I have been doing this for a long time now but it occurred to me some people may not know this nifty trick. Often times when I browse the web I come across multiple links that I want to follow. Since I can’t view multiple links in the same tab without risk of losing some links, I like to open links in new tabs, allowing me to easily switch between pages/websites as I desire. To open links in new tabs, I simply click on links with the scroll wheel on my mouse. In other words, instead of left-clicking on links I scroll-click on links; using the scroll wheel to click on links opens link in new tabs instead of the current tab.

For those of you with two button mice, you obviously can’t scroll-click with a scroll wheel you don’t have. So, instead, if you want to open links in a new tab hold Ctrl on your keyboard while left-clicking on a link — that will open the link in a new tab.

If you prefer opening links in new windows instead of tabs, you can do that by holding Shift on your keyboard while left-clicking on a link.

The best part? All the above tricks work in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Opera on Windows (I am not sure about other operating systems) with one exception: Shift clicking won’t open a link in new window for Opera.

[Thanks Bruce and Rob (Down Under). | Image credit: FHKE]