Eight easy extras for IE8

Tweaking the appearance of the toolbars

The Use Large Icons option toggles the size of the icons, from standard to large and back. Show All Text Labels means that text appears on all the command buttons in the toolbars (some also have graphical icons); Show Selective Text means you'll see icons without text for the more obvious commands, such as Home; and Show Only Icons removes the text labels altogether.

You can also shift the Stop and Refresh buttons to the left of the Address Bar, where they're likely to feel a bit more at home. Select Add or Remove Commands, and you can add or remove functions from the Command Bar (the run of icons that appears to the right of the tabs).

Customizing the Command Bar in IE8

IE8 has been out only a few months, but as the default browser in the forthcoming Windows 7 and a recommended update in other versions of Windows, you can expect to start seeing it more and more. Master the eight features described above, and you'll find yourself ahead of the pack in this new browsing world.

Don't Forget these Keyboard Shortcuts

Getting tired of moving your hands from the keyboard to the mouse and back again for every little task? Learn these keyboard shortcuts to transform your browsing into an exercise in ninja-like efficiency.

Key Combination and Resulting Action

Ctrl+f Open the "Find in page" dialog

Ctrl++ (plus sign) Zoom in

Ctrl+- (minus sign) Zoom out

Ctrl+0 (zero) Return view to 100%

Ctrl+p Print page (check "Selection" to print only selected text)

Alt+Home Go to the home page

Alt+left arrow Back

Alt+right arrow Forward

Alt+d Select the Address Bar

Ctrl+e Select the Search Box

Alt+Enter Open Search Box results in new tab

Ctrl+click Open link in new background tab

Ctrl+Shift+click Open link in new foreground tab

Ctrl+w Close current tab

Ctrl+t Open new tab

Ctrl+n Open current tab in new window

Ctrl+Tab Switch to next tab

Ctrl+Shift+Tab Switch to previous tab

F4 Open list of previously typed URLs in Address Bar

F5 Refresh current tab

F7 Enable/disable Caret Browsing (toggle)

F11 Turn full-screen mode on and off (no toolbars)

Logan Kugler is a frequent Computerworld contributor. His most recent article was 6 timesaving tips for Word 2007.

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