documentation/commands.md

   1 <!--
   2 This is part of the VimFx documentation.
   3 Copyright Simon Lydell 2015.
   4 See the file README.md for copying conditions.
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   6
   7 # Commands
   8
   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.
  11
  12 In this document, many commands are referred to by their default shortcut. You
  13 can of course [change those] if you like.
  14
  15 [change those]: shortcuts.md
  16
  17 ## Counts
  18
  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.
  22
  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.)
  26
  27 ### `gu`
  28
  29 Goes _count_ levels up in the URL hierarchy.
  30
  31 ### `H` and `L`
  32
  33 Goes _count_ pages backward/forward in history.
  34
  35 ### Scrolling commands
  36
  37 Specifying a count make them scroll _count_ times as far.
  38
  39 ### `J`, `K`
  40
  41 Selects the tab _count_ tabs backward/forward.
  42
  43 If the count is greater than one they don’t wrap around when reaching the ends
  44 of the tab bar.
  45
  46 ### `gJ`, `gK`
  47
  48 Moves the current tab _count_ tabs forward/backward.
  49
  50 If the count is greater than one they don’t wrap around when reaching the ends
  51 of the tab bar.
  52
  53 ### `x`
  54
  55 Closes the current tab and _count_ minus one of the following tabs.
  56
  57 ### `X`
  58
  59 Restores the _count_ last closed tabs.
  60
  61 ### `I`
  62
  63 Passes on the next _count_ keypresses to the page, without activating VimFx
  64 commands.
  65
  66 ### The `f` commands
  67
  68 Explained in the their own section below.
  69
  70 ### `gi`
  71
  72 Explained in its own section below.
  73
  74
  75 ## Scrolling commands
  76
  77 Firefox lets you scroll with the arrow keys, page down, page up, home, end and
  78 space by default. VimFx provides similar scrolling commands (and actually
  79 overrides space), but they work a little bit differently.
  80
  81 They scroll _the currently focused element._ If the currently focused element
  82 isn’t scrollable, or there is no (apparent) currently focused element, the
  83 entire page is scrolled.
  84
  85 You can focus scrollable elements using the `zf` command.
  86
  87
  88 ## `gi`
  89
  90 `gi` focuses the text input you last used, or the first one on the page. Note
  91 that a [prevented autofocus] still counts as having focused and used a text
  92 input. This allows you to have your cake and eat it too: You can enable
  93 autofocus prevention, and type `gi` when you wish you hadn’t.
  94
  95 `gi` takes a count. It then selects the `counth` text input on the page. Note
  96 that `gi` and `1gi` are different: The latter _always_ focuses the first input
  97 of the page, regradless of which input you used last.
  98
  99 [prevented autofocus]: options.md#prevent-autofocus
 100
 101
 102 ## Focus next/previous element
 103
 104 The default shorcuts are `<tab>` and `<s-tab>`, respectively (to be precise,
 105 they also include [special keys]). They work just like `<tab>` works normally,
 106 except that if you focused a text input using the `gi` command they will only
 107 switch between text inputs on thee page, as opposed to between all focusable
 108 elements (such as links, buttons and checkboxes) as they do otherwise.
 109
 110 [special keys]: shortcuts.md#special-keys
 111
 112
 113 ## The `f` commands
 114
 115 When invoking one of the `f` commands you enter Hints mode. In Hints mode,
 116 markers with hints are shown for some elements. By typing the letters of a hint
 117 something is done to that element, depending on the command.
 118
 119 Which elements get hints depends on the command as well:
 120
 121 - `f` and `af`: Anything clickable—links, buttons, form controls.
 122 - `F` and `gf`: Anything that can be opened in a new tabs—links.
 123 - `yf`: Anything that has something useful to copy—links (their URL) and text
 124   inputs (their text).
 125 - `zf`: Anything focusable—links, buttons, form controls, scrollable elements,
 126   frames.
 127
 128 It might seem simpler to match the same set of elements for _all_ of the
 129 commands. The reason that is not the case is because the fewer elements the
 130 shorter the hints. (Also, what should happen if you tried to `F` a button?)
 131
 132 Another way to make hints shorter is to assign the same hint to all links with
 133 the same URL. So don’t get surprised if you see the same hint repeated several
 134 times.
 135
 136 VimFx also tries to give you shorter hints for elements that you are more likely
 137 to click. This is done by the surprisingly simple rule: The larger the element,
 138 the shorter the hint.
 139
 140 There are standardized elements which are always clickable—_semantically_
 141 clickable elements. Unfortunately, many sites use unclickable elements and then
 142 make them clickable using JavaScript—<em>un</em>semantically clickable elements.
