(Guide/Review) easyGestures N is a user-friendly, mouse gesture navigation extension for Firefox

[Karlston]

easyGestures N is a user-friendly, mouse gesture navigation extension for Firefox

Gesturefy and FoxyGestures are incredible add-ons which allow you to control your browser with the mouse. The gestures do take some time to get used to; if you want something simpler, you can't go wrong with easyGestures N.

 

 

It is fork of an old add-on called Easy Gestures, with a similar interface. But the features are quite different in the new extension.

 

 

EasyGestures N requires three permissions by default, and the official page on Mozilla's AMO explains why these are necessary.

 

 

Install the add-on and use the middle-mouse button to bring up easy Gestures N's interface. Mouse over one of the options in the pie menu and left-click on it, to execute the action.

 

The first option (clockwise) with an upwards arrow is called "Go to top", which takes you to the top of the page. The 2nd button jumps to the next tab, while the one below it switches to the previous tab. The refresh icon reloads the page, while the other three options allow you to close the tab, go back or open a new tab respectively.

 

The menu icon (12' O Clock) in easyGestures N brings up a secondary menu called the Extra menu, that has options to copy the URL to identifier, pin/unpin tabs, open a new private window, open the current page in a new private window, and copy the page's URL.

 

 

There is one more menu that you can access with a right-click, and this one lets you load page in a new tab, go forward, scroll to the bottom, bookmark the page, undo close tab. That's nearly 20 commands, none of which requires you to draw or even remember a gesture. And there's even more, easyGestures N has contextual menus for links, images, text selection and text boxes.

 

This allows you to search, copy or paste links, text, save images and more. To access this menu, hold down Alt when you click the middle mouse button.

 

 

To cancel an action, hit the escape key or move the mouse away from the menu. If the pie menu is blocking something, hold down the Shift key and move the mouse and the menu will follow the cursor.

 

 

Want to use the middle mouse button for scrolling? Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking the button and Firefox will display the scroll icon. It also works with the Shift key.

 

 

Let's head to the extension's options. EasyGestures N can execute many additional commands, most of which requires more permissions. You may choose to enable these from the Permissions tab. Some useful examples include executing JavaScript, take tab screenshots or access recently closed tabs.

 

 

The Activation tab lets you define the mouse button behavior. If you have a mouse with more buttons, you can assign it to trigger the easyGestures N pie menu. You can even use the right or left mouse button for the same, but I don't recommend doing so, as it could hinder your browsing experience.

 

 

The tooltips that appear next to the menu can be disabled, and it might be a good idea to do this once you get used to the icons. You can increase the icon display size, and or swap it out for a larger set.

 

 

Don't like the options in the pie menu? You can customize every item from the "Menus" tab, and there are a ton of shortcuts that you can choose from. easyGestures N can also be used as a speed-dial to load your favorite sites quickly, set it up from the customizations tab.

 

 

EasyGestures N for Firefox is an open source extension. The dark theme looks better than the standard one, but that's just a personal preference.

 

Landing Page: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/easygestures-n/

 

 

easyGestures N is a user-friendly, mouse gesture navigation extension for Firefox