2 This is part of the VimFx documentation.
3 Copyright Simon Lydell 2015.
4 See the file README.md for copying conditions.
9 Most of VimFx’s commands are straight-forward enough to not need any
10 documentation. For some commands, though, there is a bit more to know.
12 In this document, many commands are referred to by their default shortcut. You
13 can of course [change those] if you like.
15 [change those]: shortcuts.md
19 Some commands support _counts._ That means that you can type a number before a
20 command and it will change its behavior based on that number—the count. For
21 example, typing `12x` would close 12 tabs.
23 (As opposed to vim, you may only supply a count _before_ a command, not in the
24 middle of one. This is because VimFx’s commands are simple sequences, while
25 vim’s are operators and motions.)
29 Goes _count_ levels up in the URL hierarchy.
33 Goes _count_ pages backward/forward in history.
35 ### Scrolling commands
37 Specifying a count make them scroll _count_ times as far.
41 Selects the tab _count_ tabs backward/forward.
43 If the count is greater than one they don’t wrap around when reaching the ends
44 of the tab bar, unless:
46 - the first tab is selected and `J` is used.
47 - the last tab is selected and `K` is used.
49 They only wrap around _once._
53 Moves the current tab _count_ tabs forward/backward.
55 As opposed to `J` and `K`, pinned and non-pinned tabs are handled separately.
56 The first non-pinned tab wraps to the last tab, and the last tab wraps to the
57 first non-pinned tab, and vice versa for non-pinned tabs. Use `gp` to move a tab
58 between the pinned and non-pinned parts of the tab bar.
60 Other than the above, the count and wrap semantics work like `J` and `K`.
64 `g0` selects the tab at index _count,_ counting from the start.
66 `g^` selects the tab at index _count,_ counting from the first non-pinned tab.
68 `g$` selects the tab at index _count,_ counting from the end.
72 Closes the current tab and _count_ minus one of the following tabs.
76 Restores the _count_ last closed tabs.
80 Passes on the next _count_ keypresses to the page, without activating VimFx
85 Explained in the their own section below.
89 Explained in its own section below.
94 Firefox lets you scroll with the arrow keys, page down, page up, home, end and
95 space by default. VimFx provides similar scrolling commands (and actually
96 overrides `<space>`), but they work a little bit differently.
98 They scroll _the currently focused element._ If the currently focused element
99 isn’t scrollable, the largest scrollable element on the page (if any, and
100 including the entire page itself) is scrolled.
102 You can focus scrollable elements using the `zf` command (or the `f` command).
103 The right border of hint markers for scrollable elements is styled to remind of
104 a scroll bar, making them easier to recognize among hints for links.
106 Note that `zf` and `f` do _not_ add a hint marker for the _largest_ scrollable
107 element (such as the entire page). There’s no need to focus that element, since
108 it is scrolled by default if no other scrollable element is focused, as
109 explained above. (This prevents the largest scrollable element from likely
110 eating your best hint char on most pages; see [The `f` commands]).
112 [The `f` commands]: #the-f-commands-1
114 ### Marks: `m` and `` ` ``
116 Other than traditional scrolling, VimFx has _marks._ Press `m` followed by a
117 letter to associate the current scroll position with that letter. For example,
118 press `ma` to save the position into mark _a._ Then you can return to that
119 position by pressing `` ` `` followed by the same letter, e.g. `` `a ``.
123 Unlike Vim, you may press _any_ key after `m`, and the scroll position will be
124 associated with that key (Vim allows only a–z, roughly).
126 Unlike Vim and Vimium, VimFx has no global marks. The reason is that they would
127 be a lot more complicated to implement and do not seem useful enough to warrant
130 As mentioned above, `m` stores the _current scroll position._ Specifically, that
131 means the scroll position of the element that would be scrolled if the active
132 element isn't scrollable; see [Scrolling commands] above.
134 [Scrolling commands]: #scrolling-commands-1
139 `gi` focuses the text input you last used, or the first one on the page. Note
140 that a [prevented autofocus] still counts as having focused and used a text
141 input. This allows you to have your cake and eat it too: You can enable
142 autofocus prevention, and type `gi` when you wish you hadn’t.
144 `gi` takes a count. It then selects the `counth` text input on the page. Note
145 that `gi` and `1gi` are different: The latter _always_ focuses the first input
146 of the page, regradless of which input you used last.
148 After having focused a text input using `gi`, `<tab>` and `<s-tab>` will _only
149 cycle between text inputs,_ instead of moving the focus between _all_ focusable
150 elements as they usually do. (See also the [`focus_previous_key` and
151 `focus_next_key`] advanced options.)
153 [prevented autofocus]: options.md#prevent-autofocus
154 [`focus_previous_key` and `focus_next_key`]: options.md#focus_previous_key-and-focus_next_key
159 When invoking one of the `f` commands you enter Hints mode. In Hints mode,
160 markers with hints are shown for some elements. By typing the letters of a hint
161 something is done to that element, depending on the command.
163 Which elements get hints depends on the command as well:
165 - `f` and `af`: Anything clickable—links, buttons, form controls.
166 - `F` and `gf`: Anything that can be opened in a new tabs—links.
167 - `yf`: Anything that has something useful to copy—links (their URL) and text
169 - `zf`: Anything focusable—links, buttons, form controls, scrollable elements,
172 It might seem simpler to match the same set of elements for _all_ of the
173 commands. The reason that is not the case is because the fewer elements the
174 shorter the hints. (Also, what should happen if you tried to `F` a button?)
