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Show HN: Vimac – Productive macOS keyboard-driven navigation

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Re: Show HN: Vimac – Productive macOS keyboard-driven navigation

#71

Post by konart »

pazimzadeh wrote: post #21
dexterleng wrote: post #2

Hello all! I am a student from Singapore who was introduced to Vimium by a friend two years ago. Vimac is my attempt to implement Vimium on an OS level. I have shared this app on Reddit about a year ago. Since then, the notable changes would be a major performance buff in webkit/electron, force keyboard layout, and reducing the overwhelming no. of hints to what is just "clickable". It is open source at https://github…

I don't know vim. If I get used to this, will I be halfway to knowing vim?

You will be some part of the way to knowing navigation in vim.

Re: Show HN: Vimac – Productive macOS keyboard-driven navigation

#72

Post by anoviceuser »

dexterleng wrote: post #2

Hello all! I am a student from Singapore who was introduced to Vimium by a friend two years ago. Vimac is my attempt to implement Vimium on an OS level. I have shared this app on Reddit about a year ago. Since then, the notable changes would be a major performance buff in webkit/electron, force keyboard layout, and reducing the overwhelming no. of hints to what is just "clickable". It is open source at https://github…

Great work @dexterlang. Thanks for building it. I am already actively using it and really like it.

Re: Show HN: Vimac – Productive macOS keyboard-driven navigation

#73

Post by ndand »

mjcohen wrote: post #51
ndand wrote: post #22

Very handy! My right wrist used to pain a lot because of excessive mouse usage. I had tried out various keyboard-driven apps but I didn't find any app practical enough for my needs, so I made one. I'd like to share here my "generic" keyboard-driven navigation app for Windows: https://github.com/ndandoulakis/SlickCursor

I had similar problems years ago and switched to a trackball. No problems since. I use a Logitech with thumb moving the ball. I keep it and keyboard at waist level with monitor at eye level.

It took about a year without mouse use for my wrist to heal. Now I use a mouse but I'm very careful with posture and mouse positioning.

How long did it take to familiarize yourself with the trackball?

I didn't really try other pointing devices because I thought that they won't be as good as the mouse, plus I liked the idea of using keyboard-driven navigation software.

Re: Show HN: Vimac – Productive macOS keyboard-driven navigation

#75

Post by _chendo_ »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #68
_chendo_ wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello! Glad to see more people making tools around the Accessibility API. I've been working on a similar app called Shortcat ( https://shortcatapp.com ) almost 8 years ago (wow) but haven't had the time to properly work on it. It sounds like you're encountering a lot of the same problems I've had when I was starting out (figuring what's actionable, forcing keyboard layout etc). Let me know if you want to chat about t…

Hey, it’s you! The author of Shortcat. I tried out your project maybe a year ago and absolutely loved the concept, but eventually had to give up on it when it kept crashing and didn’t reliably find what I was attempting to click on. I never knew if Shortcat was to blame or if it was the application not being properly presented to the Accessibility system. Anyway, Shortcat is a freakin brilliant idea and I hope you ke…

Glad you loved the concept!

Unfortunately I've been rather busy the last couple of years and haven't had the capacity to work on Shortcat, and coupled with not being amazing at Obj-C/Swift/Cocoa (my major contributions are FuzzyAutocomplete and the initial POC for Semantic History in iTerm2), being frustrated with building UIs on Mac (mostly build web stuff). There's also the problem that Accessibility APIs aren't well-documented and isn't commonly used, and applications not implementing Accessibility correctly (and potentially causing crashes in Shortcat, or making the target application hang), which was super tough to deal with as a solo dev.

I did have a crack at bringing the Swift-based prototype up to date with Swift 5 on the weekend, and am investigating the feasibility of using SwiftUI which would help me on the UI front! Ideally I'd find another dev to work on Shortcat (rev-share or otherwise), and consider a more sustainable pricing model.

I think tools that depend on Accessibility APIs that are used by people who don't normally depend on Accessibility APIs can force developers to improve their AX implementation so people who do depend on good Accessibility to use applications can benefit.

It makes me happy to hear that it was good enough for you to buy another copy!

How did you discover Shortcat in the first place?

Re: Show HN: Vimac – Productive macOS keyboard-driven navigation

#76

Post by IggleSniggle »

_chendo_ wrote: post #75
IggleSniggle wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, it’s you! The author of Shortcat. I tried out your project maybe a year ago and absolutely loved the concept, but eventually had to give up on it when it kept crashing and didn’t reliably find what I was attempting to click on. I never knew if Shortcat was to blame or if it was the application not being properly presented to the Accessibility system. Anyway, Shortcat is a freakin brilliant idea and I hope you ke…

Glad you loved the concept! Unfortunately I've been rather busy the last couple of years and haven't had the capacity to work on Shortcat, and coupled with not being amazing at Obj-C/Swift/Cocoa (my major contributions are FuzzyAutocomplete and the initial POC for Semantic History in iTerm2), being frustrated with building UIs on Mac (mostly build web stuff). There's also the problem that Accessibility APIs aren't we…

I wish I could remember how I came across Shortcat. It may have actually been simply that your product description matched what I was seeking so perfectly that it turned up on a Google search...or perhaps it was through some second-hand recommendation coming indirectly from a Google search like this one: https://gist.github.com/lornajane/3892c39098cf70baa9c7a1874c...

But the main thing is that Shortcat was simply the thing that I always thought should have been baked into operating systems since the idea of “search to execute” became a thing. Mostly these days I rely on Command-Shift-/ (Menubar search), but that is a poor poor substitute. Shortcat really shines in dynamic context selection, like when trying to navigate something like Outlook for Mac, where you don’t know the shortcuts and don’t care to use them, and anyway just want to select the email that contains the text you’ve already started reading. Or things like the preference menus where navigating the combination of tabs and sidebars can be especially unclear from a keyboard perspective.

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