Tab Mix Plus Firefox Extension Now for Firefox 3

One the best things about the Firefox web browser is the tabbed browsing feature--the ability to have more than one webpage open in one window. Since Firefox first introduced the concept several years ago, every major web browser, from Internet Explorer to Opera to Google's Chrome, has implemented this functionality.

What if you want to do more with your tabs, though? You want to group them, save theme, organize them, assign special colors, and automatically reload the pages in some of them. You need Tab Mix Plus, a power-browser's dream extension for Firefox, and now it's compatible with Firefox 3! Here's a rundown of some of the coolest features in this uber-useful Firefox 3 extension.

Define How to Handle Links

The Tab Mix Plus Firefox extension can help customize what happens when you click on click. For instance, with Tab Mix Plus you can easy have all "new window" links open in a new tab instead. You can also have pop-ups open new tabs, and even prevent that pesky blank tab that often comes up when you're downloading a file. These features alone make the extension worth installing, but there's more!

Customize Events

Tab Mix Plus lets you define what happens on certain "tab events" like opening a tab, focusing a tab, and closing a tab. For instance, you easily assign your homepage to open within every new tab, and set up custom warning behavior when closing one or multiple tabs. Plus, you can easily perform an "undo" when you close a tab! It's true that Firefox 3 has this functionality by default, but Tab Mix Plus brings it to the forefront by adding a quickly-accessed "Undo Close Tab" item in your right-click menu.

Personalize Tab Display

It's also easy to customize the way tabs appear in your browser as well. With Tab Mix Plus, you can add a handy "new tab" button to either side of the tab bar, add "a close tab" button, and even move the tab bar to bottom of your browser instead of top. It's also possible to define custom styles for your tabs. For instance, you can easily have the text in your current tab be bold, red, and underlined, while the text in your unread tabs is gray and italicized. Tab Mix Plus also adds a nice progress bar, so you can actually see how far along the page is in loading without actually switching tabs.

Use Mouse Gestures

Another great feature in Tab Mix Plus is the ability to use mouse gestures to navigate through and manipulate your tabs. You can easily select tabs by merely pointing at them, and you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse to fly through all the web pages you have open. It's also possible to define custom actions based on how you click on a tab. For example, it's easy to set it up where every you time you double click on a tab, it automatically gets bookmarked. How cool is that?

Add Extra Menu Functionality

There are several other awesome features that Tab Mix Plus provides through extra menu items that appear when you right-click on a tab. Among my favorites: Copy Tab URL: allows easy copying of the URL, Protect Tab: Keeps tab from being accidentally closed, and Close Other Tabs: Lets you easily close all the tabs except the one you're clicking on.

Tab Mix Plus is a must-have browser extension for the Firefox 3 power user. It adds so much useful functionality, it's hard to go back to "regular" tabbed browsing!