FireFox Update (4.0) and Vimperator 3.0

My favorite web browser Firefox has been updated to 4.0. I got it today. After the installation, I found that my must-have adding Vimperator has also been updated to 3.0. The new interface for Vimperator looks nice; however, my clean UI is changed. All the toolbar, navigation bar, bookmark bar and tags are visible. I would like only tabs visible.

The command to display UI bars is different. In its help page, it still says that the following command is for displaying UI bars:

  :set go+=mTB

I thought I could use it to disable UI bars. There is no go settings in this new version. What I found is that the following command can be used to hide all:

  :set gui=none
  :set gui=tabs

The first one is to disable all UI bars and the next one is for displaying tabs bar.

Other than that, I have not found anything changed in terms of features, except some minor changes in UI. For example, the command line displays a triangle instead colon (:). Vimperator works great!

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Vimperator Tip of the Day: xall Command

In my Firefox Preference, I have set up my tab settings to save all the tab as a session when it is closed and reopen the session when it starts.

However, sometimes this feature does not work. I get a blank tab occasionally and lost my previous tabs. I don't know why.

Today I found a Vimperator command to resolve the issue: xall command. Just type :x and then tab, this command is available for use. The description for this command is:

    Save the session and quit

or a snap-short:



Just remember to use this command close my Firefox from now on. I have add this key to My favorite Vimperator Keys.

The Power of Muscle Memory with Vimperator!

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Vimperator Tip of the Day: Show Sidebar Window

If you have not set your wideoptions to auto in your .vimperatorrc(for Mac) or _vimperatorrc(Windows), you may type the command to enable command auto-completion. Read details in my WordPress blog ....

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Vimperator Tip of the Day: Using Keys for Tabs

I have added a blog entry on my WordPress blog site: Vimerator Tip of the Day: Keys for Tabs.

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Vimerator Settings

Another feature of Vimperator is the settings. You can either set them dynamically or set in the configuration file, just like the way in Vim.

Here are two settings I think are very useful:

  # enable hints for command mode
  :set wildoptions=auto
  # enable hints for links in command open mode. l or one.
  :set cpt=l

Give these a try and see the difference. If you like them, you can add them to your Vimperator configuration setting file. In Windows, the file is _vimperatorrc in your %userprofile% directory; while .vimperator in your home for Mac.

When you open a link or type an Vimperator command with hint mode, you may see a list of hints available. Use Tab key to make a selection.

Updated: actually I found the same function of hints can be achieved without the settings. For example, press o to open a link with any word, link or blank. Press Tab key, then you will see a list of hints available. Same thing for any commands. For example, press :set then Tab, you will see a list of set commands available. Very cool, right? In addition to that, if you want to make a selection, just press tab key to make a selection.

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VIM + Firefox = Vimperator

I have used Vimperator for very long time. I can't believe that I don't have a blog on this issue. I think I started to use this after I read the blog by Jean Paul.

It is an add-on for Firefox. After the installation, all the menu, toolbar and address bar are invisible with maximum window of browser page. The only input place is on the bottom like this:



To use it, you have to use your keyboard to input command to control browsing, almost without mouse! just like using VIM or VI.

It took me about one week to taste the power of Vimperator. Now I cannot use my browser without it. Actually, I use just a few of keys only. Whenever I need a key for a feature normally used by mouse, I just search or read from the Vimperator help by F1 key in Windows or :help on Mac. Here is a list of keys I used commonly:

• Esc key: escape from any mode. If you find out keys not working, you may in some mode such as search, Insert or other modes; Press Esc to escape;
  
• [num]gt or C-n: go to next or nth (if num is provided) tab;
  
• gT or C-p: go to the previous tab;
  
• gf or :view: view the source in the current tab;
  
• g0 or g^: go to the first tab;
  
• g$: go to the last tab;
  
• gh or gH: go to home page or new tab with home page;
  
• gu or gU: go up parent link or root;
  
• gi: focus the last used input field;
  
• S-h or C-o: go to the previous history link;
  
• S-l or C-i: go to the next history link;
  
• f or F: hint mode to display links by number. F for open link in a new tab;
  
• ;{keys}: hint mode by command keys:
  
  • a or s: save a link (prompt dialog or no dialog);
    
  • o or t: open a link in current tab or new tab;
    
  • O or T: open a link in current tab or new tab with its command in the command area(bottom);
    
  • v: view source code in the current tab;
    
  • y: yank the link;
    
  • Y: yank the link's text;
• o or t: open a link in the current or new tab. You can type in a link in the command area then press enter key;
  
• O or T: similar as above with the current link displayed;
  
• y: yank the current link;
  
• a or A: add or added the current link to bookmark;
  
• [num]h,j,k, or l: move left, down, up or right by number if num is provided or by one as default;
  
• gg: move to top;
  
• G: move to button;
  
• C-d, C-u, C-b or C-f: scroll down or up with half or full page;
  
• z{keys}: zooming
  • i: zoom in;
    
  • o: zoom out;
    
  • z: back to 100%;
• :sav[eas]>: save the current link to disk;
  
• /: start search in Vimperator command area;
  
• n or N: search forward or backward;
  
• :st[op] or C-c: stop current loading;
  
• r or R: fore to reload the current page(R for skipping the cache);
  
• d or :quita[ll]: close the current tab or all tabs;
  
• u or :undoa[ll]: undo closing one or all tabs;
  
• :restart: restart Firefox;
  
• :ZQ: quit and don't save current session;
  
• :ZZ: quit and save the current session;
  
• :ver: displaying versions of Vimperator and Fixfox;
  

That's just a small portion of keys in Vimperator! You can see there are not too many keys to be remembered. Actually, it is a muscle memory game. The more you use, the more they will be hard-burned to your brain. The keys will be naturally typed by your hands without thinking or looking. The result is fast browsing with easy!

Update: I posted the similar entry in my WordPress blog.

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