3. Using the Sidebar

The sidebar gives you a quick access to the history of the sites you have visited recently, as well as to your bookmarks. To enable the sidebar, access the View+Sidebar sub-menu and then choose between Bookmarks (Ctrl-B) or History (Ctrl-H).

Figure 9.2. Bookmarks and History in the Sidebar

Bookmarks and History in the Sidebar

Search. Enter the keyword you wish to find results for (i.e. Mandrakelinux) in the Search field and press Enter. All the items containing your keyword will be displayed under the Search field. This applies for both the Bookmarks and History sidebars.

Figure 9.3. Search Fields Using the Bookmarks Sidebar

Search Fields Using the Bookmarks Sidebar

Bookmarks. In order to conveniently access your bookmarks, it is handy to display them in the sidebar. Clicking on one of your bookmarks will automatically launch a request for that page and it will be shown in the display area. To search for specific bookmarks based on keywords, simply type that keyword in the Search field (Figure 9.3, “Search Fields Using the Bookmarks Sidebar”).

History. Firefox 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 three days ago, access the 3 days ago folder in the History sidebar and click on the +. All the site's URLs you visited that day will be displayed. Clicking on one of them will open the site in the Page Display Area. To look for a specific web site enter either it's URL or name in the Search field.

[Tip]Tip

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