up tabs is easier than cleaning your garage. First, click the tab that contains the Web site you want to close and then click the X button at the far-right end of the tab strip. You can also right-click the tab and choose Close Tab from the menu that appears. Tip If your mouse has a middle mouse button (or a scroll wheel that acts as a button), you can middle-click a tab to close it quickly. When you close the currently selected tab, Firefox automatically selects the tab to its immediate left. If you don't like this behavior, you can install an extension called LastTab that instead selects the tab you used most recently. (See Chapter 20 for more information about installing and using extensions.)           Super Tabbing: Advanced Tips and Tricks Okay, so you can open and close tabs in the blink of an eye. You fly through Google search results like it's your job. Don't get too cocky yet; the following sections show you how to truly exploit the power of tabbed browsing. Tweaking tabs Creating tabbed browsing was difficult for Firefox developers because we had to cater to two kinds of users: those who felt more comfortable with the normal way to surf and those who fell in love with tabs. We had to make some compromises and hide some tab features to ensure that we didn't overwhelm people with a radically new experience. But have no fear! If you're a tab junkie, you can tweak the behavior to your heart's content. Navigate your way to the tabs options by choosing Tools Options. Select the Tabs icon at the top of the Options window. You see the following options, which allow you to specify how Firefox handles tabs: Open links from other applications in: When other programs on your computer need to display Web sites, they launch Firefox. By default, Firefox loads these Web sites in a new tab within the Firefox window you used most recently. Here you can specify that these Web sites should instead open in a new window or in the most recent tab or window you used (thus navigating away from whatever Web site is displayed in that tab or window). Force links that open new windows to open in: Usually, when you click a link on a Web site, the linked page replaces the Web site you're viewing. However, a Web site owner can specify that a linked page must instead open in a new window. This setting allows you to override this behavior and open the link in a new tab or in the current tab or window (like a normal link). Hide the tab bar when only one Web site is open: By default, Firefox doesn't show the tab strip if you have only one Web site open because there are no tabs to switch between and it's a waste of space. Turn off this setting to keep the tab strip open permanently. You might want to do so if the flicker of the tab strip showing and hiding bothers you. Having the tab strip open is also handy because double-clicking any of its empty space (that is, anywhere but on a tab) opens a new, blank tab. Select new tabs opened from links: In the first section of this chapter, we looked at how to open linked Web sites in new tabs and noted that Firefox would open them silently without shifting your attention from your current Web site. This setting allows you to change this behavior so that Firefox automatically focuses on the new tab. Warn when closing multiple tabs: By default, Firefox warns you whenever you close a window that is displaying multiple Web sites in tabs. This setting lets you turn off that warning, but be careful when closing windows!