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. Finally, if the entire page isn’t scrollable, the
  84 largest scrollable element on the page (if any) is scrolled.
  85
  86 You can focus scrollable elements using the `zf` command.
  87
  88
  89 ## `gi`
  90
  91 `gi` focuses the text input you last used, or the first one on the page. Note
  92 that a [prevented autofocus] still counts as having focused and used a text
  93 input. This allows you to have your cake and eat it too: You can enable
  94 autofocus prevention, and type `gi` when you wish you hadn’t.
  95
  96 `gi` takes a count. It then selects the `counth` text input on the page. Note
  97 that `gi` and `1gi` are different: The latter _always_ focuses the first input
  98 of the page, regradless of which input you used last.
  99
 100 [prevented autofocus]: options.md#prevent-autofocus
 101
 102
 103 ## Focus next/previous element
 104
 105 The default shorcuts are `<tab>` and `<s-tab>`, respectively (to be precise,
 106 they also include [special keys]). They work just like `<tab>` works normally,
 107 except that if you focused a text input using the `gi` command they will only
 108 switch between text inputs on thee page, as opposed to between all focusable
 109 elements (such as links, buttons and checkboxes) as they do otherwise.
 110
 111 [special keys]: shortcuts.md#special-keys
 112
 113
 114 ## The `f` commands
 115
 116 When invoking one of the `f` commands you enter Hints mode. In Hints mode,
 117 markers with hints are shown for some elements. By typing the letters of a hint
 118 something is done to that element, depending on the command.
 119
 120 Which elements get hints depends on the command as well:
 121
 122 - `f` and `af`: Anything clickable—links, buttons, form controls.
 123 - `F` and `gf`: Anything that can be opened in a new tabs—links.
 124 - `yf`: Anything that has something useful to copy—links (their URL) and text
 125   inputs (their text).
 126 - `zf`: Anything focusable—links, buttons, form controls, scrollable elements,
 127   frames.
 128
 129 It might seem simpler to match the same set of elements for _all_ of the
 130 commands. The reason that is not the case is because the fewer elements the
 131 shorter the hints. (Also, what should happen if you tried to `F` a button?)
 132
 133 Another way to make hints shorter is to assign the same hint to all links with
 134 the same URL. So don’t get surprised if you see the same hint repeated several
 135 times.
 136
 137 VimFx also tries to give you shorter hints for elements that you are more likely
 138 to click. This is done by the surprisingly simple rule: The larger the element,
 139 the shorter the hint.
 140
 141 There are standardized elements which are always clickable—_semantically_
 142 clickable elements. Unfortunately, many sites use unclickable elements and then
 143 make them clickable using JavaScript—<em>un</em>semantically clickable elements.
 144 Such elements are difficult to find. VimFx has a few techniques for doing so,
 145 which works many times but not always, but unfortunately they sometimes produce
 146 false positives. Many times those false positives are pretty large elements,
 147 which according to the last paragraph would give them really short hints, making
 148 other more important elements suffer by getting longer ones. Therefore VimFx
 149 favors semantic elements over unsemantic ones and takes that into account when
 150 deciding the hint length for elements.
 151
 152 Some hint characters are easier to type than others. The ones on the home row
 153 are of course the best. When customizing the [hint chars] option you should put
 154 the best keys to the left and the worst ones to the right. VimFx favors keys to
 155 the left, so that should give you the optimal hints.
 156
 157 Hints are added on top of the corresponding element. If they obscure the display
 158 too much you can hold shift to make them transparent. (See [Styling] if you’d
 159 like to change that.) The hints can also sometimes cover each other. Press
 160 `<space>` and `<s-space>` to switch which one should be on top.
 161
 162 When giving a count to an `f` command, all markers will be re-shown after you’ve
 163 typed the hint characters of one of them, _count_ minus one times. All but the
 164 last time, the marker’s link will be opened in a new background tab. The last
 165 time the command opens links as normal (in the current tab (`f`) or in a new
 166 background (`F`) or foreground tab (`gf`)).
