Blog Productivity: Know Thy Browser
By lorelle, posted February 2, 2010 at 10:24 pm | No Comments ยป
The key tool bloggers work with is their web browser, and yet it is often the tool bloggers know little about. As I travel the world talking about blogging, WordPress, and social media, I’m always stunned to find out people know more about the ins and outs of WordPress than they do the browser WordPress works in.
I produce an average of 2,000 blog posts a year, so I’ve taken time to get to know the main tool I work with every day. Here are my favorite keyboard shortcuts that make the job of speed blogging even faster.
It doesn’t matter if you are using Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, or the other guys, know your browsing tool. Understand the bits and pieces and how it works, and how you can get it to work faster for you. You spend all day using it, you might as well understand a little about how it works.
For more information, check out my Web Browser Guide on the Blog Herald, stuffed with tons of tips to help you understand how the browser works for bloggers, and Power Blogging: Web Browser Blogging Tips on Lorelle on WordPress covering a lot of the browser tips and Firefox Extensions I use to blog fast and furiously.
Copy, Cut, and Paste
Bloggers are writers and the process of writing includes a lot of copy, cut, and paste. Before you reach for your mouse, learn the four keystrokes that will speed up your blogging.
Copy: Ctrl+C
Cut: Ctrl+X
Paste: Ctrl+V
Undo: Ctrl+Z
These are the same shortcuts for most word processors and they also work while writing in your web browser, on WordPress or any other content area. Mac users can replace most of those with the Apple key instead of the Control key. Cut a paragraph and move it to a new spot in your blog post and press Ctrl+V to paste it into the new place. Make a mistake, Ctrl+Z to undo the last few boo boos. Fast.
Know Thy Buttons
All browsers come with some basic buttons. Back, Forward, Stop, and Refresh. Some browsers make these buttons obvious, and some new browsers make some of these buttons harder to find, so know their keyboard equivalent.
- Back: Moves to the previous page viewed (Back button or Alt+Left Arrow)
- Forward: Moves forward to the next page viewed (if moved back) (Shift+Backspace or Alt+Right Arrow)
- Refresh/Reload: Reloads a web page (F5 or Ctrl+R)
- Forced Refresh/Reload: Forces the page to override the cache when reloading, giving an updated view (Ctrl+F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R in Firefox. IE and Chrome: )
- Stop: Stop the page loading or activity on the page (Escape)
In most modern browsers, there is a small arrow next to the back and forward buttons. Click it and you will get a listing of the sites visited backwards and forwards (if applicable) to landing on the current page. You can quickly jump through the history of visits on this tab.
Know Thy Keystroke Shortcuts
There are a few keyboard keys you need to know for moving around a web page quickly.
- Go to Bottom of Page: End
- Go to Top of Page: Home
- View the Page Source Code: Ctrl+U
- Zoom In: Ctrl + + (enlarges text)
- Zoom Out: Ctrl + -
- Find: Ctrl+F (brings up page search)
- Bookmark: Ctrl+D
- Bookmark All Tabs: Ctrl+Shift+D
- Print: Ctrl+P
The keyboard shortcuts for moving around the browser, going through all those tabs are:
- Open New Tab: Ctrl+T
- Close Tab: Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4
- Move to Next Tab Left: Ctrl+Page Down
- Move to Next Tab Right: Ctrl+Page Up
- Undo Close Tab: Ctrl+Shift+T
- Move Tab Left: Ctrl+Left Arrow
- Move Tab Right: Ctrl+Right Arrow
Know Thy URL Shortcuts
Bloggers are constantly writing in addresses, so why not shorten the process with a few speedy keyboard shortcuts.
To write a fast dot com address, type the root domain and press Ctrl+Enter and the http::// and .com will be wrapped around the domain. For example, to get to WordPress.com, I type wordpress then press Ctrl+Enter to load the site. Do the same thing with wordcastnet to get this this site. Less keystrokes means faster access.
To do the same thing with a dot net, Shift+Enter with the root domain. For a dot org, Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
To move to the address bar quickly, so you don’t have to take your fingers off the keyboard, press F6 or Ctrl+L.
The Better You Know Your Browser, The Better You Blog
Take time to get to know your browser and how it works, from the keyboard shortcuts to all the various extensions and add-ons that can help you speed up your blogging and web browsing experience.
Here are details on the most common web browsers and their keyboard shortcuts.
- Safari: Browser Window and Menu Shortcuts
- Opera Help: Keyboard Shortcuts
- Internet Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
- Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts
- Chrome Keyboard Shortcuts
The URL shortcuts was complete news to me. I absolutely love this trick!