Wikipedia:Linky tutorial
Linky is a powerful add-on, to the web browser Mozilla Firefox, that lets you take full advantage of Firefox's powerful tabs and tabbing features. Unfortunately, Internet Explorer does not support Linky.
A "tab" is a window opened within a web-browser. Each tab independently displays a web page. While the keyboard shortcut Alt-Tab is used to switch between windows, the keyboard shortcuts used to switch between tabs are Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-w (Ctrl-w closes the current tab as you make the switch).
Linky opens links on pages into tabs in Firefox. Linky can handle 99 links at a time. That is, you can open 99 tabs to display 99 web-pages at a time.
To activate Linky, right-click to get MS Window's drop-down menu. You'll see Linky on there (if you have it installed).
Linky also works on selections (parts of pages). Simply highlight the section of the page with the links you want, by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse down the page, let go, and then right-click. The drop-down menu will appear, click on "Linky", then click on "open selected links in tabs".
To take full advantage of Linky, you can create lists of links (such as on user or WikiProject Subpages), as page-processing aids, and then use Linky on those lists. Lists of URLs are especially useful, because Wikipedia URLs can include actions such as "edit" so each link automatically specifies the opening of Wikipedia's edit window - so each page is in edit mode without having to click on "edit this page", thereby eliminating a step to minimize the amount of time you spend waiting for the server. (On tasks dealing with dozens of pages, each click and page load really adds up).
Then what?
Well, after you have the desired web-pages displayed in tabs, you can use Firefox's tabbing commands to switch between them very rapidly, close them instantaneously (which also switches you to the next tab in the blink of an eye), etc.
This lets you work on lots of pages fast. Very fast.
The question is, do you want this gas pedal? Can you handle this rate of speed? :)
How does Linky compare with AWB?
WP:AWB is an auto-page-loader, and a semi-automatic editor with powerful search/replace features. It works on lists of pages which you specify, opening one-at-a-time, executing your pre-specified search/replaces, and then loading each page in AWB's own edit mode so you can edit it. When you are done and save the page, AWB saves it, automatically closes it, and then opens the next page on the list in the same way. But, if you need to see what you are doing, that is, actually look at each page you are working on, AWB's view feature is rather cludgy and time-consuming. Pages are not initially loaded in view mode, so you have to click on "view" and wait each time for the server to respond, which can be very time-consuming, especially when you are working on a lot of pages and have to repeat this operation.
"Tabbing" is task-switching technology. You are basically working in windows, directly on Wikipedia pages using Wikipedia's interface. So if you need to inspect pages (that is, actually look at them), you simply open their links in Linky and each page is in display mode by default. You switch between pages (in subwindows called "tabs") with Ctrl-tab or with Ctlr-w (which closes the current window as you make the switch). Once in tabs, you can switch back and forth between pages very rapidly. In AWB, once you've processed a page, you can't go back to it.
Tabs and tabbing
Firefox's tab feature (especially when combined with the use of the Linky extension and macros) is one of the most powerful tools you can use to work on Wikipedia. It beats AWB in many operations (though AWB beats it in many others).
Firefox (tab controls)
- Rapid page viewing:
- Middle-click (or use Linky, see below) to load 40 or more pages into tabs (Linky opens up to 99)
- To skim through lots of random articles, middle-click on "Random article" 40+ times
- Read or work on one
- When done, press Ctrl-F4 or C-w to close tab and instantly go to the next one
- Great for skimming sets of articles, where you are checking for a missing element, or looking for a particular kind of page or element. Just keep pressing Ctrl-F4 to instantly get rid of the current tab and go onto the next one, cycling through them fast until you find one you are looking for. Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam!
- Middle-click on link - create new tab with linked page as its contents
- Ctrl-T - Create new (employ) tab
- Ctrl-Tab - Switch to next tab
- Shift-Ctrl-Tab - Switch to previous tab
- (Find this - Clone a tab (Firefox 2.0))
- Ctrl-Shift-T - un-close a tab (this will even remember contents entered in text boxes like Wikipedia's text editor)
- Or go to the History menu and choose Recently Closed Tabs
Linky
Linky - tab/window creation/management Firefox extension. Opens tabs for each link, or from selected text. Creates list which you can modify before proceeding. Makes "tabbing" even more powerful.
- Select text and then right-click. In the drop-down menu, click Linky/Open selected links in tabs.
temporary section
Linky
I've made a linky list for you at User:Thehelpfulone/Country list.
Highlight a piece of it at a time (no more than 99 links), by holding down the left mouse button and dragging your mouse down the page. Then right-click to get the drop down menu. Linky will be on there (assuming you have it installed).
click on Linky, and "Open selected links in tabs".
When you are down with a tab, press Ctrl-W, and it will instantly be deleted, and the next tab will be displayed on your screen.
I created the linky list by copying the contents of User:The Transhumanist/Country list into Word, and then using search/replace. WikEd works better, but I don't have access to it on this machine (no Firefox). :(