While Firefox 20 with its new per window private browsing bought it at par with Chrome, the implementation as a whole in both the two browsers still remains somewhat clunky. Having to open a whole new window for your “private” browsing needs, does not feel all that smooth in the workflow after all. Thankfully, this little add-on might just be the magic bullet.
Meet Private Tab addon
Per Tab private browsing add-on takes Firefox 20’s private browsing mode a step ahead and expands it with ability to perform private browsing in individual tabs.
The tab to the left in the screenshot is actually a normal tab, while the the next one is a private tab opened within the same window.
Installation
The addon needs Firefox 20 or above because the earlier versions didn’t have the new private browsing API’s.
Download: Private Tab Addon for Firefox
The installation is a straightforward affair. Just click and you are done. Added Bonus : The browser does not even need to be restarted. There are no options and are probably not needed too.
Alright now! How do I use it?
One of the two ways. Either you can directly click the Firefox menu and select New Private Tab. Or (a rather elegant way) just use Ctrl + Alt + P keyboard shortcut to spawn a shiny new private tab.
Ramblings
If you are confused differentiating between a Private tab and a normal tab within the Firefox window after installing the extension, you could notice a subtle dashed underline over the title of Private tabs. Though I would be glad if the developer provided more visible hints for the Private tabs ( highlighting may be?). In case of doubt, just hover over the title of the tab and it will highlight if it is a private browsing tab.
The addon elegantly does its job. During my usage I did not encounter any issues at all with the addon. It just feels like a part of Firefox and probably could even be a feature landing in the Nightly builds soon given the feature is already included in Firefox for Android.
