Using Chrome without a Mouse

After switching to Chrome from Opera, I lacked one thing: using a browser without a mouse — moving around the page, clicking on links, and so on. Often when I carry a laptop, there is a need to work without a mouse. Alas, the touchpad on my x350 is far from Apple, so it became very uncomfortable. In Opera, this feature was available without plug-ins by specifying hotkeys in the system menu. As an unequal replacement used plug-in Hotkeys .
He allowed to move around the page, tabs, stories, but it was impossible to "run" on the links, headings.

And suddenly happiness came - the Key Binder plug-in was found, which brings a multi-mode Vim-like approach to the browser to the browser. In fact, it turned out to be a very convenient, multifunctional, customizable addition.



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After installation, the plug-in offers us to take a small course in English, as a result of which we learn that the keyboard is operated in 3 modes, which are displayed in the panel:
B: navigation mode and form management
I: work mode in text fields
H: text selection and copy mode

Navigation mode and form management

This mode is enabled by default or enabled from others by pressing Escape.

Move

We can move around the page in the standard vim-way: j-down by 10px, h-Up, k-left, l-right. It is possible to end in all four directions.

Links and forms

To follow links, click on buttons and different form elements, there is a universal key “a” - which displays unique two letter combinations for all active elements visible on the screen, having printed which action is taken. In this case, combinations are convenient when using the ten-finger printing method: ff, fj, fk, dk - that is, press "a" with the little finger and then finish the command with the index or middle fingers.

I liked this innovative approach more than in the Opera, when we moved along all the links with two keys.
For drop-down lists - all items with the same two letters are displayed on top.
For lists where you can select multiple items, we use a space.

There is another interesting feature: the "A" command, which allows you to follow links in the form of text (without the A tag)

Address string

Clicking on “o” Opens its own address bar. Works search in real time. Move between points by using Tab. However, there is not enough additional search inside the site by Tab.

Search

The author implemented his search by pressing the "/", "?" (Forward and back). It may not be case sensitive: It depends on whether we use it in the string. When you hold ctrl, we become searched by regular expressions. Clicking on Enter, we go to the first result found. To go to the next / previous, we use respectively "n" / "N".

Mode of operation in text fields

You can enter this mode either with the familiar “a” key or with the combination g + i. We can navigate between adjacent text fields by double-tapping the ctrl-x + ctrl + key combination; and ctrl-x + ctrl -p
The most interesting thing starts in a different way - you can work with text without arrows on the keyboard: move, copy / delete lines / words / letters with various keyboard shortcuts.
According to the documentation, there is a search mode here, but for some reason it did not work for me ...

Text selection and copy mode

After clicking on the "s", we, as well as in the "a" mode, display keyboard shortcuts to all paragraphs and significant elements for a quick transition. Next, pressing "v" we fix the first point to select the text and moving the navigation keys (hjkl), we select the desired piece. At the end we have 3 options:
"V" - reset selection for a new attempt.
“Y” - copy text to clipboard
"O" - paste the text into your own address bar

To exit, we press Escape

Editing Settings

In the settings in addition to viewing all the standard keys, the developer provided the ability to edit all the keys in a kind of console.
The format itself is simple:
bind / ubind <modes> <key> <assignable command>
The keys themselves are specified in the format <[modifactor-] key> key.
You can use key pair combinations.
For ctrl format is used <c->, for alt - <m->.
For example:
bind bj [tab.scroll top:+50] says that when we press the j key in move mode, we shift the window by 50px (when the default is only 10).
bind i <cz> [input.undo] - assign to ctrl-z cancel the last action in text editing mode

You can also set individual settings and hotkeys for pages by url.

Settings Optimization

The standard keys seemed to me not very convenient, so I corrected them a bit and offer my customization to the community. Major changes:

• Moved the shift keys to the right to "jkl;". Despite my love for moving keys in vim, it seems uncomfortable to me in the browser, since with the “a” command you need to constantly move your hand to the standard position
• Placed near the above move on the tabs and history
• In the text editing, put the usual keys ctrl + c, ctrl + x, ctrl + v, (copy, cut, paste) ctrl + z, ctrl + y, ctrl + Z (undo, redo)

Using the plugin

After a week of testing, the following features of work were identified:

1. The keys do not work in Gmail, Reader and, most sadly, you can not temporarily disable the plugin.
2. Gmail does not work: it’s impossible to open letters - they are not made by links, so the plugin doesn’t see them
   In edit mode, ctrl-c - works like ctrl-x + ctrl-v
   The entire test in edit mode is not highlighted - ctrl-a could not be found in the settings
   If you press F6 (go to the address sink), you cannot return to command mode
   
   This plugin turned out to be an extremely pleasant surprise for me (as well as vim in due time). It was convenient to work with him when there is no mouse at hand, and sometimes it is more convenient when it is =)
   The only thing that the plugin is terribly annoying is the inoperability of the mail and the inability to temporarily disable it.
   PS: An interesting effect was also noticed: people around are surprised when they see surfing on the Internet without a rodent in the tail.