Shortcuts you can use in your favorite browser

Keyboard shortcuts are great for those who don’t like using a mouse. They can also save you time. We took a little heat for selecting Google Chrome (browser) as our freeware pick a few weeks ago – but we stand by our pick. Why? Because, while it has a few bugs, it’s getting better and better. And hey! It’s still in beta testing. It’s already, arguably, the fastest browser. So it’s only going to get better. It doesn’t hurt to try new things. You can still use whatever browser you like best.

Since many of you have already downloaded and tried Google’s Chrome, we thought it would be an excellent time to go over some browser keyboard shortcuts. A few of these are tagged “Chrome only” which means, duh, they work in Google’s new Chrome browser only. But most of these shortcuts work in Firefox, IE, and Chrome. So whether you use Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome, or all three, you’ll find some useful tips that will help make your browser easier.

The following two shortcuts are for Chrome only.

* (Chrome only) Ctrl+B toggles the bookmarks bar on and off.
* (Chrome only) Shift+Escape opens Google Chrome’s Task Manager.

All of the following shortcuts work in Firefox and Chrome. Most work in Internet Explorer as well.

* Ctrl+L to move your cursor to the address bar.
* Ctrl+K moves your cursor to the address bar to enter a Google search.
* Ctrl+T opens a new tab.
* Ctrl+N opens a new window.
* Ctrl+Shift+T opens the last closed tab.
* (Chrome only) Ctrl+Shift+N opens a new window in “Incognito Mode.”
* Ctrl+Tab cycles through open tabs; Ctrl+Shift+Tab reverse cycles through open tabs.
* Ctrl+J opens the Downloads tab.
* Ctrl+W closes the current tab.
* Ctrl+R refreshes the current page.
* Ctrl+H opens the History tab.
* Alt+Home loads your homepage.
* Ctrl+1 through 9 switches to a particular open tab position.
* Ctrl++, Ctrl+-, Ctrl+0 Enlarges, reduces, and restores default text sizes, respectively.

And did ya know…
You can use the up/down arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll up or down a web page when browsing, instead of using your mouse. Indeed, you can save your carpal tunnels 🙂 by using this little trick. And, if you want to scroll up and down on a large page you can click the Page Down button on your keyboard, and it will scroll in increments until you get to the bottom. You can use the Page Up button to go back up. If you want to go back to the top of the page from anywhere on the page – just hit the “Home” key.

And, if your a bottom feeder, like TC, you can get to the bottom of the page quickly from anywhere on the page by pressing the “End” key. Now don’t those old carpel tunnels feel better already?