Keyboard shortcuts are the highest return-on-investment browser skill. Once learned, they're faster than any mouse interaction for the same task. Here's the full set I use in Firefox, organized by how often each one matters.

The Must-Knows (Daily Use)

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+T New tab
Ctrl+W Close current tab
Ctrl+L Focus address bar
Ctrl+F Find on page
Ctrl+Shift+T Reopen last closed tab
Ctrl+Tab Next tab
Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+8 Switch to tab 1-8
Ctrl+9 Switch to last tab
F5 or Ctrl+R Refresh
Ctrl+Shift+R Hard refresh (ignore cache)
Alt+Left / Alt+Right Back / Forward

Address Bar Tricks

The address bar (Awesome Bar) is more powerful than most people know:

Type Action
% + query Search open tabs only
* + query Search bookmarks only
^ + query Search history only
@bookmarks Switch to bookmark search mode
@history Switch to history search mode
@tabs Switch to tab search mode

For new tabs specifically: I use Weather & Clock Dashboard as my new tab, but the search bar there also works like a standard address bar search. So Ctrl+T + type query = new tab + search in one smooth motion.

DevTools Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
F12 Open/close DevTools
Ctrl+Shift+I Same as F12
Ctrl+Shift+J Open Browser Console
Ctrl+Shift+M Toggle Responsive Design Mode
Ctrl+Shift+E Network Monitor
Ctrl+Shift+P Open DevTools command palette

Screenshot Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Shift+F1 Open built-in screenshot tool

The built-in screenshot tool lets you capture the full page, visible area, or a selected region. No extension needed.

Reading Mode

Shortcut Action
F9 Toggle Reader View (when available)

Reader View strips ads, navigation, and clutter from articles. The shortcut makes it a one-key toggle.

Picture-in-Picture

Right-click any video → "Watch in Picture-in-Picture" — video detaches into a floating overlay.

No keyboard shortcut by default, but you can set one in about:preferences → Manage keyboard shortcuts.

The Setup Worth Making

If you use the same sites daily (documentation, Slack web, GitHub), set smart bookmarks with short keywords:

  1. Go to the site
  2. Bookmark it
  3. Edit the bookmark → set a one or two letter keyword
  4. Now typing that keyword in the address bar navigates directly to the site

I have:

  • gh → GitHub
  • mdn → MDN Web Docs
  • an → AMO

This makes the address bar a command palette for your most-used sites.