You can do it!  All you need to do is type in % into the Awesome bar. 

As you can see in the picture to your right, this is a great way to quickly jump to any tab you currently have open in Firefox. 

Hope this quick navigational tip for Firefox 4 helps you out!

For users, you will have a handful of applications you can install directly into the browser – to see what this experience is going to be like once it is a little more fleshed out.  Currently there are only about 17 or so apps to try, but I am sure it will be expanded in the near future.

For developers, I would suggest you check out the Mozilla Labs details on some of the backend and exciting news that has been released as of late.

Check out the open web apps Mozilla has released thus far and let me know what type of web apps you’d like to see in the future.

The first thing you will want to do is point your browser towards the OpenSearch plugin generator.  This awesome utility allows you to create a search plugin in he open search format that Firefox (and many other browsers) use.  This way you could search Firefox Facts without even visiting the website first and typing your search into my search form.  The only hard part about this is locating the HTML source code that represents the search box on the website.  In Firefox, you can do this fairly easily by right-clicking on a website, choose "View Source" and then find where the form starts for the search box.

Here is one more quick tip, if you hit "Ctrl + F" you can bring up the search options in the webpage’s view source pane.  From there, search for "form" until you find the right form you need.  For webmasters, this should be pretty easy. Now, for the easy part.

On the OpenSearch plugin generator webpage, simply fill in the website name, the website URL and then copy and paste in the form data you found on the website you want to create the search plugin for.  I would recommend not changing the data for input encoding, plugin file name, or favicon file name. Next, hit the big button labeled "Generate Plugin".

The website will now give you the code you need to save on your own website hosting server to make the search plugin work.  Scroll down the webpage, and make sure you follow each step as they have it.  Once you are done, you too can have your own search plugin like this:

Install Firefox Facts Search Plugin

Hope this helps you create a search plugin for your own website.  If you do create one using this method, be sure to share it in the comments!

There has been a lot of buzz about a Firefox add-on named Firesheep.  I have kind of ignored the topic for some time, but after getting a few emails from Firefox users asking what it is about – I thought it might be time to shed some light on the topic – so that all Firefox users know it is out there.  Firesheep snoops fro cookies, and then allows others to log into websites as you if you are browsing on an open wireless network.

Mozilla has said it would not (or could not) put in a kill switch to disable the Firesheep add-on from stealing log-on and account access information to Facebook, Twitter and other major website services out there. The reason for this is because it does not exploit a vulnerability in Firefox – it exploits a whole in a number of popular websites instead.

So what you can do to protect yourself, if you often browse from an open wireless network? Download Squad has put together a great guide on how to defend against Firesheep by surfing securely with HTTPS. Sebastian has done a great job at giving you all the details you need to know there.

Now, before you go searching for Firesheep on your own – let me warn you.  While downloading Firesheep and Firesheep itself is not illegal, using Firesheep to login as somebody else (so the process of using the add-on) is illegal under US law.

Hopefully the attention this add-on has drawn will create enough buzz to get some of the biggest websites out there today to fix this hole and better protect their users.

Tired of right-clicking to get a link to open in a new Firefox tab? Well, with the DblClicker installed – that will be a thing of the past.  This simple add-on for Firefox adds double clicking to the list of things you can do in your browser to bring up new links.

This lightweight tab extension for Firefox is pretty cool.  Once installed, it pretty much enables double-click action to a lot of things we do daily.  Here are the amazing features it brings to the table.

• Double-click Link to open in new tab.
• Double-click Bookmark/History to open in new tab.
• Autohide Bookmark/History after selection – according to DblClicker Options.
• Double-click tab action – according to DblClicker Options
• Duplicate Tab – default || Close Tab || None – avoid conflicts when using other tab clicking extensions.
• New tab will open in front/background for Links, Bookmarks/History according to FF preferences/DblClicker Options.

I open links in new tabs all the time, so having this add-on installed is a definate must for me.  Once you get used to double-clicking links, the functionality this add-on brings really feels like second nature.

You can download the DblClicker add-on from the Firefox Add-ons website.

