This probably doesn’t belong in hacks, but it doesn’t belong anywhere else either, and I think it’s pretty useful.

I occasionally find myself coming to the computer to browse the web for a few moments with the keyboard still tucked away. And I’m lazy, too lazy even to pull the keyboard out and use both hands. For the most part, that’s fine, because I can browse using the mouse to choose bookmarks and links. But I’m also addicted to tabs, and to open in tabs I need--or thought I needed--to use either the control key to bring up the contextual menu or the command key to open a link in a new tab.

Yes, I could buy a multi-button mouse, but besides being lazy, I’m cheap; and I don’t like any of the multi-button mice I’ve seen. The new Apple one might be worthwhile, but it doesn’t come in wireless.

Drag the link into the tab bar. The URL will gain a green “+” as you move it into the tab bar. When you let go, the link will open in a new tab. If you don’t want the window to scroll upwards, you may find it useful to drag the link out of the window and back into the tab bar.

This works in Safari, Firefox, and Netscape. It may well work in other tabbed browsers, but I don’t have them. If requires that the tab bar be visible, so if you want to use it you should set the tab bar to always be visible.

This means I can hold a Tadcaster’s in one hand and browse the net with the other.

Next up: blogging in my pajamas.