Close Tabs Efficiently In Firefox

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 2, 2011
Updated • Mar 10, 2015
Firefox, Firefox add-ons
|
12

Sometimes it is little things that can make a big difference. When it comes to closing tabs in the Firefox web browser, users have options to close tabs with a click on the x icon that is either displayed on the right of the tab or at the end of the tabbar.

They can alternatively right-click on the tab and select Close Tab from the context menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-w to close the active tab.

Double Click Close Tab is an add-on for the Firefox web browser that adds additional tab closing options to the browser. A double-click on a tab in the tabbar closes that tab automatically in the browser. While that's more convenient than using the right-click context menu it is not the most efficient option that the extension provides.

Closing tabs by moving the mouse to the tabbar to either double-click or click on the x icon is inefficient because of that initial mouse movement. The keyboard shortcut works directly but can only close the active tab.

Double Click Close Tab adds two additional tab closing options to Firefox. Users can alternatively triple left-click anywhere on the page to close the active tab. This may interfere with some actions in the browser, for instance double-clicking on text to highlight it. If you click three times instead of two, which can happen, you'd inadvertently close the current website instead especially since a triple-click highlights the paragraph in Firefox by default.

The options of the add-on provide preferences to change the default behavior. Both the default tab clicking and on page clicking behavior can be altered there. Alternatives are a single middle-click, double right-clicks or triple right-clicks.

It is furthermore possible to disable one of the tab closing options completely, and to change the triple click time (that is the time in which three clicks need to be registered).

Double Click Close Tab can be downloaded and installed directly at the Mozilla add-on repository.

It may take a couple of browsing sessions before you grow accustomed to the new options the add-on makes available. Mapping the closing to triple right-clicks for instance may be the better option but even it is not unproblematic as you may see the right-click context menu on the screen as well since it is spawned by a right-click.

Summary
software image
Author Rating
1star1star1star1stargray
no rating based on 0 votes
Software Name
Double Click Closes Tab
Landing Page
Advertisement

Tutorials & Tips


Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. Roman ShaRP said on December 5, 2011 at 12:09 am
    Reply

    As for me, it’s better to close tab with down-right mouse gesture – and this doesn’t interfere with mouse clicks :)

    1. JackT said on December 5, 2011 at 5:08 am
      Reply

      Agreed, using mouse gestures it’s my favorite way to close tabs; I even have gestures to close all tabs except the active one, close right tabs and close left tabs.

  2. geeknik said on December 3, 2011 at 8:23 pm
    Reply

    I don’t have any special extensions installed and middle click has always closed tabs for me, going all the way back to like Firefox 4.

  3. Jojo said on December 2, 2011 at 11:09 pm
    Reply

    TabMix Plus has double-click close built-in.

  4. Dušan Milosavljević said on December 2, 2011 at 4:30 pm
    Reply

    What about middle klick..?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on December 2, 2011 at 4:40 pm
      Reply

      You can select middle-click as well.

      1. Jojo said on December 2, 2011 at 11:10 pm
        Reply

        Middle-click doesn’t close tabs for me.

      2. Martin Brinkmann said on December 2, 2011 at 11:59 pm
        Reply

        I meant when you install the add-on.

  5. Mop said on December 2, 2011 at 4:07 pm
    Reply

    There is another wat to close tabs : middle-click on the tab, without any extensions ;)

  6. Bluthund said on December 2, 2011 at 4:07 pm
    Reply

    You can also use the middle mouse button to close tabs by default.

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.