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Is there a new addon like the discontinued "Sitelauncher"?

  • 11 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by McCoy

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First of all, sorry if this is the wrong place for this question.

The addon "Sitelauncher" (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sitelauncher-speed-dial/calhgleedaaigmhnoklfenlfhlbfdloo) used to be available for Firefox too before the big change to the way it handles addons but it was never updated to the new Firefox and I've been searching for an addon to replace it for years.

I've looked at hundreds of "new tab replacer" addons but none of them does what Sitelauncher did. It is such a simple addon yet it is so useful and there is somehow no other addon that does this. Basically the functionality I'm looking for is to be able to open a new tab and load up a predetermined website based on the hotkey pressed. (Example from Sitelauncher: Press 'Ctrl + Spacebar' to bring up a menu of user-defined websites with corresponding hotkeys. Then you can press "G" for example to open up a new tab leading to "www.google.com". Hopefully my explanation makes sense. I don't want to open up a new tab that hosts links to other websites. I want to be able to open web pages purely using hotkeys on my keyboard. Thank you.

First of all, sorry if this is the wrong place for this question. The addon "Sitelauncher" (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sitelauncher-speed-dial/calhgleedaaigmhnoklfenlfhlbfdloo) used to be available for Firefox too before the big change to the way it handles addons but it was never updated to the new Firefox and I've been searching for an addon to replace it for years. I've looked at hundreds of "new tab replacer" addons but none of them does what Sitelauncher did. It is such a simple addon yet it is so useful and there is somehow no other addon that does this. Basically the functionality I'm looking for is to be able to open a new tab and load up a predetermined website based on the hotkey pressed. (Example from Sitelauncher: Press 'Ctrl + Spacebar' to bring up a menu of user-defined websites with corresponding hotkeys. Then you can press "G" for example to open up a new tab leading to "www.google.com". Hopefully my explanation makes sense. I don't want to open up a new tab that hosts links to other websites. I want to be able to open web pages purely using hotkeys on my keyboard. Thank you.
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All Replies (11)

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Hello Ninthjake,

Giving you these links is all I can think of :

https://www.reddit.com/r/FirefoxAddons/comments/9rr6jc/alternative_for_site_launcher_ctlspacekey_open/

and :

https://alternativeto.net/software/sitelauncher/

But you may already have seen those ...... (?)

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Hi McCoy. I've seen the "alternativeto" website but none of those alternatives does what I want. The reddit thread seems to enforce my fears that there truly is no other alternative (except one apparently that costs $10 a month)

The worst part about this is that Sitelauncher is still available for Chrome and I'm debating switching but I'd really rather stick with Firefox :(

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Would you consider installing this add-on :

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-foxified/  ?

Also see : https://www.howtogeek.com/346981/how-to-install-any-chrome-extension-in-firefox/

Worth a try - then you'll forget about switching to Chrome ....

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McCoy said

Would you consider installing this add-on : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-foxified/  ? Also see : https://www.howtogeek.com/346981/how-to-install-any-chrome-extension-in-firefox/ Worth a try - then you'll forget about switching to Chrome ....

That's definitely interesting but I could not get any addons to install unfortunately. Not even the ones mentioned in the 'howtogeek' article. For the Sitelauncher addon I've been stuck at "Checking AMO Credentials" for the past 20 minutes.

Thank you for all your help McCoy!

Modified by NinthJake

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'Not giving up just yet ....

Would you take a look at this thread please (and scroll down ... ) :

https://github.com/Noitidart/Chrome-Store-Foxified/issues/113

And just now I went and checked the reviews (also scroll down ....) :

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-foxified/reviews/


One last thing I can think of, is to contact the developer - under "More information' there is "Support Email' ......

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And now I found these search results .....

Well, I'd hate to see you switch to Chrome because of one extension .......

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Can you use bookmark keywords? Here's how that works.

First, you set it up:

(1) Bookmark the page for which you want a keyboard shortcut

(2) Find the bookmark on your Bookmarks menu, toolbar, or "Other" bookmarks and right-click it, then click Properties

(3) In the Keyword field, enter the letter or letters you want to type to load that bookmark and save your change -- for example, you could use g for Google and yt for YouTube or whatever you like

Then, to use your keyword for quick access:

(1) Open a new tab (for example, Ctrl+t) and Firefox should automatically put the cursor in the address bar

(2) Type your keyword and press Enter to load that bookmark -- if you pause and look at the drop-down before pressing Enter, the top line should have changed from the usual autofill or search to a "Visit" entry that matches the bookmark

I tend to use this for annoyingly long URLs, but you also can use it for home pages if you like.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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McCoy said

'Not giving up just yet .... Would you take a look at this thread please (and scroll down ... ) : https://github.com/Noitidart/Chrome-Store-Foxified/issues/113 And just now I went and checked the reviews (also scroll down ....) : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-foxified/reviews/

One last thing I can think of, is to contact the developer - under "More information' there is "Support Email' ......

Thank you. I've tried tons of those suggestions now and tried to get it working for hours but it seems like something in the newer releases of Firefox broke them from working unfortunately.

I've also tried contacting the developer of Sitelauncher over a year ago and I haven't heard back from them so no luck there either it seems...

@jscher2000 thanks for the suggestion. I didn't know that you could assign shortcuts to sites like that but the idea is that I could open a webpage in a new tab quickly without having to take my other hand off my mouse. What you are suggesting is essentially three steps (open new tab > write a "hotkey" into the search bar > press 'Enter') that was streamlined into a single click with one hand with Sitelauncher.

At this point I almost think it's easier to learn programming and write my own addon to replace Sitelauncher :P

I definitely appreciate all the help though.

Modified by NinthJake

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@NinthJake firefox updated it's browse security feature that if addons don't pass security checks/updates then they will not work. This isn't the fault of Mozilla but the addon/extension developer failure to update their software to work with the latest security updates. And have you contact the addon developer as to why they didn't update their software? Also chrome addons don't work for firefox they are not the same. Did you do a search for SiteLauncher-I did that and found links to alt version. But if none of those works for you then there is nothing more that can be done here beyond what you said creating your own Addon to match SiteLauncher.

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NinthJake said

@jscher2000 thanks for the suggestion. I didn't know that you could assign shortcuts to sites like that but the idea is that I could open a webpage in a new tab quickly without having to take my other hand off my mouse. What you are suggesting is essentially three steps (open new tab > write a "hotkey" into the search bar > press 'Enter') that was streamlined into a single click with one hand with Sitelauncher.

Oh. Your question mentions doing everything with the keyboard:

NinthJake said

Basically the functionality I'm looking for is to be able to open a new tab and load up a predetermined website based on the hotkey pressed. (Example from Sitelauncher: Press 'Ctrl + Spacebar' to bring up a menu of user-defined websites with corresponding hotkeys. Then you can press "G" for example to open up a new tab leading to "www.google.com". Hopefully my explanation makes sense. I don't want to open up a new tab that hosts links to other websites. I want to be able to open web pages purely using hotkeys on my keyboard.

It's a little trickier when you only have one hand available...

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I just sent an email to "DoneSmart" and gave them a link to this thread .....