I stopped using it as it conflicted with the key bindings of various websites such as Gmail, and because I want to use a desktop setup that does not impede me from using other computers. I mostly just need to scroll down (Space button), and focus the address bar (Alt+D) anyway. I think that way of selecting links is really cool, but I often found myself selecting the wrong one because of mistypes or misreads.
Vimium in fact heralded the downfall of Chrome for me. At first, I loved it. Finally, I thought, no more context switch between browser and editor!
Then I realized due to Chrome's design, when a page doesn't load and an internal error page appears, Vimium is never called. Then suddenly I've got to resort to ctrl+w and friends some of the time. After dealing this for a while it eventually became too annoying to even bother with.
Looking for alternatives, I stumbled across Pentadactyl[1]. Tried it for a few minutes and realized it was time to make the switch back to Firefox.
I've learned that in the end, for basic software like browsers, window managers & editors, consistency by far the most important attribute; Pentadactyl/Firefox really delivers on that end.
Further, in regards to the issue you describe, Pentadactyl offers the ^v command which enables pass-through mode, which sends all keys except escape to the site you're browsing.
Same story for me. Used Pentadactyl until it started causing some performance issues. Now on Vimperator and my fingers couldn't be happier. I guess I didn't really need all the Vim-ness of Pentadactyl.
Just for what it's worth in case anyone's considering not trying Vimium on this basis, you can disable Vimium for selected sites by clicking on the V logo next to the navigation bar.
Also FWIW, but I find Vimium convenient just for j, k, J, K, G & gg on most sites. :)
I don't see how this would stop you from using other computers when you can sign into your chrome account anywhere and instantly have this extension installed. I can't relate to your reasoning here; I want my computers to work exactly how I want them to work as efficiently as possible with no compromises.
I've been using Vimium in Chrome/Chromium and Vimperator/Pentadactyl in Firefox for quite a while, it really transforms your browsing experience, changing it from a mouse-centric activity to a keyboard-centric one (with a significant increase in productivity). I highly recommend to anyone who is familiar with Vim.
Could you give some example sites? I'll look into it. Also, if it only crashes on a small set of sites, you could selectively disable Vimium on those sites via the browser action icon.
They're mostly internal corporate sites. Is there a way I can collect information (stack traces, etc.) for you instead? I didn't see any easy way to get postmortem data on a crashed tab.
If you like vimium, pentadactyl and vimperator, but wished you could have them without chrome or firefox, check out uzbl, luakit and dwb - three examples of webkit based browsers that adhere to the UNIX philosophy of doing one thing well.
I've never really been able to get into Vim, but this is completely awesome! Especially on laptops, where scrolling and hitting links without a mouse is really annoying normally. (yes, I know, page up / down, but those scroll too much)
Command-W: Close tab
Command-Shift-W: Close window
Command-L: Focus omnibox
Command-Enter (In omnibox): Open in new background tab
Command-Shift-Enter (In omnibox): Open in new tab
Delete or Command-[: Back
Shift-Delete or Command-]: Forward
Command-R: Reload
Command-Shift-[ or Option-Command-Left: Previous tab
Command-Shift-] or Option-Command-Right: Next tab
Space: Scroll down
Shift-Space: Scroll up
Command-Down: Go to bottom
Command-Up: Go to top
Selecting and activating links with the keyboard:
Command-F: Show and focus find bar
Enter or Command-G: Find next
Shift-Enter or Command-Shift-G: Find previous
Control-Enter: Activate highlighted link
This is limited, though; there is no way to open a link in a new tab, and find starts from the top of the page (bug?).
Personally, I find it more efficient and ergonomic to scroll and select links with my MBP's trackpad. Scrolling is especially fluid with two-finger smooth scrolling. Gestures and the changes to scrolling have allowed me to forgive a lot of weirdness about Lion and Mountain Lion.
I was able to type fSfa to open that link in a new tab and then open this reply box. My hands are usually on the home row, you are more comfortable having them on the trackpad. The benefit of using this plugin over a mouse is that I don't have to position the mouse over the link; I just press f then look at it on the screen and then press one or two more buttons.
You'd be wrong to think this is supposed to be "Vim running in your browser" - instead think of this as more efficient shortcuts for browsing. However, I'm using xmonad so this completely transformed my workflow to make nearly everything possible with only the keyboard. I was able to go a full day at the office without touching my mouse except to move it out of the way. I mostly use this plugin for navigation and have no complaints.
Those who are recommending Pentadactyl, can you explain why it's worth going through this installation hoop? I like to use FF beta (16 currently) but there is no Pentadactyl support. I use Vimperator.
There is a version of vimium for firefox too. I prefer using it so i don't have to think about the minor differences between vimperator and vimium when I switch browsers.
I found it very limited (just movement keys) even compared to Chrome vimium. You can remap vimperator (or pentadactyl) keys anyway. The only difference I remember was d (close tab) instead of x.
