Minimalistic (vim-like) web browser based on Webkit

http://www.uzbl.org/

by mindaugas • 17 years ago

100 28 17 years ago

uzbl.org

ghempton• 17 years ago

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• 17 years ago

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

shiranaihito5• 17 years ago

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?

nfg• 17 years ago

The Hit a Hint ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1341 ) Firefox extension works very nicely for this. Pretty similar to the vimperator functionailty mentioned in the other reply.

visitor4rmindia2• 17 years ago

I do. I actually use (lynx+vim) for most browsing, and Opera (which has good keyboard bindings) when I want to post something (like now).

It's not that I have anything against the mouse but I enjoy the workflow and it works very well for me. Plus I don't have to worry about adverts or drive-by infections most of the time :-)

mikeliu• 17 years ago

sure. what do people use on a non-touchscreen phone?

seabee• 17 years ago

Browsing the web on a non-touchscreen phone that doesn't also have (e.g.) a trackball is not a fun experience.

Deadsunrise• 17 years ago

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/

vorador• 17 years ago

By the way, thank you for Style Tree tabs !

jokermatt999• 17 years ago

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.

zouhair• 17 years ago

You can also use vimperator http://vimperator.org/trac/

s2r2• 17 years ago

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

toki• 17 years ago

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.

pookleblinky• 17 years ago

http://www.opera.com/browser/tutorials/nomouse/

Opera has an entire tutorial on ratless browsing.

mtoledo• 17 years ago

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.

zeeone• 17 years ago

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

st3fan• 17 years ago

Wow that looks ugly.

riobard• 17 years ago

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 ...

Minimalistic (vim-like) web browser based on Webkit

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