One of the browsing habits I’ve formed over the years is using the right-click (or context) menu for back and forward navigation, i.e. to return to the previous page I was on. I’ve found this to be fairly efficient; I don’t have to care where my mouse points is — I just right click, and then click ‘Back’.

I switched to Firefox a couple of years ago, and I’ve been really happy, except … There are certain times when the ‘Back’ and ‘Forward’ options disappear from the context menu. The biggest annoyance is when text is selected on a page they get removed. I would often go to a page; using find to search for text on the page; get what I need; then try to right-click to go back only to find the option was gone. I would then have to de-select the text, right-click, etc.

Well one of the strengths of Firefox is that it is extensible through the use of plugins. A while back I wrote a very simple plugin called backforward. Its sole purpose in life is to keep the ‘Back’ and ‘Forward’ options in the context menu.

Anyway, it’s not much, but I wanted to call attention to it in case other Firefox users have shared my frustration.