

Minimalistic (vim-like) web browser based on Webkit - mindaugas
http://www.uzbl.org/

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ghempton
I am curious, do very many people here browse the web using only their
keyboard?

I like the idea, but the keyboard-only navigation is going to be bottlenecked
by the actual web page.

~~~
carsonbaker
I use it and it works much better than a mouse. Vimperator uses "hints" to let
you navigate page links with the keyboard. See:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimperator#Hint_mode>

~~~
shiranaihito
Much better than a mouse? Could you elaborate?

Is it problematic when a site has graphics for navigation?

Do you cycle through links and then choose the one you wanted, or is there a
more direct way of accessing them?

Is it really faster than using a mouse?

Do you need two hands to be efficient, and if so, wouldn't you rather be
efficient with only one hand, for example using Opera's mouse gestures?

~~~
geoka
I use conkeror--which is a vimperator "clone" based on xulrunner, with emacs-
like keybindings and commands.

"Is it problematic when a site has graphics for navigation?"

It depends. Most of the time it's still a link, so the browser has no problem
identifying and highlighting it as such. If it's something fancy (image map?
JS magic?)--it can be a problem. Fortunately, such sites are not common.

"Do you cycle through links and then choose the one you wanted, or is there a
more direct way of accessing them?"

You press 'f' (for "follow") and a number appears next to each link. Then you
enter a number to follow a link.

"Is it really faster than using a mouse?"

It depends. For example, there are whole WM environments which are designed to
work without mouse (ratpoison, stumpwm, xmonad, etc.). Naturally, a keyboard-
driven browser lends itself beautifully to such environments. Other than that,
I find it annoying having to move my hand from the keyboard each time I need
to look something up with a browser.

Of course, when I just surf the web, the mouse is usually more convenient.

"Do you need two hands to be efficient, and if so, wouldn't you rather be
efficient with only one hand, for example using Opera's mouse gestures?"

Since conkeror is modeled after emacs, I'd say yes (unless you happen to be
using a custom keyboard layout or something). As for the efficiency--again, it
probably depends on the "mode" I am in (mouse is easier for plain surfing).

~~~
shiranaihito
_As for the efficiency--again, it probably depends on the "mode" I am in
(mouse is easier for plain surfing)_

Besides plain, what other kind of surfing is there?

Or are you talking about the differences between using those keyboard-only WMs
and normal ones?

As far as I know, using only the keyboard for some task is usually about
efficiency gains, but in the case of surfing, I'm obviously not sure there's
much to be gained, compared to mouse gestures.

On the other hand, if using only the keyboard is some kind of personal
preference, that may leave something to be desired in other areas too.. Such
as, a mouse :p

~~~
geoka
"Besides plain, what other kind of surfing is there?"

Working with online documentation while coding, for example, is much more
efficient for me with conkeror. Or looking up some piece of information while
I am typing a reply to a HN comment :)

On the other hand, it's an overkill for me to keep both my hands on the
keyboard while I am reading a nytimes story or following links at leisure.

~~~
shiranaihito
_Working with online documentation while coding, for example, is much more
efficient for me with conkeror. Or looking up some piece of information while
I am typing a reply to a HN comment :)_

Fair enough :)

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Deadsunrise
I prefer vimperator. It's a firefox extension that modifies a lot of things
(looks, key bindings, etc) to make it behave like vim:
<http://vimperator.org/trac/wiki/Vimperator>

Together with Style Tree Tabs it looks pretty cool and minimalistic:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadsunrise/3501399270/>

~~~
jokermatt999
I love the look of Tree Style Tabs/Vimperator. I've also started using Hide
Chrome (<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5737>) which gives
even more space. Sadly, I don't believe it is maintained any longer, and I
haven't seen a replacement for it yet.

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s2r2
Don't forget Conkeror, something like an "Emacs-erator" but without the whole
Firefox, using xulrunner only: <http://conkeror.org>

Its keybindings resemble the ones of vimperator in some respects ("f" =
follow), but reminds you more of emacs regarding things like (mini-) buffers,
M-x whatever, ...

// Edit: Just stumbled upon another one:
<http://redmine.philpep.org/projects/show/cream> using C, GTK+, WebKit,
vimperator-like interface

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toki
I use keyboard navigation for a longer time now because i cant stand browsing
by touchpad. The keyboard-navigation-methods that firefox and ie use are
rather outdated, there are much cooler and better methods today.

So i have tested many methods, and here are my favourites:

1\. Opera! The Browser has something called spatial navigation. It somehow
works like the cursor key navigation in "Links" but much better and gives you
a feeling of rather direct control. Very cool...

2\. Firefox + "mouseless browsing"-Plugin. Every link on the webpage gets a
number, a little bit like footnotes, and you surf via entering numbers. Sounds
complicated but it is rather intuitive and very fast. Well, the webpages look
a little bit uglier than before. Try it out, it should work with every
Firefox-Version.

Both of these methods force you to surf a little bit more concentrated and
less relaxing, tv-like. But for just getting work done the methods are just
great. They work with nearly every webpage, even those you wouldnt expect. The
only times i use the touchpad is for flash-applications (like the video-
windows on youtube). I dont even miss a mouse.

I think Vimperator could be interesting too, but it somehow always looks too
complicated for me.

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zouhair
You can also use vimperator <http://vimperator.org/trac/>

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pookleblinky
<http://www.opera.com/browser/tutorials/nomouse/>

Opera has an entire tutorial on ratless browsing.

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mtoledo
I only browse using the keyboard with firefox+mouseless browsing. It's got to
a point where its faster than the mouse in 80% of the situations, and
acceptable in other 15% of the situations. In 5% of the situations I still
have to grab the mouse, which is annoying.

I wonder if any of those other browsers would fix it for me. But conkeror's
website, which seems to be my favorite since I'm an emacs user, looks offline
right now.

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riobard
I'm using Vimperator, but got a problem: how to escape from embedded Flash
once it gets keyboard focus? Because once the focus is in some embedded
objects, I can no longer control Vimperator unless click the mouse to move the
focus back to the page. Very annoying ...

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zeeone
I've been keeping an eye on this for a while now. Unfortunately, it's still
too buggy.

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st3fan
Wow that looks ugly.

