Internet Browser Keyboard Shortcuts

Yesterday we talked about seven key combinations, or Shortcuts, which can enhance your efficiency using the Windows Clipboard. Today let us discus some Shortcuts that can make your browsing on the Internet more efficient.

These Shortcuts have been tested both in Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox. While I do not know for a certainty past these two applications, I have a sneaking suspicion that they will work in other browsers as well

Control + N: This one is very useful. It works almost universally in Microsoft Windows applications. In most anything you are using, pushing these two keys together opens a new window. If you are using Microsoft Word these two keys will open a new document. Adobe Photoshop, same thing. In our scenario with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox these two keys when pressed together open a new browser window.

Control + T: The coming of tabbed browsing has changed the way we surf the Internet. If, like many power-surfers around, you prefer to keep your environment free of virtual clutter, then tabs are very useful indeed. Pushing these two keys together opens a new tab in your current browser window in both Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox.

Control + W: This Shortcut is multi-functional like the Control "N" Shortcut. In both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox pressing these two keys together will close you current active tab. If you only have one tab open, or if you are using a program like Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop then pushing these two keys together will close the whole program.

Control + R: Pressing these two key together in either Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Mozilla Firefox, will reload your current active tab. This is useful on sites where the content may change regularly and you want to make certain you are seeing the newest data. Pushing the "F5" key on your keyboard will do the same thing and is also referred to as "Refreshing" the page.

Alr + left arrow: Pressing these two keys together; the Alt key and the left arrow on your keyboard; navigates your browser back one page in your history. So if you were to push them right now, you would leave this page and "go back" to the one which lead you here.

Backspace: This is a beautiful Shortcut. It works in both browsers and does the same thing as the Alr + left arrow. If you are using a laptop this can be much easier than hunting for a right arrow on your keyboard to use that may not even exist!

Alt + right arrow: Pressing these two keys together; the Alt key and the right arrow on your keyboard; navigates your browser forward one page in your history. So if you were to push Alr + left arrow and then right afterwards use these keystrokes, you would return to this page.

If you put these Windows Shortcuts together with yesterday's, you can start to move around very quickly without ever having to move your hand away from the keyboard to your mouse, and then back again. A much more efficient use of energy.

Here are three more Shortcuts which are fairly universal in Microsoft Windows, and work in both the browsers we are talking about today.

Control + S: This Shortcut is multi-functional like some of the ones we have already mentioned. In both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, as well as almost any Microsoft Windows program pushing these two keys together will open a dialogue to Save a file to your computer. For example, pushing these two keys right now would open a box asking where you wanted to save a copy of this page on your hard drive. You could then access it at a later time without revisiting this site.

Control + O: This Shortcut is also multi-functional like some of the ones we have already discussed. In both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, as well as almost virtually any other Microsoft Windows program, pushing these two keys together will open a dialog to open a file. Using these two keys together, you could open the copy of this page which you had saved after using the Control + S Shortcut.

Control + P: This is also a multi-functional Shortcut. In both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox pressing these two keys together will print you current active tab. As with several of the other Shortcuts we have discussed today, this one also works in almost any Microsoft Windows Program

There are a great many keyboard Shortcuts you can use. Believe it or nor, if you wanted to you could almost never touch your mouse! And why would you ever want to do such a thing? There are many reasons, but give these a shot and see if your efficiency does not go up. In the mean time, I have still more keyboard Shortcuts for my next tip.