[NCLUG] [OT?] Vimium on Chromium on FreeBSD

[Bob Proulx]

Chad Perrin wrote:
> * go forward and back through history with L and H, respectively

I think they missed the obvious defaults of using H and L for
switching tabs left and right.  That makes a lot more sense to me than
using J and K for tab-left and tab-right.  I switched that for me
since I could never remember whether up was left or right.  H and L
are keys that are obvious and I can get right the first time.

> * scroll up and down the page with k and j, respectively

And scroll horizonatally left and right with h and l.  Making all of
h, j, k, l do all of the expected scrolling.

> * use a "link hints" system to navigate to a link with three or fewer
>   keystrokes (the first of which is f, or F if I want it opening in a new
>   tab, and the next one or two of which select the specific link)

I admit I find this very nice.  I have been looking for a Firefox
plugin equivalent to this.  Dear Lazyweb, does one exist for Firefox?
I haven't found one.  It is addicting.

> Also . . . why would someone who's specifically talking about wanting a
> vi-like experience want to use something that works like Emacs?

I am an Emacs user that wants emacs-keys when editing text.  But also
uses 'less' and likes those keys for (more|less|most)-like browsing.
I expect 'rogue' to use vi keys and not emacs keys.  I am not looking
for something that completely changes the web browser environment like
Vimperator or Conqueror.  (For that I can always run w3m inside Emacs.
And I do.  Mostly during web development.  It's an awesome
combination!)  I am perfectly fine using the strengths of both.

The most common problem for me is finger memory wanting to go to the
beginning of line and inserting text there.  Sounds simple.  I do it
all of the time.  In Emacs that is C-a to move to the beginning of
line and then type.  With MS style keys the C-a selects all and the
next character typed destroys it all.  In a standard browser text area
there is no undo available at that point and all of my text is lost.
I can't tell you how often that happens for me on an MS machine.  And
so I am just looking for a web browser environment that feels like it
was written by a Unix author and not an MS author.

> Don't you know there's a *war* going on?

:-)

It is the MS "CUA" that aggravates me the most.  It is even starting
to creep into Emacs upstream.  And because it is a basic operating
model difference and in conflict with the traditional Unix models the
end result is a completely different and for me undesirable result.

Bob