Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

You already know you can press Ctrl+T to open a new tab in Firefox, and then press Ctrl+L to change focus to the location bar, where you can start typing the URL and press Enter to go to the page.

Try out this sequence instead — you might find it more intuitive.

1. Press Ctrl+L (or Alt+D or F6) to move your focus to the address bar.
2. Start typing the URL. At this point, Firefox’s address completion kicks in, and you can use the up and down arrow keys to select the site you want to visit.
3. Instead of pressing Enter to open the site, or Ctrl+Enter to turn “tivo” into “http://www.tivo.com,” try pressing Alt+Enter. The site you have selected automatically opens in a new tab. Whatever page you were viewing stays in its own tab.

Even faster, you can also press Ctrl+Alt+Enter to automatically complete the URL in a new tab. So:

1. Press Ctrl+L to move your focus to the address bar.
2. Type a word for the domain name, such as google.
3. Press Ctrl+Alt+Enter. The domain name is turned into a full URL (so “google” becomes “http://www.google.com/”) and a new tab is opened with that page.