Last Updated on July 13, 2021
Vimperator is a Firefox browser extension with strong inspiration from the Vim text editor, aimed at providing a quicker and more efficient browsing.
It has similar key bindings to Vim. You could call it a modal web browser, as key bindings differ according to which mode you are in. For example, it has a special Hint mode, where you can follow links easily with the keyboard only. Also most functionality is available as commands, typing :back will go back within the current page history, just like hitting the back button in the toolbar.
Vimperator is not intended to be a perfect Vim clone, but instead makes use of new graphical capabilities. Care has been taken to make its command line interface consistent and easy to use, yet retaining power for advanced users.
Features include:
- Mouseless browsing.
- Vim-like key bindings (h, j, k, l, gg, G, 0, $, ZZ, <C-f>, etc).
- Ex commands (:quit, :open www.foo.com, …) with a proper command line.
- Tab completion available for all commands, showing suggestions while you type.
- Hint mode (start with f to follow a link) – all clickable items on a page are tagged with numbers. The user can select one of the items by typing its number or typing a part of its link text.
- Extend Vimperator’s functionality with scripts.
- Explore JavaScript objects with :echo window and even context-sensitive tab completion.
- Easily customizable GUI (easily hide all GUI elements with :set gui=).
- Ability to :source JavaScript files, and to use a ~/.vimperatorrc file with syntax highlighting if you install vimperator.vim.
- Easy quick searches (:open foo will search for “foo” in google, :open ebay terminator will search for “terminator” on eBay) with support for Firefox keyword bookmarks and search engines.
- Count supported for many commands (3<C-o> will go back 3 pages).
- Beep on errors.
- Marks support (ma to set mark ‘a’ on a webpage, ‘a to go there).
- QuickMarks support (quickly go to previously marked web pages with go{a-zA-Z0-9}).
- :map and :command support (and feedkeys() for script writers).
- :time support for profiling.
- Move the text cursor and select text with Vim keys and a visual mode.
- External editor support.
- Scripts written using JavaScript and a limited version of Vimscript.
- Macros to replay key strokes.
- AutoCommands to execute action on certain events.
- A comprehensive online help system, explaining all commands, mappings and options. The help pages are indexed via tags, which the user can see while browsing the help pages.
Website: vimperator.org/vimperator
Support: GitHub
Developer: Vimperator labs
License: MIT License
Vimperator is written in JavaScript. Learn JavaScript with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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