InstaClick

In the world of Firefox, the middle mouse button is the quickest and easiest way to open links in new tabs.

Missing the middle mouse button?

But many touchpads don't provide an easy way to middle-click. Some require you to press both keys simultaneously; some, like the Synaptics brand, allow you to assign a tap-zone to the middle-click button. Others provide no means of middle-clicking whatsoever. Users of such touchpads often resort to context-menus for opening links in new tabs. This tedious process requires three steps: right-mouse click, scroll down on the touchpad, and finally left-click on the "New Tab" item.

Touchpads are becoming more and more popular not just because of the proliferation of laptop computers, but also because many wireless keyboards used with home theatre PCs include a touchpad for easy on-screen navigation (example).

What does InstaClick do?

InstaClick removes context-menus for hyperlinks. When right-clicking on a link, the link immediately opens in a new tab. Right-clicking anywhere else in Firefox (i.e., not a link) has the usual effect of displaying a context-menu.

Use and Options

To temporarily cancel InstaClick's behavior, hold the SHIFT, CTRL, ALT, or COMMAND (Mac-only) key while right-clicking on a link. The context-menu appears as normal. To set InstaClick options, open its window from Firefox (Tools->Addons->Extensions->Preferences button. Alternatively, if you have the Firefox Addon Bar visible, you can click the InstaClick mouse icon.

Known Bugs

InstaClick inadvertently disables the Paste context-menu item. There is no known fix. A work-around is to use the paste keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+V) or Firefox's Edit->Paste menu item.

Download

Download and install InstaClick here