This is how I use Firefox.
I think that doing these things makes Firefox much quicker and easier to use.
Press Ctrl+L to go to the address bar from anywhere.
You start out in the address bar when you open a new tab, so you can just press Ctrl+T to open a new tab and start typing the address.
I also like to set my home page to about:blank, so the same thing happens when I open new Firefox windows.
If you go to about:config and turn on the browser.urlBar.autoFill setting you can start typing the address or name of your most frequently used web sites, then press Enter, and it will go straight there.
(In more detail: press Ctrl+L, type about:config then Enter, type browser.urlBar, then double click on browser.urlBar.autoFill in the list below to change its value to true.)
Go to a web page with a search box (e.g. Wikipedia). Right click in a search box on the web page, and choose Add a Keyword for this Search.... Type a description in the Name box (e.g. Wikipedia Search) and a short name in the Keyword field (e.g. "wikipedia") and press OK.
Now go to the address bar and type in the keyword you chose (e.g. wikipedia), a space, then the name of something to search for (e.g. China) and press Enter. You will be taken straight to the search results page (the Wikipedia page for China in this example).
Other sites that I create keyword searches for include Google, Amazon, IMDb, and Dictionary.com.
At that point, you can even remove the search box from your toolbar because it's redundant. Right click in the gray area just to the left of the search box, choose Customize... and drag the search box off the toolbar.
There's also a feature called browse by name. I'm not sure whether you need this if you're using keyword searching, but you might still like to check it out.
I think that doing these things makes Firefox much quicker and easier to use.
Getting to the Address Bar
Press Ctrl+L to go to the address bar from anywhere.
You start out in the address bar when you open a new tab, so you can just press Ctrl+T to open a new tab and start typing the address.
I also like to set my home page to about:blank, so the same thing happens when I open new Firefox windows.
Automatic Address Completion
If you go to about:config and turn on the browser.urlBar.autoFill setting you can start typing the address or name of your most frequently used web sites, then press Enter, and it will go straight there.
(In more detail: press Ctrl+L, type about:config then Enter, type browser.urlBar, then double click on browser.urlBar.autoFill in the list below to change its value to true.)
Address bar autocompletion - Firefox has filled out the blue text automatically
Address Bar Searching
Go to a web page with a search box (e.g. Wikipedia). Right click in a search box on the web page, and choose Add a Keyword for this Search.... Type a description in the Name box (e.g. Wikipedia Search) and a short name in the Keyword field (e.g. "wikipedia") and press OK.
Setting up a keyword search
Now go to the address bar and type in the keyword you chose (e.g. wikipedia), a space, then the name of something to search for (e.g. China) and press Enter. You will be taken straight to the search results page (the Wikipedia page for China in this example).
Starting a keyword search
Where you end up after typing "wikipedia china"
Other sites that I create keyword searches for include Google, Amazon, IMDb, and Dictionary.com.
At that point, you can even remove the search box from your toolbar because it's redundant. Right click in the gray area just to the left of the search box, choose Customize... and drag the search box off the toolbar.
Other Thoughts
There's also a feature called browse by name. I'm not sure whether you need this if you're using keyword searching, but you might still like to check it out.
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