 167
 168 Note that the `f` command adds markers not only to links, but to buttons and
 169 form controls as well. What happens the _count_ minus one times then? Buttons,
 170 checkboxes and the like are simply clicked, allowing you to quickly check many
 171 checkboxes in one go, for example. Text inputs cancel the command.
 172
 173 `af` works as if you’d supplied an infinite count to `f`. (In fact, the `af`
 174 command is implemented by running the same function as for the `f` command,
 175 passing `Infinity` as the `count` argument!) Therefore the `af` command does not
 176 accept a count itself.
 177
 178 The `zf` and `yf` commands do not accept counts.
 179
 180 Press `<enter>` to increase the count by one. This is useful when you’ve already
 181 entered Hints mode but realize that you want to interact with yet a marker. This
 182 can be faster than going into Hints mode once more.
 183
 184 If you’ve pressed `f` but realize that you’d rather open a link in a new tab you
 185 can hold ctrl while typing the last hint character. This is similar to how you
 186 can press `<c-enter>` on a focused link to open it in a new tab (while just
 187 `<enter>` would have opened it in the same tab). Hold alt to open in a new
 188 foreground tab. In other words, holding ctrl works as if you’d pressed `F` from
 189 the beginning, and holding alt works as if you’d pressed `gf`.
 190
 191 For the `F` and `gf` commands, holding ctrl makes them open links in the same
 192 tab instead, as if you’d used the `f` command. Holding alt toggles whether to
 193 open tabs in the background or foreground—it makes `F` work like `gf`, and `gf`
 194 like `F`.
 195
 196 (Also see the advanced prefs [hints\_toggle\_in\_tab] and
 197 [hints\_toggle\_in\_background].)
 198
 199 [hint chars]: options.md#hint-chars
 200 [Styling]: styling.md
 201 [hints\_toggle\_in\_tab]: options.md#hints_toggle_in_tab
 202 [hints\_toggle\_in\_background]: options.md#hints_toggle_in_background
 203
 204
 205 ## Ignore mode `<s-f1>`
 206
 207 Ignore mode is all about ignoring VimFx commands and sending the keys to the
 208 page instead. Sometimes, though, you might want to run some VimFx command even
 209 when in Insert mode.
 210
 211 One way of doing that is to press `<s-escape>` to exit Ignore mode, run your
 212 command and then enter Ignore mode again using `i`. However, it might be
 213 inconvenient having to remember to re-enter Ignore mode, and sometimes that’s
 214 not even possible, such as if you ran the `K` command to get to the next tab.
 215
 216 Another way is to press `<s-f1>` followed by the Normal mode command you wanted
 217 to run. (`<s-f1>` is essentially the inverse of the `I` command, which passes
 218 the next keypress on to the page. Internally they’re called “quote” and
 219 “unquote.”) This is handy if you’d like to switch away from a [blacklisted]
 220 page: Just press for example `<s-f1>K`.
 221
 222 `<s-f1>` was chosen as the default shortcut because on a typical keyboard `<f1>`
 223 is located just beside `<escape>`, which makes it very similar to `<s-escape>`,
 224 which is used to exit Ignore mode. Both of those are uncommonly used by web
 225 pages, so they shouldn’t be in the way. If you ever actually do need to send any
 226 of those to the page, you can prefix them with `<s-f1>`, because if the key you
 227 press after `<s-f1>` is not part of any Normal mode command, the key is sent to
 228 the page. (Another way is for example `<s-f1>I<s-escape>`.)
 229
 230 [blacklisted]: options.md#blacklist
 231
 232
 233 ## Ex commands
 234
 235 vim has something called “ex” commands. Want something similar in VimFx? True to
 236 its spirit, VimFx embraces a standard Firefox feature for this purpose: The
 237 [Developer Toolbar]. That link also includes instructions on how to extend it
 238 with your own commands.
 239
 240 In the future VimFx might even ship with a few extra “ex” commands by default.
 241 We’re open for suggestions!
 242
 243 [Developer Toolbar]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/GCLI