Filed under: Fun, Internet, Utilities, Mozilla, Open Source, Browser Tips
Grab and Drag: scroll in Firefox like an iPhone wielder
Grab and Drag is a Firefox extension that can turn your mouse icon into a little hand, enabling you to scroll up, down, and side-to-side much like you would with the little hand in Adobe Reader.
In the end, it makes Firefox scroll like the iPhone browser, even allowing for one-time flicks that can send the page conveniently scrolling with momentum in any direction. Best of all, Grab and Drag is free, so if you're curious, give it a go.
Overall, we're pretty pleased with it, but it's not perfect. Grab and Drag really messes with Blogsmith, our blogging platform, so getting the first half of this post together was really funky until we shut it off. We're sure the program would mess with other advanced web sites too, but it can be conveniently turned off via the hand icon in the toolbar if necessary.
[via gHacks]
In the end, it makes Firefox scroll like the iPhone browser, even allowing for one-time flicks that can send the page conveniently scrolling with momentum in any direction. Best of all, Grab and Drag is free, so if you're curious, give it a go.
Overall, we're pretty pleased with it, but it's not perfect. Grab and Drag really messes with Blogsmith, our blogging platform, so getting the first half of this post together was really funky until we shut it off. We're sure the program would mess with other advanced web sites too, but it can be conveniently turned off via the hand icon in the toolbar if necessary.
[via gHacks]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Josh said 10:28PM on 6-16-2008
I used it back when I had a mouse full time (switched from PC to a MacBook in November) and I never had any problems with it. It was a great extension that really added to an already great browser.
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Bufsabre said 10:58PM on 6-16-2008
ill keep my scroll wheel, thank you though
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pgk said 11:14PM on 6-16-2008
IE7 has had this for a while, called the 'panning hand', which can be selected from the toolbar, or via View -> Panning hand. It's a great way to scroll when using a tablet/convertible. Doesn't seem to work on all pages though (Google reader..)
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nicleT said 11:27PM on 6-16-2008
For Mac users, there's also try Smart Scroll which gives you the same smooth iPhone scroll but all over your system.
http://www.marcmoini.com/sx_en.html
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mark said 1:15AM on 6-17-2008
That functionality is actually already built into firefox by default, no extension needed. On the mac, just hold cmd and option at the same time and you can drag and pan in the same was as Acrobat Reader. (On windows, I think it's something like ctrl + alt) You don't get the flick-y iPhone-esque momentum thing, but you don't have the overhead of another extension running. This has worked since Firefox 1.5 I think.
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Josh said 6:31AM on 6-17-2008
But if you are on a MacBook and accidentally scroll instead of click, you go back thirty pages. And the momentum is why you would use the extension.
soniiic said 5:23AM on 6-17-2008
so this is a pimped out version of scrollanywhere? no thanks, i'd rather when my hand stops grabbing that the page doesn't continue to scroll another half page. i cannot surf without scrollanywhere now, it's so useful and i don't get RSI from using the mousewheel. oh and scrollanywhere works in ff3
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dubsix said 6:31AM on 6-17-2008
I use this with my TC1000 slate PC which uses a PEN for input.
Most useful extension I have come across, for use with a Slate PC that is.
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Espiox said 12:30PM on 6-17-2008
Unfortunately this extension seems to be missing the thing I liked so much about the iPhone's scrolling: the nice little "bounce" when you hit the end of the page.
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Josh said 1:02PM on 6-30-2008
Go suggest it to the developers. I wouldn't mind that feature. lol