One of the things that Alex Faaborg presented back in July was a mockup of what a cool tab switching (Ctrl+Tab) interface would look like in a browser. As it stands right now no versions of Firefox have an advanced interface for switching between tabs, but that could become a thing of the past.
Mozilla Links noticed that work has already begun on Ctrl+Tab replacement system for Firefox, and it might make its way into the final release of Firefox 3. The great thing is that a preview is currently available as an extension which can be installed on any pre-release version of Firefox 3.
Once you get it up and running you’ll notice that pressing Ctrl+Tab on the keyboard presents you with a slick looking interface that has a thumbnail image for each of your open tabs:
It doesn’t stop there though. The drop-down menu on the tab bar has changed it’s appearance. Clicking on it will bring up a visual display of all your open tabs, and you can use the Filter box to quickly find a site according to its title:
Don’t get your hopes up if you want to see this in Firefox 3. It seems a bit late in the game to throw such a big feature in for the first time, but as long as it is offered as an extension I don’t mind. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. 
Enjoyed the post? Subscribe to our feed to get a daily dose of CyberNet!
Tags: Firefox, Pre-Release, Software, Firefox 3, Firefox Extensions
Related Posts:
- CyberNotes: Try Switcher for Windows Vista, an Expose Clone
- Switcher 2 - Best Exposé Clone for Windows
- Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
- What is the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) in Vista?
- Another Windows Expose Clone
I would absolutely love to not see this in FF3. This is just bloat that I don’t need. When I switch tabs I click the tab. I at least hope this can be disabled.
If you’re just clicking on the tab nothing will be different. It’s only if you use the Ctrl+Tab hotkey to switch between tabs.
I absolutely love keyboard shortcuts. whenever i use a new software the first thing i do is to memorize them. and some eye candy in this aspct is not bad at all.
I don’t know… To me it sounds like a “nice-looking but not so useful after all” feature. It reminds me of the “Reveal” extension (for FF 1.5), which had both thumbnails and a filter box, and even worked for the history of each tab. It was impressive and fun to use, but in the end I rarely needed it.
(See a screenshot of Reveal here : http://www.s427.ch/blog/images.....reveal.png )
Note that with Tab Mix Plus, you have a nice option : “Events” > “Tab features” > “Ctrl-Tab displays a tab list popup menu”. IMO, more useful and productive than thumbnails, because with a simple text list you can see more tabs titles at once.
I see where you’re coming from s427 because I thought the same thing with Vista’s Flip 3D when it was first released. It takes a little bit to reprogram your mind to look for thumbnails instead of text, but I do believe that it is faster most of the time.