Browse without using mouse! [Firefox only]

I know some of us geeky types not only find the use of mouse painful but obstructive too. Okay, i totally agree, browsing where you have to constantly use a mouse is painful. However, not many of us know how much firefox has to offer here. Its not only the in-built keyboard shortcuts, but some real cool extensions that would really make your mouse a waste! Also, using these shortcuts allow a much faster browsing experience. Let me start with the keyboard shortcuts available. Some of these are very common, while others are lesser known but equally useful. Note that mac users need to use the "Cmd" key (mostly) where Ctrl key is used in Windows.

Navigate the toolbar

• Select location bar: Ctrl/Cmd+L or Alt+D or just F6
  
• Select search bar: Ctrl/Cmd+K
• Back: Backspace or Alt/Cmd+Left
• Forward: Alt/Option+Right or Shift+Backspace
• Change search engine: Ctrl/Cmd+Down (Next), Ctrl/Cmd + Up (Previous)
• Autocomplete domain:
  
• .com: Ctrl/Cmd + Enter
• .net: Shift + Enter
  
• .org: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Enter

Opening/Closing pages and tabs

• Open and Close new tab: Ctrl/Cmd + T and Ctrl/Cmd + W resp.
• Opening last closed tab: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + T
• Open link in new tab: Ctrl/Cmd + Enter

Switching tabs

• Next/Previous tab: Cmd + Opt + Right/Left Arrow (Mac) or Ctrl + Tab (Win)
• Select tab (1-9): Ctrl/Cmd+[1-9]

Some Miscellaneous ones

• Refreshing: Ctrl/Cmd + R or simply F5
• Find as you type text: /
• Caret browsing (this will insert a cursor on the page, and you can select text easily): F7

I would say, start using them, and once you start, you will not use the mouse anymore! You want more? Oh, visit this complete list. However, if you are not satisfied, let me tell you about this awesome firefox extension: Mouseless Browsing
What Mouseless Browsing does is, it adds a unique id against each link/element on a web page. Now, what all you need to do is type that number, and press enter, and the action will be done (i.e. , A link will be opened, or a form element activated) ! So simple, isin't it? Here is a snapshot of what cnn.com looks like when i am using this.


So, if you want to go to the 'world' section on the homepage, just type 30, press enter, and you're done! A couple of points to note for this add on: Sometimes because of these ids, some elements on the page can be distorted/misplaced. This is a drawback. Also, beware! if you have multiple tabs opened, this could slow down your firefox a bit. However, as a plus, the add on is highly customizable. You can choose some elements for which you don't want ids too. You could also specify URLs (for example *google.com) to automatically suggest sites where this feature should be enabled or disabled by default. As to summarize, i would say, if you are one who loves hating the mouse, this one is for you. If you still want more, and want to have keyboard shortcuts for opening your bookmarked sites, you should see SiteLauncher .