Help me Read AskMeFi in Google Reader

August 3, 2007 10:38 PM

Is there a keyboard shortcut that opens a Google reader item in a new firefox tab without shifting the focus (with os x, if that matters)? The list of Google Reader shortcuts is here, and none of them seem to be able to open up an item in a new tab or window without also shifting the focus away from the reader. If this doesn't come standard, does anyone know of a plugin or extension that would add this functionality? Googling turned up nothing. Thanks!
posted by davidstandaford to technology (11 answers total)

Doesn't command clicking an item in Google reader do this? That's what I do.
posted by jaimev at 10:47 PM on August 3, 2007

Tab Mix Plus will let you choose what type of 'Events' get focus.

The options are Links, Address bar, Diverted windows, Search bar, New tab commands, and Bookmarks/History.

So if I want my Search bar queries to focus, I check the box.

Don't want links to new tabs to take the focus, uncheck the box.

The only thing about this is that it is global for all sites. It would be nice if you could define which sites get to do what, but I don't think you are going to find anything like that.

Tab Mix Plus has MANY more options (PDF) though and is a must have extension for me.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 10:48 PM on August 3, 2007

Middle click does this in Firefox on Windows, fwiw. I'm addicted to it. I dunno if it works the same on os x, although it sounds like jaimev has given you the equivalent.
posted by MadamM at 11:06 PM on August 3, 2007

You can set windows and tabs to load in the background with the superior-to-Firefox Camino browser. If I understand what you're looking for, you can just right-click and tell it to "open in new window" or "open in new tab". It's an option in the preferences.

Windows opening in front of what I'm doing drives me nuts. The only thing Camino can't seem to stop from popping forward is gmail. I like to be allowed to load pages in the background for later reading.
posted by interrobang at 11:09 PM on August 3, 2007

Whatever the OS, I've never seen a problem with Google Reader focus shifting tabs in Firefox (the last few releases, anyway).

Neither control/command click nor right-click "open in new tab" nor middle click on the post title work at all? Under Tools > Options > Tabs, is the "When I open a link in new tab, switch to it immediately" box checked?
posted by ellanea at 11:38 PM on August 3, 2007

Yeah, once you've set (in tab mix plus) new tabs that don't steal focus, just hit 'v' when a thread is highlighted in Google Reader that you'd like to read, and it'll open in a tab in the background. I use this method to quickly scan through a couple of hundred feed items in the morning, opening the tabs for reading later.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:06 AM on August 4, 2007

It took me forever to figure this out.

Type about:config in the URL bar and change browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground to true.

Tada! Now new tabs from Google Reader (and other sites as well, natch) will open without taking focus.
posted by shanevsevil at 12:12 AM on August 4, 2007 [7 favorites]

shanevsevil got it. Wow, I've been looking for this for a long time.
By the way, the original question asked about keyboard shortcuts, yet everyone was quick to add the obvious comments about mouse clicks. Google Reader is really only useful when operated completely by keyboard. Bloglines is the reader of choice for mouse operation.
posted by tom_g at 5:00 AM on August 4, 2007

Yeah, that's why a posted a keyboard shortcut. Hit 'V' (that's the V key) when you have an item highlighted in Google Reader, and if Firefox is set to open in a background tab (as above) it'll open the item in a tab, ready for you to read when you've finished scanning through your feeds.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:53 PM on August 4, 2007

Brilliant, shanevsevil. Thank you. This has been driving me crazy. I really should get into the about:config page more.
posted by mosessis at 12:32 PM on November 4, 2007

Odd, I tried to use shavevsevil's trick, but they are still opening in the same tab that google reader is in. Any other suggestions?
posted by zackola at 3:05 PM on March 15, 2008