176 (You can also customize [which elements do and don’t get hints][hint-matcher].)
178 Another way to make hints shorter is to assign the same hint to all links with
179 the same URL. So don’t get surprised if you see the same hint repeated several
182 VimFx also tries to give you shorter hints for elements that you are more likely
183 to click. This is done by the surprisingly simple rule: The larger the element,
184 the shorter the hint.
186 There are standardized elements which are always clickable—_semantically_
187 clickable elements. Unfortunately, many sites use unclickable elements and then
188 make them clickable using JavaScript—<em>un</em>semantically clickable elements.
189 Such elements are difficult to find. VimFx has a few techniques for doing so,
190 which works many times but not always, but unfortunately they sometimes produce
191 false positives. Many times those false positives are pretty large elements,
192 which according to the last paragraph would give them really short hints, making
193 other more important elements suffer by getting longer ones. Therefore VimFx
194 favors semantic elements over unsemantic ones and takes that into account when
195 deciding the hint length for elements.
197 Some hint characters are easier to type than others. The ones on the home row
198 are of course the best. When customizing the [hint chars] option you should put
199 the best keys to the left and the worst ones to the right. VimFx favors keys to
200 the left, so that should give you the optimal hints.
202 Hints are added on top of the corresponding element. If they obscure the display
203 too much you can hold shift to make them transparent. (See [Styling] if you’d
204 like to change that.) The hints can also sometimes cover each other. Press
205 `<space>` and `<s-space>` to switch which one should be on top.
207 When giving a count to an `f` command, all markers will be re-shown after you’ve
208 typed the hint characters of one of them, _count_ minus one times. All but the
209 last time, the marker’s link will be opened in a new background tab. The last
210 time the command opens links as normal (in the current tab (`f`) or in a new
211 background (`F`) or foreground tab (`gf`)).
213 Note that the `f` command adds markers not only to links, but to buttons and
214 form controls as well. What happens the _count_ minus one times then? Buttons,
215 checkboxes and the like are simply clicked, allowing you to quickly check many
216 checkboxes in one go, for example. Text inputs cancel the command.
218 `af` works as if you’d supplied an infinite count to `f`. (In fact, the `af`
219 command is implemented by running the same function as for the `f` command,
220 passing `Infinity` as the `count` argument!) Therefore the `af` command does not
221 accept a count itself.
223 The `zf` and `yf` commands do not accept counts.
225 Press `<enter>` to increase the count by one. This is useful when you’ve already
226 entered Hints mode but realize that you want to interact with yet a marker. This
227 can be faster than going into Hints mode once more.
229 If you’ve pressed `f` but realize that you’d rather open a link in a new tab you
230 can hold ctrl while typing the last hint character. This is similar to how you
231 can press `<c-enter>` on a focused link to open it in a new tab (while just
232 `<enter>` would have opened it in the same tab). Hold alt to open in a new
233 foreground tab. In other words, holding ctrl works as if you’d pressed `F` from
234 the beginning, and holding alt works as if you’d pressed `gf`.
236 For the `F` and `gf` commands, holding ctrl makes them open links in the same
237 tab instead, as if you’d used the `f` command. Holding alt toggles whether to
238 open tabs in the background or foreground—it makes `F` work like `gf`, and `gf`
241 (Also see the advanced prefs [hints\_toggle\_in\_tab] and
242 [hints\_toggle\_in\_background].)
244 [hint-matcher]: api.md#vimfxhintmatcher
245 [hint chars]: options.md#hint-chars
246 [Styling]: styling.md
247 [hints\_toggle\_in\_tab]: options.md#hints_toggle_in_tab
248 [hints\_toggle\_in\_background]: options.md#hints_toggle_in_background
251 ## Ignore mode `<s-f1>`
253 Ignore mode is all about ignoring VimFx commands and sending the keys to the
254 page instead. Sometimes, though, you might want to run some VimFx command even
257 One way of doing that is to press `<s-escape>` to exit Ignore mode, run your
258 command and then enter Ignore mode again using `i`. However, it might be
259 inconvenient having to remember to re-enter Ignore mode, and sometimes that’s
260 not even possible, such as if you ran the `K` command to get to the next tab.
262 Another way is to press `<s-f1>` followed by the Normal mode command you wanted
263 to run. (`<s-f1>` is essentially the inverse of the `I` command, which passes
264 the next keypress on to the page. Internally they’re called “quote” and
265 “unquote.”) This is handy if you’d like to switch away from a [blacklisted]
266 page: Just press for example `<s-f1>K`.
268 `<s-f1>` was chosen as the default shortcut because on a typical keyboard `<f1>`
269 is located just beside `<escape>`, which makes it very similar to `<s-escape>`,
270 which is used to exit Ignore mode. Both of those are uncommonly used by web
271 pages, so they shouldn’t be in the way. If you ever actually do need to send any
272 of those to the page, you can prefix them with `<s-f1>`, because if the key you
273 press after `<s-f1>` is not part of any Normal mode command, the key is sent to
274 the page. (Another way is for example `<s-f1>I<s-escape>`.)
276 [blacklisted]: options.md#blacklist
281 vim has something called “ex” commands. Want something similar in VimFx? True to
282 its spirit, VimFx embraces a standard Firefox feature for this purpose: The
283 [Developer Toolbar]. That link also includes instructions on how to extend it
284 with your own commands.
286 In the future VimFx might even ship with a few extra “ex” commands by default.
287 We’re open for suggestions!
289 [Developer Toolbar]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/GCLI