documentation/shortcuts.md

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   2 This is part of the VimFx documentation.
   3 Copyright Simon Lydell 2015, 2016.
   4 See the file README.md for copying conditions.
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   6
   7 # Shortcuts
   8
   9 All of VimFx’s keyboard shortcuts can be customized in VimFx’s settings page in
  10 the Add-ons Manager. Doing so is really easy. You get far just by looking at the
  11 defaults and trying things out. If not, read on.
  12
  13 In VimFx’s Keyboard Shortcuts help dialog (which can be opened by pressing `?`)
  14 you can click any command to open VimFx’s settings page in the Add-ons Manager
  15 and automatically select the text input for that command. Tip: Use the `zF`
  16 command to click without using the mouse.
  17
  18
  19 ## Key notation
  20
  21 VimFx’s key notation is inspired by Vim’s key notation. An example:
  22
  23     J  gT  <c-s-tab>  g<left>  <c-j>
  24
  25 The above defines five alternative shortcuts. The odd ones consist of one key
  26 each, while the even ones consist of two. Letters can be written as they are,
  27 while non-letter keys like Tab and the arrow keys need to be put inside `<` and
  28 `>`. Letters also need to be put inside `<` and `>` if you want to specify a
  29 modifier (as in the `<c-j>` example, which might be notated as “CTRL+J” in some
  30 other programs.)
  31
  32 If you’re usure on how to express a key press you’d like to use as part of a
  33 shortcut, press `<c-q>` while inside one of the text inputs for a command and
  34 then press your desired key (optionally holding modifier keys). That will paste
  35 the key notation for that particular key press into the text input. `<c-d>`
  36 pastes the default shortcut(s), and `<c-r>` resets the text input to the default
  37 entirely. You can of course use the standard `<c-z>` to undo.
  38
  39 You can specify any number of shortcuts for every command. Separate them from
  40 each other by one or more spaces.
  41
  42 A _shortcut_ consists of one or more _keys_ that you need to press in order to
  43 activate the command. (See also the [timeout] option.)
  44
  45 A _key_ corresponds to pressing a single key on your keyboard, optionally while
  46 holding one or more _modifiers._ The following modifiers are recognized:
  47
  48 - a: alt
  49 - c: control (also known as ctrl)
  50 - m: meta
  51 - s: shift
  52
  53 (Which of the above you can actually use depends on your operating system.)
  54
  55 If you’d like to know even more about the key notation, see
  56 [vim-like-key-notation].
  57
  58 [timeout]: options.md#timeout
  59 [vim-like-key-notation]: https://github.com/lydell/vim-like-key-notation
  60
  61
  62 ## Tips
  63
  64 If you use more than one keyboard layout, remember to check out the [Ignore
  65 keyboard layout] option.
  66
  67 If you’d like see what VimFx interprets a key stroke as, you can (ab)use the
  68 [`m`] command. Press `m` followed by your desired key stroke. A [notification]
  69 will appear, including the interpreted key notation for that key press.
  70
  71 [Ignore keyboard layout]: options.md#ignore-keyboard-layout
  72 [`m`]: commands.md#marks-m-and-
  73 [notification]: notifications.md
  74
  75
  76 ## Special keys
  77
  78 Just like Vim, VimFx has a few “special keys:”
  79
  80 - [`<force>`]
  81 - [`<late>`]
  82
  83 No keyboard (or keyboard layout) can produce those (in practise). As a
  84 consequence, putting one of those “keys” in a shortcut would normally make it
  85 impossible to trigger. However, that is not the case for special keys.
  86
  87 By putting a special key at the beginning of a shortcut, the shortcut will work
  88 exactly as it would without the special key, except that some behavior of the
  89 shortcut is changed (depending on the special key used). Special keys specify an
  90 _option_ for the shortcut rather than a key to press in order to activate the
  91 command.
  92
  93 Each special key is described below.
  94
  95 [`<force>`]: #force
  96 [`<late>`]: #late
  97
  98 ### `<force>`
  99
 100 The `<force>` special key makes the shortcut in question available in text
 101 inputs.
 102
 103 VimFx enters a kind of “automatic insert mode” when you focus a text input,
 104 allowing you to type text into it without triggering VimFx commands. The `esc`
 105 command, however, is still available, allowing you to blur the text input by
 106 pressing `<escape>`. The reason it is available is because the default shortcut
 107 is `<force><escape>`.
 108
 109 Using `<force>` allows you to run other commands in text inputs as well. For
 110 example, you could use `<force><a-j>` and `<force><a-k>` to be able to select
 111 tab backward and forward regardless if you happen to be in a text input or not.
 112
 113 ### `<late>`
 114
 115 The `<late>` special key makes the shortcut in question run _after_ the handling
 116 of key presses in the current page, allowing the current page to override it.
 117
 118 Normally, all of VimFx’s shortcuts are triggered _before_ the current page gets
 119 the key presses. This makes the VimFx shortcuts work consistently regardless of
 120 what the current page happens to be up to.
 121
 122 Sometimes, though, it is useful to let the page override a shortcut. For
 123 example, if you plan to use the arrow keys for VimFx’s scrolling commands, while
 124 still being able to move the focus in the custom menus some sites use.