Introduction¶
Vim is my main editor. I love programms with vim key bindings. There are several firefox plugins with vim key bindings (read). I initially started with Vimperator then switched to Pentadactyl and it was great.
Problem¶
With the recent switch from iceweasel to firefox-esr in Debian stable (Jessie) Pentadactyl stopped working because all plugins need a valid mozilla signature. There is a rather long thread at Pentadactyls issue tracker with some explanations.
Currently there are different options:
- Continue with pentadactyl: There is still an option to disable strict signature checks (read the section about unsigned Addons in firefox-esr).
- Use something else: I’m quite happy with VimFx although I was sceptic at first. (read the section “Solution)”
Unsigned Addons in firefox-esr¶
From: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Addons/Extension_Signing#FAQ - Use at your own risk!
What are my options if I want to install unsigned extensions in Firefox?
The Developer Edition and Nightly versions of Firefox will have a setting to disable signature enforcement. There will also be special unbranded versions of Release and Beta that will have this setting, so that add-on developers can work on their add-ons without having to sign every build. To disable signature checks, you will need to set the xpinstall.signatures.required preference to “false”.
- type about:config into the URL bar in Firefox
- in the Search box type xpinstall.signatures.required
- double-click the preference, or right-click and selected “Toggle”, to set it to false.
Solution¶
I started to look for alternatives and discovered the VimFX plugin:
Even before Vimium there was Vimperator for Firefox. In my opinion, Vimperator has too many features and aggressively changes the default Firefox appearance and behavior. Vimium is exactly what I need in terms of added functionality, but for Chrome. That’s why I decided to develop similar extension for Firefox.
VimFx will be nice to your browser and to your habits. Promise.
– Anton Khodakivskiy, VimFx’s original author.
Just install it via the firefox add-on menu.
Press ? to to see a help page with all available commands.
I had to relearn some key bindings:
Action | Pentadactyl | VimFx —-|—-|—-| Close Tab: | d | x Back: | Ctrl+o | H
Scrolling feels smooth. Half page down (d) and half page up (u) are hassle free key bindings. I usually scroll a half page down so it is nice to have this command on the homerow. yy to copy the current url is a great shortcut.
I think I am going to stick with VimFX - it is not Pentadayctyl but at least it is fast, not in your way and it does not alter the default Firefox appearance.
If you have any questions, suggestions, thoughts and comments please feel free to email me.
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