Introduction

I would like to see something like 'normal' and 'input' keyboard modes like in Vi/Vim. It would be extremely useful to have unified keyboard interface between Vivaldi and vim so, for example movement keys (h,j,k,l) would be the same in Vivaldi and then yo. Vimperator (free) adds a new control interface to the Firefox browser that mimics commands from the Unix text editor Vim. Learning Vim, and the vi editor upon which it’s based, is something of a. Interactive cheat sheet for the Vimperator (or Pentadactyl) Firefox extension, describing the function of each key. Vimperator is a Firefox browser extension with strong inspiration from the Vim text editor, with a mind towards faster and more efficient browsing. It has similar key bindings and you could call it.

Vimperator is a plugin for Firefox that makes the user interface Vim-alike: it introduces many of the Vim UI concepts so that the browser becomes predominantly keyboard driven. If you love Vim's keyboard driven navigation then making the browser a comfortable experience is worthwhile. If you don't already know Vim then it's unlikely to be of interest as Vimperator substantially changes the UI. Newer versions of Vimperator seem to over ride fewer of the standard keys than previously (e.g. ctrl-t works), but it's still a considerable change. It's like Marmite!

Figure 1 Shows Vimperator running, the bottom command-line bar is displaying some actions in green text (e.g Space). The main window is displaying the history list, both the URL and the title of the page. The top shows the tabs with small numbers on each which let me use a keyboard short cut to easily switch between them. I've kept the menus but notice that the location bar, and the scrollbars have been removed to optimise the space. The look and feel is fully customisable through a theme.

If you're using Firefox the alternative is Pentadactyl, though in 2016 this is less maintained. If you're using Chrome or Chromium then Vimium is a similar plugin.

As the plugin makes substantial changes to the interface it interacts with Firefox a lot. There are conflicts with different versions of Firefox and a number of elements didn't work for me. For comparison purposes, (using the command :version), I'm on:

The key to understanding Vimperator is the mental model. It's trying to bring Vim modes (Normal mode, Insert modes) to the browser and you have to think of these in the context of the different activities we do in a browser (browsing, viewing the current page, tab management). The help is very extensive (:help) and worth reading.

Contents

• Introduction
• Browsing
• Current tab (buffer)
• Hints - Link mode
• Marks
• Key mappings
• Plugins

Use-cases

The use-case for Vimperator is if you find Vim more comfortable and want the browser to have a similar interface. In my case it's a bit uncomfortable switching out of my editor window into a browser window and then having to shift my hands around to the mouse. As I spend a significant amount of time in a browser window it involves a lot of mental shifting as I have to remember different UI conventions.

It's also quite useful on a small laptop screen as you can remove a lot of the UI elements.

Strengths

• All the UI conventions of Vim in the browser

All the main UI conventions such as normal mode commands, keyboard shortcuts, maps and commands are there. It's amazing how much functionality has been created.

• Very configurable through a simple text file

Configuration uses a vim-centric set of conventions in a revision control friendly text file (~.vimperatorrc). The file can also be used to configure Firefoxs settings making it simple to keep a complete set-up.

• Many of the existing short-cuts (ctrl-t) still work

Vimperator uses many Vim keys, but many of the standard browser keyboard shortcuts (e.g.Ctrl-Shift-k) continue to work fine. It's also possible to configure Vimperator so that it remaps keys to commands, so if it's over-writing something that you want it can be re-enabled.

Weaknesses

• It's quite a fragile plugin as it's changing a lot of elements

Vimperator makes a lot of changes to Firefoxs UI which can mean that different versions of the plugin and Firefox don't work well together. Some pieces of functionality didn't work for me, and looking through the Issues on Github there are other complaints. Testing it seems to be quite difficult for the developers.

• The functionality is extensive but inconsistent

Vimperator Chrome

There's a lot of functionality, but it can be inconsistent. Some users complain that it's not Vim-like enough, citing alternatives. Personally, I found it more than enough and as it's OSS we can always implement any features we want!

• Some reports that it slows down Firefox

Vimperator Chrome

Some complaints that it slows down Firefox or takes a lot of resources. I haven't had any problems yet, but it is early days.