7 ms·

> uhh...tab tab tab tab tab Please take a minute to type the name of any of the browsers I named into your favourite search engine or package manager and retur

> uhh...tab tab tab tab tab Please take a minute to type the name of any of the browsers I named into your favourite search engine or package manager and return when you know what we’re talking about. (This comment was made via Pentadactyl). > The vast majority of all computer interaction is putting the cursor in the right place in the first place. This is why it pains me to use browsers where I can’t tap [count]gi to focus input fields.

BugsJustFindMe 6y ago
> This comment was made via Pentadactyl Enlighten us all. What exactly did you press and what mental decision and awareness process was required to do it starting from the front page? > [count]gi "[count]" sounds like one would need to know how many like things on the page precede the thing you're trying to get to. Thanks but no thanks. 150! Oops, 100! Oops, 130!
- walterlb 6y ago
  I am actually (non-sarcastically) interested in the answer. I've always wondered if there was a usable keyboard only browsing experience out there!
  - medstrom 6y ago
    "Usable" partly depends on you.
- SpaceNugget 6y ago
  You just look at the thing you want to click and press F then type the letters that appear on the tag. EDIT: Here's an extremely low quality screencast of me making this comment https://imgur.com/qpppveP https://imgur.com/qpppveP
  - BugsJustFindMe 6y ago
    Thanks. This is a much better reply than the OP's. Now what do you do for things that don't get tagged?
    - SpaceNugget 6y ago
      Pretty much everything clickable gets tagged. Buttons, text inputs, links, etc. If what you want to click on has a word in it, you can press '/' and type the word then hit enter to click it so that would probably be what I would do if there was ever a missing tag. That's also how you can highlight text. This is for vimium at least.
- boogies 6y ago
  f20 selects this discussion (the 20th link), but I used f4<Enter> to select threads (the 4th link); j,D, and <Space> scroll down by a line, half-screen/page and full-screen/page respectively; fr4 selects the correct reply (the fourth link whose text begins with r); gi goes to the first input field and enters insert mode. In insert mode I may use the simple mixture of emacs/readline and CUA bindings — like ^w to wipe the last word, ^a to go to the beggining of the line and ^e to go to the end (eg. when inserting a > before a blockquote, then appending my commentary) — to write a straightforward comment from beginning to end, or I may use ^i to pop the field open in my $EDITOR (vis), where motions like m to mark my place, G to go to the end, o to open a new line, and M to return to my mark are useful for comments that might be written non-linearly, eg. if they have footnotes. I can save and exit vis (if I use it) with ZZ, and submit the comment with standard CUA <Tab><Enter>. If I reference any other material then Pentadactyl’s browsing bindings like go«character» to open a quickmark, s to search, p or P to paste my X11 primary selection as a search term or the url of a current or new tab, b to fast-as-you-type search through tabs, y to yank the current website, ;y«number and/or title of link to yank» and d to delete a tab are useful (along with standard X11 Shift+Insert to paste the primary selection in insert mode). Ideally though, I should use Pentadactyl only for browsing — for scrolling through and reading web documents — and have a dedicated newsreader that understands what posts, comments, etc. are and could make this several times more efficient. I’m currently dipping my toes in evil-mode emacs, which should enable this. I’ve recently spent less time on HN and more on IRC where I do have a dedicated native client that makes things orders of magnitude more smooth than trying to use a web client in my browser.
  - BugsJustFindMe 6y ago
    Now I can't tell if this thread is meant to be satire. > f20 selects this discussion (the 20th link) but I used f4<Enter> to select threads (the 4th link) So first you have to visually recognize every link in between the beginning and what you want to choose and then you have to count them all? I hope you don't miscount! > j,D, and <Space> scroll down by a line, half-screen/page and full-screen/page respectively How many lines, half-pages, or pages is it from the top to here? Just curious. > fr4 selects the correct reply (the fourth link whose text begins with r); So first you have to decide that "starts with r" is a good heuristic for getting where you want to go and then you have to find all of the links that start with r and count them? > gi goes to the first input field and enters insert mode But if it's not the first input field, then you have to count them or cycle through them? > Ideally though, I should have a dedicated newsreader that understands what posts, comments, etc. are So now you want a special bespoke reader for every website? Oh yes this all sounds so much easier than just pointing at the thing you want! Thank you for clarifying.
- curtainsforus 6y ago
  In Tridactyl, you just push f, which allocates each key on the keyboard to a visible link on the screen. So to reply to your comment, the keystrokes were >fu (click 'reply') >ff (select textbox) >ESC (deselect textbox) >fg (click 'reply') and a lot easier- not to mention, less RSI-inducing- than mucking around with a mouse, or trackpad, or trackpoint, trying to aim a little cursor at a little box multiple times in a row.