New Tab Homepage is a very simple and lightweight add-on for Firefox.  When you open a new tab in Firefox, it will open your default homepage – rather than an empty tab. While I am using Firefox, I frequently go back to my homepage to check my mail or the latest updates in my RSS reader – so this extension seems like a very obvious evolution of the opening a new tab process.

You can also get very creative with this, such as setting up your homepage as your favorite calendar website or maybe even your favorite online to-do list host.

Without this fantastic add-on, there is one more way you can get this task done.  All you need to do is hold the Ctrl key down while left-clicking on the house icon in your navigation toolbar.  That too will open your homepage in a new tab.

You can pick up New Tab Homepage for Firefox from the Firefox Add-ons web site.

This add-on for Firefox really is your proverbial utility knife when it comes to controlling, editing or optimizing your browser tabs for better performance.

Not for the faint of heart, this add-on really lets you control every little aspect you would ever need to change in your tabs.  It really takes the best aspects out of some of the more popular tab-related extensions out there, and bundles them all into one handy add-on for the Firefox browser.

Here are just a few of the features it provides:

• Open Bookmarks/History/URL/Search in new tabs: left-click/enter in new foreground tabs, middle-click in new background tabs, ctrl-click/alt-enter in current tab
• Open new tabs next to current tab, Open duplicate tabs next to original tab
• Reuse current/last/all blank tabs, Auto-close redundant blank tabs
• Focus adjacent unread/last selected/last opened/left tab after closing current tab
• Highlight current/unread tabs
• Ctrl-Tab to navigate tabs in most recently used order, Ctrl-Left/Right Arrow in sequential order
• Undo Close Tab button
• openAllInTab/loadAllInBackground/loadAllInForeground statusbar buttons
• Tab clicking options, including left/middle/right/double/ctrl/alt/shift-click on tab/tab bar/new tab button
• Duplicate/Protect/Lock/Faviconize/Hide/Pin Tab

You can pick up the Tab Utilities add-on from the Firefox Add-ons web site.  If you are looking for the best add-on, when it comes to controlling how the tabs work in Firefox, it is hard to say there is any extension with more features out there.

Need to save a list of links, but don’t want to copy each one, one by one, individually?  Then you might check out Multi Links.  This Firefox add-on will let you open, copy, or bookmark multiple links, rather than having to handle each one individually. 

To get started, all you have to do is right-click and hold to drag a box around the links you want to effect or “take action” on.  When you release the mouse button, you will have opened, copied and/or bookmarked those links. 

Now how do you decide which of those actions you take?  You can customize that in the options.  Overall, Multi Links is a great add-on that simply adds a lot of functionality to your links and how Firefox relates to them.  If you spend a lot of time copying and pasting resources, this is an add-on you can not do without.

Some people may find the fact that Firefox opens a new tab on the far right of your tab toolbar a blessing and some might find it a curse.  It really has to do with how many tabs you are look at, in one single browser.  For those who are cursed today, I have your solution.  The Tabs Open Relative extension changes how new tabs open up, which means no more tab surfing for you.

Once installed, the Tabs Open Relative add-on for Firefox will make all new tabs open to the right of the current tab, rather than the far right of the tab bar.  Of course, this only applies when you are clicking links on a page.  In the case where several new tabs are opened in a row without switching tabs, each subsequent tab will be opened to the right of the previous one, so as to keep them in order.

So if this sounds like the solution to the tab navigating curse you’ve been living under, be sure to pick up this extension via the Firefox Add-ons site.  It is an easy way to fix this tabbed browser nuisance.

This extension allows you to undo closed tabs via a toolbar and/or tab bar button or the right-click context menu. Also it comes with a much easier keyboard combination of its own to remember, Ctrl + Shift + Z.   You must add the toolbar button by going to View -> Toolbars -> Customize, then drag and drop the icon where you want it on the toolbar.

Save your lost tabs, and save yourself a lot of wear and tear on your Ctrl and Shift keys while you are at it.  Your keyboard will thank you!