Back / Forward



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.




3 responses to “Back / Forward”

  1. jvp says:

    Hmm… I was only vaguely aware that back and forward were even in the context menu! However, this seems like a pretty good way to navigate. Maybe I’ll start trying this. Seems like it could work especially well when I’m using laptop pointing devices instead of a traditional mouse.
    When I’m at my desk at work, I like to use the back and forward keys on my MS Ergo Keyboard 4000. I can do this with the thumb on my left hand while I use the mouse with my right hand, which works pretty well.

  2. Jamie says:

    I have the same keyboard, but I’ve mapped those keys to my music player … I hadn’t really considered using them for browsing.

  3. David says:

    I’ve always been partial to alt-left arrow or alt-right arrow..