In my article, Associate Extensionless Files with Notepad, I explain how to navigate the labyrinthine maze of Windows dialogue menus to assign Microsoft’s Notepad text editor as the opening application for files without extensions. In this post, I’ll show you how to associate any file type with any program (including Notepad) in less than five seconds.

Ready? Don’t blink, you’ll miss it.. ;)

Modify any file extension association in five seconds

Open the Windows command prompt and enter the following command:

assoc .extension=fileType

It’s that easy. What is happening here? Let’s break it down, just for fun:

• assoc — Windows file-association command
• .extension — the extension of the file for which you would like to associate
• fileType — the type of file that you would like to associate with your extension

Continue Reading

As my browser of choice, Firefox provides all the functionality I need for web design, application development, everyday surfing, and much more. With a handful of choice extensions installed, Firefox is a lean, mean “get-it-done” machine. Plus, I am always looking for new ways to boost productivity and increase efficiency. Of course, an excellent way to do this involves learning and using as many mouse and keyboard shortcuts as possible. Over the past few years, I have collected oodles of shortcut snippets for Firefox. Thus, in an effort to purge my constantly growing stash of notes, I decided to round up all of the Firefox shortcuts I could find, clean them up a bit, and post the collection online for everyone to enjoy. Drum roll please: now presenting 85 Firefox Shortcuts for Mac and PC! Enjoy..

Continue Reading

..Or something. Frankly, I just needed an excuse to post these steaming little beauties online. Please note that I don’t lay claim ¹ to most of these browser bookmarklet/favelet tricks, but I do find them extremely useful. They are posted here for the sake of convenience and for reference purposes, so use at your own risk (i.e., I am not responsible if they crash your browser). Although I use most of these bad boys with Firefox, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if they also functioned properly in other modern browsers. Nonetheless, along with each bookmarklet/favelet thing, I try to provide as much relevant information as possible, because sometimes you just feel like you’re from another planet. Happy head-scratching!

What are these things?

“Bookmarklets,” “Favelets,” “Browser Enhancement Things” — whatever you want to call them — help increase productivity and simplify tasks executed from within your browser window. Basically, these things are stored as bookmarks and perform some task — such as resize the browser window — when they are clicked. Hmm, perhaps I should check Wikipedia for the “Official” definition .. — nah.

How do I install them?

Installation of these lil’ miracles could not be easier. In most modern browsers, simply drag and drop the bookmarklet link onto your shortcut toolbar (Firefox, Safari, et al) or right-click and “Add to Favorites” (Internet Explorer). Pretty easy. There is a more complicated method as well. Create an empty bookmark or Favorite and copy & paste the bookmarklet source code into the URL field. Either way, these things are pretty common and you shouldn’t have too much trouble. So, without further ado..

Continued..

There are several files that appear not to have extensions in Windows XP. Perhaps the best known example is the HOSTS file. Files such as the HOSTS file that appear to be "extensionless" actually contain an invisible period "." — or dot — at the end the file name. It is this invisible dot that will enable us to select a specific program with which to open files with no extensions.

As web developers, we are constantly checking and consulting server-generated error_log files. Like the HOSTS file, the error_log files appear to have no associated extension. In Windows XP, opening extensionless files requires opening the "Open with…" dialogue box and scrolling through a long list of file types. And, although there is a checkbox option within the dialogue box enabling users to "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file," the option is "greyed out" and useless. Thus opening an extensionless file requires four or five extra "clicks", as well as the extra time it takes to jump through the hoops. This may not sound like a big deal, but try opening any number of files by this method and the extra clicks begin to add up.

After opening our millionth error_log file using the "Open with" method, we decided to confront the problem and devise a solution. After a bit of research, we were presented with several options: editing the registry, installing software, or tweaking Windows "Folder Options". After fiddling with the registry and installing some software with no real progress, we decided to try the heretofore unsuccessful "Folder Options" method. Sure enough, armed with an invisible dot and a slight tweak, we were finally able to convince Windows XP to associate extensionless file types with Notepad, our program of choice for such files.

The Solution

Although this solution is relatively risk-free ¹, requiring no registry editing or software installation, the process is fairly sensitive, requiring careful attention. Below are two methods: the first associates extensionless files with Notepad, while the second does such with WordPad. Both assume a Windows XP operating system.

Here is the method of associating extensionless file types with Notepad in WinXP:

1. Open Windows Explorer and go to the "Tools › Folder Options › File Types" menu.
2. Click the "New" button and type ".txt" in the "File Extension" field.
3. Click on the "Advanced ››" button and the "Associated File Type" should read "Text Document". If it is blank, or says something else, close everything out and start over, making sure to follow the steps in order.
4. Finally, in the "File Extension" field, replace the ".txt" with a single dot, "."
5. Click "OK" and exit. Find or create an extensionless file and check it out.

Here is a similar method of associating extensionless file types with WordPad in WinXp:

1. Open Windows Explorer and go to the "Tools › Folder Options › File Types" menu.
2. Click the "New" button and type ".txt" in the "File Extension" field.
3. Click on the "Advanced ››" button and the "Associated File Type" should read "Text Document". If it is blank, or says something else, close everything out and start over, making sure to follow the steps in order.
4. Open the "Associated File Type" dropdown menu. Scroll down and select "Wordpad Document".
5. Finally, in the "File Extension" field, replace the ".txt" with a single dot, "."
6. Click "OK" and exit. Find or create an extensionless file and check it out.

Footnotes

• ¹ It is always a good idea to backup your registry and other critical documents before implementing any system changes.

Well, they aren’t really that amazing, but for Windows and Linux users, they sure save time.

• Ctrl+A: select all
• Ctrl+C: copy
• Ctrl+F: find
• Ctrl+G: find again or find next
• Ctrl+P: print
• Ctrl+S: save web page as
• Ctrl+T: open new tab
• Ctrl+U: view source code
• Ctrl+V: paste
• Ctrl+X: cut
• Ctrl+Y: redo
• Ctrl+Z: undo
• Alt+Tab: cycle through open programs
• Ctrl+Page Up: navigate forward through open tabs
• Ctrl+Page Down: navigate backward through open tabs
• Esc: stops the current tab’s web page from loading
• Ctrl+Shift+R: total refresh of the current web page — clears out the cache
• Ctrl+- and Ctrl++: adjust font size — use Ctrl+0 to reset to original size
• Ctrl+middle click / middle click: opens link in a new background tab

• Open new window: Ctrl + N
• Open new tab: Ctrl + T
• Close window: Alt + F4 or Ctrl+W
• Close tab: Ctrl + F4
• Switch focus to address bar: Ctrl + L
• Open link: Enter
• Open link in new window: Shift + Enter
• Open link in new tab: Ctrl + Enter
• Go back: Backspace / Alt + Left Arrow
• Go forward: Shift + Backspace / Alt + Right Arrow
• Reload: Ctrl + R or F5
• Go to home page: Alt + Home
• Go to next tab: Ctrl + Tab
• Go to previous tab: Ctrl + Shift + Tab
• Find in this page: Ctrl + F
• Find again: F3
• View page source: Ctrl + U
• Decrease text size: Ctrl + -
• Increase text side: Ctrl + +
• Restore text size: Ctrl + 0
• Save page as: Ctrl + S
• Save link target as: Alt + Enter
• Stop: Esc
• Clear private data: Ctrl + Shift + Delete
• DOM Inspector: Ctrl + Shift + I
• Change text size: Ctrl and scroll up/down with mouse wheel
• Switch tabs: Ctrl + n, where n = a number 1 - 9, corresponding to each tab
• Close tab: middle click (Windows default)