May 5, 2009
Secrets of the Middle Mouse Button, Revealed!
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By: Luke Gilman | Other Posts by Luke Gilman Go to Comments | Be the First to Comment |
Farhad Manjoo taught me something only marginally related to his post Kill Your RSS Reader: And use my amazing system for browsing the Web, but blessedly useful nonetheless.
My system also makes liberal use of one of the best, least-known shortcuts built into modern Web browsers—the tab-managing powers of the middle mouse button, also known as the mouse wheel. If you think of the wheel only as a tool to scroll with, dear friend, you’re missing out; the middle mouse button does so much more. For example, it’s the best way to open a link in a background tab. Try it: Click and release the middle button on this link and—in most newer browsers—you’ll see Slate’s home page open up in a new tab. You can use the same button to quickly close unwanted tabs, too—click and release the tab you just opened, and voila, it disappears. In Firefox, the middle button has one extra power: Click an empty space in the tab bar and you’ll open up the last tab you closed, which is a godsend if you accidentally sent away something important.
How did I spend this much time on the internet without knowing this?