BugsJustFindMe 6y ago

> This comment was made via Pentadactyl Enlighten us all. What exactly did you press and what mental decision and awareness process was required to do it starting from the front page? > [count]gi "[count]" sounds like one would need to know how many like things on the page precede the thing you're trying to get to. Thanks but no thanks. 150! Oops, 100! Oops, 130!

walterlb 6y ago
I am actually (non-sarcastically) interested in the answer. I've always wondered if there was a usable keyboard only browsing experience out there!
- medstrom 6y ago
  "Usable" partly depends on you.
SpaceNugget 6y ago
You just look at the thing you want to click and press F then type the letters that appear on the tag. EDIT: Here's an extremely low quality screencast of me making this comment https://imgur.com/qpppveP https://imgur.com/qpppveP
- BugsJustFindMe 6y ago
  Thanks. This is a much better reply than the OP's. Now what do you do for things that don't get tagged?
  - SpaceNugget 6y ago
    Pretty much everything clickable gets tagged. Buttons, text inputs, links, etc. If what you want to click on has a word in it, you can press '/' and type the word then hit enter to click it so that would probably be what I would do if there was ever a missing tag. That's also how you can highlight text. This is for vimium at least.
boogies 6y ago
f20 selects this discussion (the 20th link), but I used f4<Enter> to select threads (the 4th link); j,D, and <Space> scroll down by a line, half-screen/page and full-screen/page respectively; fr4 selects the correct reply (the fourth link whose text begins with r); gi goes to the first input field and enters insert mode. In insert mode I may use the simple mixture of emacs/readline and CUA bindings — like ^w to wipe the last word, ^a to go to the beggining of the line and ^e to go to the end (eg. when inserting a > before a blockquote, then appending my commentary) — to write a straightforward comment from beginning to end, or I may use ^i to pop the field open in my $EDITOR (vis), where motions like m to mark my place, G to go to the end, o to open a new line, and M to return to my mark are useful for comments that might be written non-linearly, eg. if they have footnotes. I can save and exit vis (if I use it) with ZZ, and submit the comment with standard CUA <Tab><Enter>. If I reference any other material then Pentadactyl’s browsing bindings like go«character» to open a quickmark, s to search, p or P to paste my X11 primary selection as a search term or the url of a current or new tab, b to fast-as-you-type search through tabs, y to yank the current website, ;y«number and/or title of link to yank» and d to delete a tab are useful (along with standard X11 Shift+Insert to paste the primary selection in insert mode). Ideally though, I should use Pentadactyl only for browsing — for scrolling through and reading web documents — and have a dedicated newsreader that understands what posts, comments, etc. are and could make this several times more efficient. I’m currently dipping my toes in evil-mode emacs, which should enable this. I’ve recently spent less time on HN and more on IRC where I do have a dedicated native client that makes things orders of magnitude more smooth than trying to use a web client in my browser.
- BugsJustFindMe 6y ago
  Now I can't tell if this thread is meant to be satire. > f20 selects this discussion (the 20th link) but I used f4<Enter> to select threads (the 4th link) So first you have to visually recognize every link in between the beginning and what you want to choose and then you have to count them all? I hope you don't miscount! > j,D, and <Space> scroll down by a line, half-screen/page and full-screen/page respectively How many lines, half-pages, or pages is it from the top to here? Just curious. > fr4 selects the correct reply (the fourth link whose text begins with r); So first you have to decide that "starts with r" is a good heuristic for getting where you want to go and then you have to find all of the links that start with r and count them? > gi goes to the first input field and enters insert mode But if it's not the first input field, then you have to count them or cycle through them? > Ideally though, I should have a dedicated newsreader that understands what posts, comments, etc. are So now you want a special bespoke reader for every website? Oh yes this all sounds so much easier than just pointing at the thing you want! Thank you for clarifying.
curtainsforus 6y ago
In Tridactyl, you just push f, which allocates each key on the keyboard to a visible link on the screen. So to reply to your comment, the keystrokes were >fu (click 'reply') >ff (select textbox) >ESC (deselect textbox) >fg (click 'reply') and a lot easier- not to mention, less RSI-inducing- than mucking around with a mouse, or trackpad, or trackpoint, trying to aim a little cursor at a little box multiple times in a row.