Many users continue to use keyboard shortcuts to navigate the web. Some of them like Ctrl + F5 to clear the page cache or Shift + F5 to reload the page are well known. However, if you want to be an advanced user and want to add more shortcuts, add Surfingkeys to Firefox, Edge and Chrome.
Surfingkeys helps you use keyboard shortcuts to browse the web
Although a mouse can move a cursor and select text, icons, files, and folders, it is only considered a pointing device. It is a keyboard that is still considered the main input device of a computer. So, if you are a keyboard enthusiast and you like keyboard navigation on the Internet, try Surfingkeys. The procedure involved is simple:
- Add Surfingkeys to the Chrome or Firefox browser.
- Press Shift +? to display the list of all available keyboard shortcuts.
- Hurry ‘Escape’ to exit the shortcut list page.
- Check if some shortcuts work.
If, after installing the extensions and adding it to your browser, you notice that Surfingkeys is deactivated, you may be on one of the following pages.
- Google Docs
- Chrome New page
- Google Sheets.
Choose another page and press the F key.
Instantly, all anchor points should be visible on the screen.
By selecting a character or group of characters, you can click on the appropriate links. For example,
For links,
- Press F to open a link.
- Press C to open a link in a new non-active tab
- Press CF to open several links in a new tab
- Press GF to open a link in a new non-active tab
- Press AF to open a link in a new tab
Similarly, to change tabs,
- Press E to move from one tab to the left
- Press R to move from one tab to the right
- Press X to close the current tab
- Press X to restore the closed tab
- Press << to move the current tab to the left
- Press >> to move the current tab to the right
- Press g0 to access the first tab
- Press g $ to access the last tab
- Press W to open a new window with the current tab
- Press J to move the current tab to the left
- Press K to move the current tab to the right
- Press yt to duplicate the current tab
- Press gx0 to close all the tabs on the left
- Press gxt to close the tab on the left
- Press gxT to close the tab on the right
- Press gx $ to close all tabs on the right
- Press # to scroll through the pages / DIVs
Other shortcuts
- G – Scroll to the bottom of the page
- J – Scroll down
- K – Scroll up
- H – Scroll left
- L – Scroll right
- E – Scroll up a page
- D – Scroll down a page
- GG – Scroll to the top of the page
- $ – Scroll completely to the right
- % – scroll to the percentage of the current page
- CS – Reset the scroll target
- CS – Change the scroll target
Some additional shortcuts to search with the desired search engines,
- SW – Selected search with Microsoft Bing
- SG – Selected search with Google
- SB – Selected research with Baidu
- SY – Selected search with YouTube
You can also write your own code snippets and assign keyboard shortcuts to run them. To do this, right click on the Surfingkeys icon and choose Settings.
When redirected to a new page – Key maps, check the box ‘Advanced modeAnd start writing your own code in the text editing section.
When finished, press the ‘buttonEsc»To exit anchor point mode. The web interface should return to its normal mode.
Please note that the tool has a different set of actions configured for “selected text”. So, if you find that Surfingkeys does not respond to the commands listed above, check if one or more texts are selected. Deselect the content to allow Surfingkeys to respond appropriately.
The Surfingkeys extension is capable of supporting keyboard combinations that require pressing 2 or 3 keys.
The last words
Surfingkeys allows you to do almost everything related to the browser via your keyboard. As such, it appears to be one of the most feature-rich and usable keyboard navigation add-ins. It is not strictly bound by Vim’s heritage, but it faithfully follows the idea of vi of the mnemonic shortcut language. The only downside to using this mode is that you should have some knowledge of Javascript and HTML to do web scripts.
For more information, you can visit the Chrome Online shop or Firefox Add-on page. You can also use Chrome extensions on Edge.
