Quicker way to open websites you need often
SiteLauncher is a simple Firefox add-on that provides a convenient, clutter-free way to quickly open websites you often need. One keyboard hotkey makes the "Launcher" panel instantly appear, then a single key press jumps you to your destination.
The hotkey for the Launcher is Ctrl+Space (or Ctrl+Alt for Mac users). As with most aspects of SiteLauncher, the hotkey is configurable.
SiteLauncher is entirely free to download and use forever.
By clicking the download link below you are agreeing to the terms of service.
| Add SiteLauncher to Firefox |
Version: 2.0.0 Release date: March 23, 2011 |
Installation: after clicking the above link, click the "Allow" button that will appear near the top left or right of your browser.
Screenshots
Features
- Create super quick keyboard shortcuts to URLs and bookmarklets you need access to often.
- Instant visual feedback from the Launcher panel means no need to actually memorize anything but the one hotkey.
- Just about any character key can be associated with a site, you're not limited to a-z and 0-9.
- Highly customizable appearance - change colors, sizes, transparency, etc.
- Make use of shortcuts with visual feedback, using the Launcher hotkey; or without, using the Direct-to-Site hotkey.
- Arrange and group related shortcuts to have them appear together in a visually meaningful way.
- Set the Launcher to open sites in current or new tab
- Optionally set the Launcher to appear on startup instead of a regular homepage
What People Say
- "Must have addon for those who have a repetitive list of visited sites." - Charnita Fance
- "Absolutely beautiful and USEFUL too!" - joseschmoe
- "Simply love this ... it's the QuickSilver for Firefox" - N G
- "This addon is simply fantastic. A much more viable alternative to the old fashioned built in Firefox bookmarks" - Ionut Andriescu
- "This is a great application. I can by-pass using bookmarks or typing in a URL for the web pages I visit often." - Caroline Quintanilla
- "It's a nice replacement for the bookmarks toolbar for those who don't want to grab the mouse often (keyboard users) and/or want that extra bit of room to read web pages" - djnforce9
- "I could probably put a cash value on the amount of time this saves in a year" - Colin Miller
What's New
- Firefox 4 Compatible - updated to be fully compatible with the new Firefox 4.
- Launcher Preview Feature - allows you to see a "live" preview of the Launcher while changing appearance-related options.
- Improved Shortcut Management - the shortcut management pane has been improved to be overall slicker and more intuitive.
- Unlimited Scrolling - if the Launcher panel exceeds available screen height, it will now become scrollable - meaning, screen size is no longer a limiting factor to the number of
shortcuts that can fit in your launcher panel. - New Appearance Options - several new preferences have been added to allow further customization of the Launcher's look and feel.
- Many more small enhancements and a number of small bug fixes.
Getting Started
The Hotkeys
| Hotkey | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Launcher | Ctrl+Space (or Ctrl+Alt for Mac users) |
Press the Launcher hotkey to bring forward the Launcher. Then, simply press the key indicated in the Launcher for the site you wish to launch. |
| (Alternative) Direct-to-site | Shift+Alt (or Shift+Ctrl for Mac users) |
An alternative hotkey which doesn't show the Launcher. It's included for people who would prefer to use their memory instead of the Launcher, you can safely ignore it otherwise. Because this hotkey doesn't provide visual feedback to indicate when it's active, you have to keep it pressed down while pressing the key for the site you want. |
Default Shortcuts
SiteLauncher comes with a set of default shortcuts to a number of popular and useful websites: Amazon (affiliate link), Google Calendar, eBay (affiliate link), Facebook, Gmail, Google, IMDB, LifeHacker, Google Reader, The Next Web, Wikipedia, and YouTube. The defaults should get you started immediately, but you can easily delete any shortcuts you don't want, and add as many new ones as you wish.
Quick Tips
SiteLauncher is designed to be intuitive and straightforward to use, however, here are few capabilities that are easy to miss when first using it:
- SiteLauncher has several extra features built-in that aren't enabled by default - go to SiteLauncher's options window and click "More" to discover them. (By having these potentially unused features disabled by default SiteLauncher is able to minimize memory usage and be as fast as possible.)
- You can access SiteLauncher's options from the Launcher panel; bring forward the Launcher, then press Tab or right click inside the panel.
- You can you press Ctrl + Shift + S from any tab to quickly begin creating a shortcut to that tab's URL. Similary, right clicking a link and selecting "Shortcut this link" is another quick method to create a shortcut.