One feature I really love in Firefox, that probably does not get the credit it deserves, is the smart zooming features. A feature that was new to Firefox 3, this allows you to zoom an entire page to make it larger or smaller. You may need to make a site larger to make it easier to read, or you might make it smaller to fit within the screen real estate of your smaller monitors (for examples, those people out there who may have netbooks).
There are several ways you can zoom into or out of the page you are on.
Keyboard:
(make the page bigger) Ctrl and the + Key
(make the page smaller) Ctrl and the – Key
Mouse:
(make the page bigger) Hold the Ctrl Key and Scroll Up
(make the page smaller) Hold the Ctrl Key and Scroll Down
Toolbar:
View > Zoom > Zoom In
View > Zoom > Zoom Out
One more zooming trick that Firefox has up its sleeve is the ability to only zoom in on text, leaving graphics their normal sizes. To do that, go to View > Zoom and select “Zoom Text Only”. To reset a page’s specific zoom level (large or small), go to View > Zoom > Reset or hit Ctrl and the 0 key. Firefox will remember which pages you have larger too. So for example, you could zoom into FirefoxFacts.com, but when you visit WebHostingShow.com, it would still be at its normal size. Your preferences are remembered for each site you visit.
Love it, especially for lame netbook screens, and when you just want to sit further back from the monitor for better ergonomics. Internet Explorer has this feature first, and if IE7 or IE8 is what you use, the keyboard and mouse shortcuts are the same.
Ctrl + Scroll Up/Down changed my life forever, back when i first discovered an old post of yours!
Thanks! :)
Mouse Gestures also has an action for zoom-in (L-click and gesture diagonally down-right) and zoom-out (L-click and gesture diagonally up-left). I do like the CTRL+wheel, though. It’s good to have options!
A very useful feature, thank you for showing the different ways to use it.