From the category archives:
Web browsers
1Password Fills Forms for you
1Password Fills Forms for you
Mac Tip #332, 02 April 2008
As I explained in the last Tip, you can use the Tab key to move quickly between fields on a form. But you still have to type your entries. Which is fine if you’re typing out your thoughts and responses on an issue.
But if you’re always having to fill in such unchanging information as name, address, phone number, email address, and even credit card numbers, user names and passwords, then all that typing can be tedious at best, annoying at worst.
Because of the work I do, I have to maintain dozens and dozens of usernames and passwords. Memorising them all is not within my brainpower, and looking them up all the time is a nuisance.
Saving them in one browser also isn’t the answer, as I often switch between Safari, Flock and OmniWeb and need passwords and so on in each one.
That’s why I use a wonderful piece of Mac software called 1Password.
It costs US$35 for a single licence (with a 30 day money back guarantee) and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or newer, and a modern web browser such as Safari, Firefox, OmniWeb, or NetNewsWire. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with the Opera web browser.
1Password can do many things, including generating passwords for you, but here’s how I commonly use it to save me time and effort while I use the web.
Save form information as you go
The first time I went to a website requiring information I filled in the form in the usual way. Then I asked 1Password to Save the form.
Fill with saved information
When I go to a website where I must enter my details I use the special keystroke (set in the 1Password preferences) to enter most of the required information. Obviously I’ve already entered this into 1Password, either directly or by saving forms as I go along. In a flash the entire form is filled out.
If I might have two or more different logins for one site (as often happens in my work) then I can choose which ‘Identity’ to use.
I check the details, enter any other missing information, and press the relevant button to submit the form. I can even choose to have the form submitted automatically for me, so I don’t have to press Return. That’s very helpful for logging in to email or banks.
A demo form and demo software
The 1Password folks have provided a demo form so you can see how things work.
You’re able to download a free version of 1Password and fill up to 12 forms with it to get an idea of whether it will work for you.
Wallet and secure notes
1Password is also able to keep credit card details secure for you — very handy for shopping sites. It can alert you to phishing attacks, where fraudulent sites pretend to be your bank or shopping site, and help prevent you from giving away valuable login and banking details.
It has a whole section for secure notes where you can store information you’d like to keep away from prying eyes.
I’ve been using 1Password for a long time now, and would hate to be without it. Of course it has many more features than I can mention here, but for me the most important feature is filling in all those login forms with one single keystroke.
Popularity: 34% [?]
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Fill forms quickly with the Tab key
Fill forms quickly with the Tab key
Mac Tip #331, 26 March 2008
Sometimes you must fill in a form on a web page. Perhaps you carefully click in the first field and type your information, then click in the next one and type the next entry.
Then perhaps you have to click on and scroll a drop-down menu, such as when you must choose New Zealand from a list of countries.
Click, type, click, scroll, click, type. It’s all just endless clicking. But it doesn’t need to be.
Try the Tab key
Try the Tab key at the top left of your keyboard.
Tab normally moves the cursor from one form field to another, while Shift Tab moves it back in reverse order.
By using the Tab key you should be able to click in the first field and type, then press the Tab key, type again, and so on. If you make a mistake and need to go back to a previous field, press Shift Tab.
Experiment
Visit this example form to try out the Tab key.
While the form is live and will send emails to my address they will be filtered straight to the Trash, so you can play with the form all you like. Just don’t try to use the test form to send me any real messages.
Deal with drop-downs
Unlike the other form fields, the Subject in my test form is a drop-down. A drop-down is often used for State or Country in many forms.
You still don’t need to take your hands off the keyboard though. When you press Tab from the Email field in my test form the drop-down will be selected. Now either press a letter key (in this particular form try Q or S) or press the down arrow on the keyboard.
When I need to select New Zealand from a list of countries I press the letter N. That brings me to the first country that starts with N — often Namibia. Then I press the down arrow a few times to work down through other countries that start with N.
Once the correct item in the drop-down list is highlighted, press Return or Enter to confirm your choice.
A trick for fast typists
If you are trying to select a known word or phrase such as New Zealand from a drop-down, try typing not just the first letter, but the first few. But you need to be quick, or else you may end up selecting a word beginning with the last letter you typed.
I can usually manage to reach New Caledonia in a list of countries by typing new, though I have yet to be fast enough to type new z for New Zealand.
Next time you have to fill in a form, try the Tab key for extra speed and ease of use. But if you often fill in forms, such as user names and passwords, then there’s an even better way to make life easier. I’ll explain in a future tip.
Popularity: 32% [?]
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Control click
Control click
Mac Tip #274/31-Jan-2007
A friend recently mentioned problems with downloading things through her web browser. I suggested she try Control clicking (hold down the Control key while you click) on the link, so she could have more control over what happened.
When you Control click on something a contextual menu usually appears. It’s called contextual because it contains different items, depending on the context.
Call up a web page, for example, mactips.info, and hover over one of the links. Instead of clicking, hold down the Control key and click on the link. A contextual menu should appear.
What you see in that menu depends on which web browser you’re using and what extras you might have installed, but you should see choices such as Open Link in New Window, Open Link in New Tab, Download Linked File and the like.
Try Control clicking in your web browser and see what happens. Try it while over a link, ordinary text, an image, a movie, after clicking in a Search box, on the Forward, Back and other Toolbar buttons.
Also try another browser and see what happens there. In Safari, for example, Control clicking on a link to a web page offers the choice to Download Linked File, while in Opera I can either Save target as… or Save to download folder.
Control clicking isn’t restricted to web browsers, either. Try it in everything you do on your Mac; you may be surprised.
Popularity: 9% [?]
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is jointly authored by Miraz Jordan and Maria Langer.