Is it possible to emulate functionality of vim but desktop-wide?

[laicasaane]

This question has just come up at my workplace and after a bit of researching around GitHub I found keymapper. But from the document and examples, I'm still unsure if keymapper can emulate vim.

For example, I want to navigate my desktop, applications and web brower by simple keystrokes (without Ctrl, Shift, etc.). I can also switch to input mode for text typing.

[ristomatti]

It surely depends what level of emulation you are hoping to create. Some sort of normal/input mode switching should definitely be possible with the virtual modifier feature.

[ristomatti]

Oh, another thing to note about the Leader mappings on the Chrome example. The syntax used actually means Leader+X but I actually press Leader then X in sequence. It works for me but it might be due to having a mechanical keyboard or the fact my keyboard runs QMK firmware. If the same doesn't work for you, try modifying them to something like this:

Leader    = Escape !200ms

[class=/Chrome|Chromium/i]
  Leader Digit         >> AltLeft{Digit}
  Leader N             >> new_window
  Leader T             >> new_tab

  # ...other mappings

  # Avoid sending mistyped characters
  Leader Any           >> Leader
  Leader               >> Leader

In this way it is more correct but for some reason Leader{X} works more reliably for me.

[ristomatti]

Personally I use Linux and i3wm and use mouse very little but that kind of comes already with i3wm. In case you're using Windows, you might AutoHotkey useful for working out opening specific apps etc. It's what I used some 10y ago when I still had Windows.

If you're on Windows/MacOS, there's tiling window managers for them as well. Tiling window managers to be focused on keyboard navigation. Some popular options seem to be komorebi for Windows, and yabai for MacOS. I haven't tried either but I likely would if I had to use Windows/Mac.

[laicasaane]

I'm using Windows. Tiling window manager is not what I want though. I'm aware of Vimium extension but it's limited to the browser only. I know AutoHotkey and had used it a bit in the past, but it may cause problem with anti-cheat programs (btw, not an important thing though).

[ristomatti]

It's likely too well known since it's old as time. I'm not a gamer myself but my intention was to suggest AutoHotkey for handling window management, like focusing a specific window from a shortcut etc. since Keymapper is focused on remapping keys to other keys. It can run scripts/apps as well but to e.g. bring an app to focus, you'd need to have some utility to do that.

From the last section of my config you'll find some mappings using i3-msg to give instructions to i3 window manager. You need to find an equivalent for Windows to be able to do what you describe I believe. Unless of course it's enough to fill the use case by mapping other keys to Win+1-9 that launch/open the apps you've pinned on the start bar. 🙂

Going back to AutoHotkey, I know it's syntax has changed with the new 2.0 version but to give some idea what it can do with window management, you can check a config I wrote some ~15y ago (with the older syntax) https://gist.github.com/ristomatti/f075020025cf870aaf8f73a930996f14.

What it does (or did) is allow moving/resizing windows using Win+left/right/middle mouse button based on the part of the window you click. Left click moves the window based on the clicked section if the window in a 3x3 grid. Right click extends the the window to the clicked direction or if clicked on the center,it makes the window 50% width/height of the screen (to allow making a quick split, 2x2, 1x2 etc layout). Middle click works in two steps. First click selects a window and the second one the place to move and fit the Window. E.g. when clicked on an empty space, it resizes the window to fit the available space. When the second click is a window, it resizes the other window to the same size. So it was a poor mans tiling WM back in the time when Windows didn't have this feature.

Another thing it does is directional window focus using Win+up/down/left/right arrow keys. I do not know if Windows has this feature even to this day as alt tab still seems to be the cool way to do it(?) 😄

[laicasaane]

I guess I'd have to experiment a bit. Thanks!

[rp1231]

There is this software that aims to do just that:
https://github.com/pit-ray/win-vind
I had used it quite a while back when it was a bit slow.
But it seems to have continued development, so maybe it's faster now?

[codiggermkt]

Yes, it is possible to emulate Vim-like functionality desktop-wide by using various tools and applications that provide similar keybindings and behaviors to Vim. Here are some ways to achieve Vim-like functionality outside of the Vim editor:

1、Use Vim Keybindings in Other Applications:
2、Tiling Window Managers
3、Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
4、Vim Emulation Software