 143 Such elements are difficult to find. VimFx has a few techniques for doing so,
 144 which works many times but not always, but unfortunately they sometimes produce
 145 false positives. Many times those false positives are pretty large elements,
 146 which according to the last paragraph would give them really short hints, making
 147 other more important elements suffer by getting longer ones. Therefore VimFx
 148 favors semantic elements over unsemantic ones and takes that into account when
 149 deciding the hint length for elements.
 150
 151 Some hint characters are easier to type than others. The ones on the home row
 152 are of course the best. When customizing the [hint chars] option you should put
 153 the best keys to the left and the worst ones to the right. VimFx favors keys to
 154 the left, so that should give you the optimal hints.
 155
 156 Hints are added on top of the corresponding element. If they obscure the display
 157 too much you can hold shift to make them transparent. (See [Styling] if you’d
 158 like to change that.) The hints can also sometimes cover each other. Press
 159 `<space>` and `<s-space>` to switch which one should be on top.
 160
 161 When giving a count to an `f` command, all markers will be re-shown after you’ve
 162 typed the hint characters of one of them, _count_ minus one times. All but the
 163 last time, the marker’s link will be opened in a new background tab. The last
 164 time the command opens links as normal (in the current tab (`f`) or in a new
 165 background (`F`) or foreground tab (`gf`)).
 166
 167 Note that the `f` command adds markers not only to links, but to buttons and
 168 form controls as well. What happens the _count_ minus one times then? Buttons,
 169 checkboxes and the like are simply clicked, allowing you to quickly check many
 170 checkboxes in one go, for example. Text inputs cancel the command.
 171
 172 `af` works as if you’d supplied an infinite count to `f`. (In fact, the `af`
 173 command is implemented by running the same function as for the `f` command,
 174 passing `Infinity` as the `count` argument!) Therefore the `af` command does not
 175 accept a count itself.
 176
 177 The `zf` and `yf` commands do not accept counts.
 178
 179 Press `<enter>` to increase the count by one. This is useful when you’ve already
 180 entered Hints mode but realize that you want to interact with yet a marker. This
 181 can be faster than going into Hints mode once more.
 182
 183 If you’ve pressed `f` but realize that you’d rather open a link in a new tab you
 184 can hold ctrl while typing the last hint character. This is similar to how you
 185 can press `<c-enter>` on a focused link to open it in a new tab (while just
 186 `<enter>` would have opened it in the same tab). Hold alt to open in a new
 187 foreground tab. In other words, holding ctrl works as if you’d pressed `F` from
 188 the beginning, and holding alt works as if you’d pressed `gf`.
 189
 190 For the `F` and `gf` commands, holding ctrl makes them open links in the same
 191 tab instead, as if you’d used the `f` command. Holding alt toggles whether to
 192 open tabs in the background or foreground—it makes `F` work like `gf`, and `gf`
 193 like `F`.
 194
 195 [hint chars]: options.md#hint-chars
 196 [Styling]: styling.md
 197
 198
 199 ## Ignore mode `<s-f1>`
 200
 201 Ignore mode is all about ignoring VimFx commands and sending the keys to the
 202 page instead. Sometimes, though, you might want to run some VimFx command even
 203 when in Insert mode.
 204
 205 One way of doing that is to press `<s-escape>` to exit Ignore mode, run your
 206 command and then enter Ignore mode again using `i`. However, it might be
 207 inconvenient having to remember to re-enter Ignore mode, and sometimes that’s
 208 not even possible, such as if you ran the `K` command to get to the next tab.
 209
 210 Another way is to press `<s-f1>` followed by the Normal mode command you wanted
 211 to run. (`<s-f1>` is essentially the inverse of the `I` command, which passes
 212 the next keypress on to the page. Internally they’re called “quote” and
 213 “unquote.”) This is handy if you’d like to switch away from a [blacklisted]
 214 page: Just press for example `<s-f1>K`.
 215
 216 `<s-f1>` was chosen as the default shortcut because on a typical keyboard `<f1>`
 217 is located just beside `<escape>`, which makes it very similar to `<s-escape>`,
 218 which is used to exit Ignore mode. Both of those are uncommonly used by web
 219 pages, so they shouldn’t be in the way. If you ever actually do need to send any
 220 of those to the page, you can prefix them with `<s-f1>`, because if the key you
 221 press after `<s-f1>` is not part of any Normal mode command, the key is sent to
 222 the page. (Another way is for example `<s-f1>I<s-escape>`.)
 223
 224 [blacklisted]: options.md#blacklist
 225
 226
 227 ## Ex commands
 228
 229 vim has something called “ex” commands. Want something similar in VimFx? True to
 230 its spirit, VimFx embraces a standard Firefox feature for this purpose: The
 231 [Developer Toolbar]. That link also includes instructions on how to extend it
 232 with your own commands.
 233
 234 In the future VimFx might even ship with a few extra “ex” commands by default.
 235 We’re open for suggestions!
 236
 237 [Developer Toolbar]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/GCLI