TabsLock Puts Your Browser One Keystroke Away
Windows only: Free system tray utility TabsLock launches and focuses a new tab in Google Chrome (and Firefox… keep reading) at the press of your Caps Lock key to give you, as the download page aptly puts it, “low-thought, global keyboard access to web search and navigation.” Considering how much time we spend on the web these days, a quick, easy shortcut for going straight to your browser (that’s also just off the home row) makes a lot of sense. Still want to use Caps Lock from time to time? Shift+Caps Lock toggles regular Caps Lock behaviour. Like the idea behind TabsLock but wish it worked for Firefox? Keep reading to download my own homespun solution for Firefox users.
I know Chrome is all the rage right now with all its shiny newness, but—call me old-fashioned—my undying love for Firefox hasn’t yet wavered. Since the functionality behind TabsLock is relatively trivial to implement, I decided to roll a quick alternative. If you don’t want to hear any of the details, go ahead and download TabsLock Firefox (alternate download link) and enjoy.
Still here? Okay, let’s take a quick look at how our old friend AutoHotkey came to the rescue yet again. Here’s the meat of the very simple, lightweight script (you can easily copy and paste the source minus the first three lines into your existing AHK script if you prefer that to running the system tray app).
#SingleInstance force
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
Capslock::
SetTitleMatchMode, 2
IfWinExist, Mozilla Firefox
{
WinActivate
WinWaitActive
Send, ^t
}
else
Run %programfiles%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
return
+Capslock::Capslock
In a nutshell, when you hit Caps Lock, the script looks to see if you have any windows open with “Mozilla Firefox” in the title (all Firefox windows do by default in Windows). If a Firefox window already exists, TabsLock Firefox activates that window and then opens a new tab with Ctrl+T; if not, TabsLock Firefox just opens a new Firefox window altogether. Finally, the last line of the script allows you to toggle your normal Caps Lock operation when you need it by pressing Shift+Caps Lock (just like TabsLock for Chrome).
If you like this idea but have a completely different program you’d like to use it with, just edit the script to match the application you want. And if Chrome has won you over, follow the link below to grab the inspired original TabsLock. If none of this sounds good to you but you wish you did have a better use for your Caps Lock key, check out other ways you can use AutoHokey to put your Caps Lock key to good use.
- Next Post: Latest Version of Gmail Rolling Out for IE6 »
- « Previous Post: Shelf Web Pages Instantly (and Get Back to Work) with ReadItLater
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,
Maybe his shirt should have read,