14 DAY TRIAL // Most of us, during our surfing sessions, end up filling our browser with many opened tabs containing websites we want to view or read again. It?s frustrating to do that when there are a lot of opened tabs and you don?t know where the one you want to read or view is. So, wouldn?t it be great to be able to view a small thumbnail for each tab in order to know which the one you want is? In this case, all you have to do is to install the Ctrl-Tab Firefox extension created by Dao Gottwald, use it and the difference can be seen immediately. Ctrl-Tab does not change anything about your Firefox interface, it doesn?t add a small icon or a toolbar; it enhances your browser in order to navigate through your tabs much easier. So, if you like your Firefox as it is, don?t worry about Ctrl-Tab because this extension does not change or replace any visual element but helps when you have to deal with a lot of tabs.
Ctrl-Tab has incorporated two major functions created to ease your work when it comes down to navigate through a dozen of opened tabs. The first function can be used by pressing at the same time or one after another the (Shift)+Ctrl+Tab keys. The Shift is between those round brackets because pressing that key is optional. But most users will prefer the two button combination (Ctrl+Tab) because it?s much easier. The three button combination is not at hand because the keys are too close to each other and it is hard to press them and stay like that for a few moments until you find the tab you want. This function was created only for the current browser window and all the tabs within. Pressing that key combination will create a small rectangular panel that contains all the opened tabs from the current window as small thumbnail previews.
The thumbnails are displayed in the same order in which the tabs were opened in the first place. In order to move to the next thumbnail or navigate through all your tabs, press again the Tab key (you have to keep pressing the Ctrl key). If you want to close a tab directly from this layout, pressing the W key will get the job done. No more clicking on the close buttons or pressing the Ctr+F4 combinations. In case you have found the desired tab, release the Ctrl key and Firefox will switch to the selected tab. Unfortunately, the layout displayed after the (Shift)+Ctrl+Tab key combination lacks the animation seen on other extensions. It has a few other problems as well. For example, the thumbnail preview size is not customizable. For some users, the default size may not be enough because at that size, you can?t see the difference between two almost identical tabs. The second problem is represented by the refresh rate. If you change a tab from your Firefox window and after that press the (Shift)+Ctrl+Tab combination, you will see that the change from the tab is not seen on the thumbnail preview.
The second function of the Ctrl-Tab extension is the one that displays in a grid all opened tabs from all Firefox windows. It can be activated by pressing the Ctrl+Shift+A or the Cmd+Shift+A keyboard keys. Unlike the first time, you can now release all the keys after the grid is displayed. A new search bar can be seen on top of the panel that helps you find the tab you want more easily. You have to keep in mind that the search function is based on the title and then on the address of the tab. In order to navigate though the tab grid, you can use the Up, Down, Left and Right keys to move focus to the thumbnail that represents the wanted tab. Then press the Enter key to display the webpage at its full size. Pressing the W won?t close the thumbnail as it does in the first function. For that, you have to use the mouse, hover it over the thumbnail and click on the little close button.
The Good
The Ctrl-Tab extension allows you to navigate through dozens of tabs with ease. The graphics with that transparent background, the grid tab and the search bar are all made with style and please the eye.
The Bad
One of the biggest problems for this extension is the lack of options and the fact that you can?t customize it at all. It should give the user the possibility to change the thumbnail preview size and the keyboard shortcuts because Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+A are used by other applications as well and it could create confusion.
The refresh rate for the thumbnail preview must be improved as well.
The Truth
Overall, Ctrl-Tab proves to be extremely useful in dealing with a lot of tabs but it can be improved by creating options for users to play with. Hopefully it will be improved because its potential is enormous.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
