# Enable vim-like commands in firefox



## anomie (Aug 27, 2009)

A colleague sent me this today: vimperator review

It's in ports: www/xpi-vimperator

I am sure some of you are using it, but it's new to me.


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## CodeBlock (Aug 28, 2009)

Yeah I've used it a few times, but don't really see the point of it. Maybe I'll try it again later on. It's a neat concept but seems a bit pointless for me. Maybe others can shed some light on .. why it's so great


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## SirDice (Aug 28, 2009)

CodeBlock said:
			
		

> It's a neat concept but seems a bit pointless for me. Maybe others can shed some light on .. why it's so great



Prolonged mouse usage gives me RSI. Using the keyboard helps a little. 
And since I know my way around vi I can use the same controls :e


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## vivek (Aug 28, 2009)

I'm installing it now,


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## dennylin93 (Aug 28, 2009)

I remember trying this a few months ago. I didn't know how to use vi then, so I was completely flabbergasted. Might be worth trying it again.


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## jrick (Aug 28, 2009)

I used to use vimperator, but since then I have switched to uzbl. I love how, unlike Firefox, it adhears to the Unix Philosophy by letting non-browsing related features (bookmarks, history, downloads, etc.) be handled through external scripts. And, like vimperator, it can be entirely controlled through the keyboard.

(Currently there is no uzbl port, so I'm building my own. Once we get a newer webkit in ports, I'll start working on porting uzbl.)


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## CodeBlock (Aug 28, 2009)

jrick said:
			
		

> I used to use vimperator, but since then I have switched to uzbl. I love how, unlike Firefox, it adhears to the Unix Philosophy by letting non-browsing related features (bookmarks, history, downloads, etc.) be handled through external scripts. And, like vimperator, it can be entirely controlled through the keyboard.
> 
> (Currently there is no uzbl port, so I'm building my own. Once we get a newer webkit in ports, I'll start working on porting uzbl.)



Have not tried uzbl either, but as I use a tiling WM, maybe I would like it (the screenshots on the site show it being used in a tiling environment). I might have to give this a shot


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## Carpetsmoker (Aug 30, 2009)

It's a nice concept, but fails horribly mainly due to lack of speed.

For example, you type: [cmd=:]open forums.free<tab>[/cmd] then to will need to wait a second or two before the autocompletion list comes up -- If you press enter too soon you will open a forums.free which gets you an error.

I tried to get used to firefox for weeks, with and without Vimperator, mainly because on OpenBSD Linux emulation doesn't work with a SMP kernel. (Needed for Opera) But in the end I'd rather use one core & Opera than two cores & firefox ...


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## sand_man (Sep 1, 2009)

I'm been using it for a few months now and I love it. I can't use anything else unless I absolutely have to, which is a shame because I'd like to try out some of the other browsers like midori and chromium.


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## kano (Sep 1, 2009)

I use it on my netbook mainly because it takes up a lot less screen space than regular firefox.


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