I’m sure you won’t do this, but to be clear: Please don’t force that stuff on me. I use Windows, and Mac Stuff just looks broken.

After selecting text, the obvious thing to do is use the context menu. If the context menu were smart enough and arranged well enough, it should provide much of what I want directly. However, a large context menu is worse than none as one spends an inordinate amount of time searching for the desired command.

I propose, therefore, that the context menu — at least one not augmented by add-ons — should be succinct and meaningful. The context menu should be customizable to permit users to reorder, add, or eliminate entries on-the-fly. (By that I mean that there can be an editor accessible from, say, the Options dialog that permits adjusting the various context menus, but that editor should be accessible from the context menu itself.) That way, a user can change the context menu the instant the fancy strikes to change it.

One of the options to include in the context menu, then, is the proposed dashboard tab. Thus, if the context menu doesn’t offer, with a relatively small number of pertinent choices, the action desired, the dashboard tab is sure to offer it. In that case, all of the suggested functionality related to the selection has bearing.

Thus, a new tab can reasonably contain the thumbnails and ability to search history, bookmarks, etc. as discussed herein, but ought not to react to the selection. If that dashboard tab is selected from the context menu after selecting text on a page, then the dashboard tab can include selection-specific content. Finally, the suggestion to replace the current tab’s contents with the dashboard tab, rather than requiring a new tab to access it, completes the picture nicely.

1. Traditional New Tab blank page… maybe with the option of selecting the color of the page.

2. All-in-one New Tab like the one being proposed here, possibly with customizable “dashboard” options. This would probably be default.

3. “Smart Tab”… which I would see as a an option where the previous Copied string was input into the tab automatically. If the selected string is an email address containing an @ character, then whatever webmail client is in Firefox would be opened in a New Tab, if there is no webmail client selected, then it would just do a search. If the string is obviously a site address, then the Smart Tab would attempt to open it up immediately, no Paste, Go actions required. If the string is neither an email address or a web address, then the Smart Tab would open up whatever search engine is selected in the Search Bar and proceed to do a search.

Maybe this third option could have it’s own separate keystroke and be a totally new function all-together… although it could probably be handled better by a 3rd party plug-in anyway.

… having an actions storage mechanism that stores the last TYPE of text copied matching an action….

example:

… normally, if you copy some email and do something with that copied address outside the browser, then return and copy a text that you need translated or googled/searched, this new text and it’s most-likely action replaces the mail address. What should happen is that the email address is not replaced, but stored for future use until you select another email address. Only then should the first mail address selected be replaced by the new. Even better… have a list of say 3 or 5 recently selected mail addresses. Same goes for addresses to be mapped or events to be added to calendar.

Even better have these ‘types’ or ‘kinds’ of actions act like the awesomebar, but separately only for email addresses in the email-address-actionbar only events in the calendar-actionbar etc..

Don’t know if I made my point clear ?

The goal isn’t to maximize privacy, the goal is to optimize the user experience. What is the cost of the privacy violation in this case? Effectively zero.