function openNewBackgroundTab(){ var a = document.createElement("a"); a.href = "http://www.google.com/"; var evt = document.createEvent("MouseEvents"); //the tenth parameter of initMouseEvent sets ctrl key evt.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, true, false, false, false, 0, null); a.dispatchEvent(evt); }