Vimium++ is a Chrome (and Firefox) extension to type navigation commands like you do in the text editor VIM.
Web browsers are the future. Software and Document Storage is moving online. Soon most Apps you run or files you read, will be via your web browser.
Vimium++ enables much better ways to interact with your web browser. Do basic things faster, do new things, and combine it with AHK scripts to automate repetitive tasks.
Table of Contents
Setup // Scrolling // Clicking Things // Open, Close, and Switch Tabs // Page Navigation Bookmarks // Miscellaneous // Gmail (Compact)
Setup
Install the Chrome extension by clicking here.
Once installed, click on the extension’s Vimium++ icon, go to Options and Copy+Paste these custom commands into the Custom Key Mappings field:
map j scrollDown
map k scrollUp
map h scrollPageDown
map l scrollPageUp
map H scrollToBottom
map L scrollToTop
map c scrollPxDown
map v scrollPxUp
map n previousTab
map m nextTab
map , removeTab
map a previousTab
map s nextTab
map q removeTab
map Q restoreTab
map u Marks.activateCreateMode
map i Marks.activate
I also recommend setting Keyboard settings: to [0,33] under Show Advanced Options (at the bottom) to get instant keystroke feedback.
Scrolling
VIM is famous for using the keyboard to navigate your page. My first block of commands covers scrolling.
Simply open a web-page (make sure your cursor isn’t in a text field), and press lowercase j to scroll down. Uppercase letters like G are typed Shift+g (G is one of Vimium++’s default commands). gg is simply g+g strung together.
j — Down
k — Up
h — PgDown
l — PgUp
H (or G) — Bottom of page
L (or gg) — Top of Page
c — Tiny Down
v — Tiny Up
Clicking Things
Hit f and a bunch of letters in yellow boxes will appear, one for each clickable link. Type the string of letters to click on the link. Hit F for the same command, but the link will open in a new tab.
This is super useful if you want to quickly click a link without needing to take your hands away from the keyboard. Hitting F+your letter spares you from needing to Grab mouse > swing over to link > overshoot and correct > RightClick > Click ‘Open in new tab’.
It’s also good for clicking-through repetitive forms or dialogs. If the layout of the page is consistent, the same string of commands (e.g. fa) will always hit the right link. So if you learn the pattern, you can hit the links efficently (or even make a AHK script to to do it for you). You can limit which letters are used in the Vimium++ settings.
gi selects the page’s first text field, useful for selecting ‘Search’ boxes.
o lets you quickly search your history and change the current window to that tab. O opens it as a new-tab. This is a nicer way to navigate your history than using Chrome’s Ctrl+h view.
Open, Close, and Switch Tabs
If you thought it was effortless to use Ctrl+w, or AHK+F1 to send Ctrl+w, well, this is even better!
Right-handed browsing (combines with the scrolling keys)
n — Switch Tab to the left
m — Switch Tab to the right
, — Close tab
Left-Handed browsing
a — Switch Tab to the left
s — Tab to the right
q (Vimium++ default) — Close tab
Q (shift+q) — Re-open tab
I find these are the hotkeys I use the most, their convenience alone justifies installing Vimium++, anything from here on is awesome extras.
Page Navigation Bookmarks
When you want to scroll-ahead, or quickly check the top of a page, it’s easy to lose time over-shooting. This solves that. (And SublimeBookmarks does the same thing in Sublime Text 3).
Type u to set a bookmark. This will display Create Mark ... as a little note at the bottom right. Now type any letter you want, I usually use i.
Now scroll down the page, and type i+[your letter] to scroll back up to the bookmark. It’s nice to use i as your default bookmark letter, so that you can just hit ii to jump back to where you were.
You can store as many booksmarks you want with any letters, even letters that would usually send other commands (e.g. j). Careful though, if you hit u or i and it’s waiting for input, other hotkeys won’t work until you complete the sequence, or hit Esc to cancel.
This feature is amazing for reading long documents. Set a bookmark at the beginning (e.g. where some important term is defined at the start of an encyclopedia page), then you’re free to move around, skip back to it, and return to where you were.
Even better is when you’re reading a news website, and you know that the side scrollbar doesn’t give a realistic estimate of ‘how long is the rest of the article’ (because the bottom-half of the page is comments and links). Set a bookmark, scroll-down to check what you’re getting yourself into, then skip right back to were you were! This is a great example showing how our user input methods dictate our usage. You’d lose more time than you’d save (by checking-ahead, then needing to scroll back) unless you could set a bookmark. Better usage → Better input methods!
[Technically these are called Marks, because browser bookmarks are the same as ‘saved tab addreses’.]
Miscellaneous
yy copies the website’s URL (equivalent to Alt+d Ctrl+c).
I’m sure there are plenty more hotkeys you can use if you look through the documentation (found in the settings page under Show Available Commands), but I don’t use them.
Gmail
If you use Gmail (not ideal for your privacy), I recommend adding that website as an exception to Vimiumm++, so that your Vimium++ commands don’t screw with your inbox. Do this by clicking on the Chrome icon then Add Rule and Save Changes.
I also recommend tightening-up the layout of your inbox with the Gmail Compact extension, and also changing Gmail settings under the Labs tab to enable the Preview Pane and Unread Message Icon settings.
Finally, in the general settings also enable Keyboard Shortcuts to do the same sort of thing Vimum++ does:
c — Compose new draft
gd — Go to Drafts
gi — Go to Inbox
gt — Go to Sent
And that’s it, better input methods → better usage, so enjoy ultra-efficient browser navigation!
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