Using the Sidebar

The sidebar gives you quick access to sites related to the one currently displayed, search engines, your bookmarks, history and even more if customized. You can show/hide it by selecting the View+Show/Hide->Sidebar sub-menu or by pressing the F9 key.

The sidebar is arranged in tabs, feel free to investigate tab customization by selecting Tabs->Customize Sidebar from the sidebar's menu.

[Note]Note

There are even some sites that offer to add other tabs to your side bar, some of which might prove useful. Visit the Live SideBar web site for more information.

Figure 8.2. Search Tab

Search Tab

Search. Enter the text to search for and click on the Search button to start the search using the search engine you've selected in the using pull-down list[5]. The Search Results field will display links to sites matching your search criteria. Only a limited number of search results are displayed, and using the Previous and Next buttons will let you access more results for the same search.

Figure 8.3. Bookmarks and History Tabs

Bookmarks and History Tabs

Bookmarks. In order to conveniently access your bookmarks, it is handy to display them in the sidebar. Clicking on Add... will add a bookmark for the site currently displayed. Clicking on Manage will bring up the bookmarks manager (see the section called “Managing Bookmarks”) and clicking on Search... will open a window to search for bookmarks based on name, location, description or keyword.

History. Mozilla keeps track of the URLs you have visited in the past N days, where N is a number which can be configured (the default is set to 9 days). If you want to return to a site you visited a week ago, access the Go->History and look for the 7 days ago entry, open it by clicking on the plus (+) sign and search for the URL which interests you. Clicking on it will open the site in the Page Display Area.

[Tip]Tip

To change the number of history days to keep, choose Edit+Preferences->Navigator from the menu and open the History sub-section of the Navigator section.



[5] The default search engine (which is Googletm) and other search options can be changed by accessing Edit->Preferences from the menu. Go to the Internet Search sub-section of the Navigator section