

Ctrl+Shift+T – Reopen the last closed tab.

Ctrl+T – Open a new tab.

Ctrl+N – Open a new browser window.

Alt+F4 – Close the current window. (Works in all applications.)

 

Navigation

Alt+Left Arrow, Backspace – Back.

Alt+Right Arrow, Shift+Backspace – Forward.

F5 – Reload/Refresh

Ctrl+F5 – Reload and skip the cache, re-downloading the entire website.

Escape – Stop.

Alt+Home – Open homepage.

Window Key +D – Go to Desktop

  

Zooming

Ctrl and +, Ctrl+Mousewheel Up – Zoom in.

Ctrl and -, Ctrl+Mousewheel Down — Zoom out.

Ctrl+0 – Default zoom level.

Ctrl+ + -- Zoom In

Ctrl+ - -- Zoom Out

F11 – Full-screen mode.

 

Scrolling

Space, Page Down – Scroll down a frame.

Shift+Space, Page Up – Scroll up a frame.

Home – Top of page.

End – Bottom of page.

 

Address Bar

Ctrl+L, Alt+D, F6 – Focus the address bar so you can begin typing.

Ctrl+Enter – Prefix www. and append .com to the text in the address bar, and then load the website. For example, type google into the address bar and press Ctrl+Enter to open www.google.com.

Alt+Enter – Open the location in the address bar in a new tab.

 

Search

Ctrl+K, Ctrl+E – Focus the browser’s built-in search box or focus the address bar if the browser doesn’t have a dedicated search box. (Ctrl+K doesn’t work in IE, Ctrl+E does.)

Alt+Enter – Perform a search from the search box in a new tab.

Ctrl+F, F3 – Open the in-page search box to search on the current page.

Ctrl+G, F3 – Find the next match of the searched text on the page.

Ctrl+Shift+G, Shift+F3 – Find the previous match of the searched text on the page.

 

Other Functions

Ctrl+P – Print the current page.

Ctrl+S – Save the current page to your computer.

Ctrl+O – Open a file from your computer.

Ctrl+U – Open the current page’s source code. (Not in IE.)

F12 – Open Developer Tools. (Requires Firebug extension for Firefox.)


Add-Ons, Plugs Ins, and Extensions

Most browsers feature some sort of advanced, usually 3rd Party, set of added web browser capability. At each of these "stores" most are free and performs very specific functions, such as:
  • translating a webpage (all the way or only partially if you're trying to learn a new language) 
  • playing a radio station
  • doing tasks for you automatically (see iMacros below)
  • Pretty much anything you can think of or search for
Firefox has add-ons (found here).
Google Chrome has plug ins (found here)
Safari has extensions (found here).
IE has add-ons (found here) as well, but they are pretty limited.
 
Some are ad-based, so  just be careful what you download (as always) but for the most part, they are pretty useful bits of software.
 
I'd have to say one of the most useful Add-ons I've found is iMacros (Firefox). You can download it here. What I like about this add-on is the ability to web-based tasks and perform them with one click of a button.  
 
Here's one that Ryan used to run when he was a principal. In the morning, He'd open Firefox and choose "Start of Day."  While he made my morning Keurig, here's what transpired in his browser:
  1. Login into Infinite Campus
    1. Run query on students that have an in-progress grade of F
  2. Login into K12 (our Learning Management System)
    1. Navigate to the student database
    2. Query students that had not logged in in 3 or more days
      1. Add note to their file (low log in tracking)
      2. Send email to all students (and their parents) in list that mail merged it to personalize it to the student
    3. Generate grade book reports and save to My Downloads folder to peruse later
  3. Navigate to Pandora to start a station of Led Zeppelin
    1. That way, he knew it was done running when he heard Kashmir or a similar song start playing
Try it out yourself, it's pretty useful.  Just make sure to go very slowly when you are recording the macro, it doesn't "take" if you are breezing through it for some reason.