Pentadactyl is a discontinued

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...

extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

forked from the

Vimperator Vimperator is a discontinued Firefox extension forked from the original Firefox extension version of Conkeror and designed to provide a more efficient user interface for keyboard-fluent users. The design is heavily inspired by the Vim text edito ...

and designed to provide a more efficient user interface for keyboard-fluent users. The design is heavily inspired by the Vim text editor, and the authors try to maintain consistency with it wherever possible.

Features

Once activated, Pentadactyl removes all

's default user interface chrome (except for the tab bar) and adds a Vim-inspired

command line A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

at the bottom of the window. The

key bindings computing, a keyboard shortcut also known as hotkey is a series of one or several keys to quickly invoke a software program or perform a preprogrammed action. This action may be part of the standard functionality of the operating system or ...

and dialog invocation are also changed to those familiar to Vim users. Apart from Vim-like features, Pentadactyl includes the

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

-like links hinting mode, allowing user to enter links manipulation commands referring to the links by labels or numbers. As the key mappings of the Pentadactyl differ significantly from those typically expected by

web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

developers, occasional conflicts of browser- and site-defined key mapping occur. Pentadactyl deals with such cases by providing a special "pass-through" mode, which passes all the key press events (except for

Esc key On computer keyboards, the Esc key (named ''Escape key'' in the international standard series ISO/IEC 9995) is a key used to generate the escape character (which can be represented as ASCII code 27 in decimal, Unicode U+001B, or ). The escape ...

) directly to the site. This mode can either be activated manually or enforced on a per

domain Domain may refer to: Mathematics *Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined **Domain of definition of a partial function **Natural domain of a partial function **Domain of holomorphy of a function * Do ...

basis with a

configuration file In computing, configuration files (commonly known simply as config files) are computer file, files used to configure the Parameter (computer programming), parameters and Initialization (programming), initial settings for some computer programs. T ...

Development

Pentadactyl was forked from the

Firefox extension after the disagreement over the project directions and governance. After the split Pentadactyl differentiated itself with improved start timing, ability to use the extension without restarting Firefox after installation and some changes for consistency with Vim. The extension is available as stable releases and

nightly build A daily build or nightly build is the practice of completing a software build of the latest version of a program, on a daily basis. This is so it can first be compiled to ensure that all required dependencies are present, and possibly tested to sh ...

s. As of November 2020, the project has been on hiatus since March 2017 due to developer inactivity and noncommunication, and doesn't seem to work on Firefox 57.0 ( Firefox Quantum) or newer versions. The project was reported still working for

Waterfox Waterfox is an open-source web browser that is forked from Firefox and developed by System1. There are official Waterfox releases for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Divisions Waterfox Waterfox shares core features and technologies like the Gecko b ...

Basilisk In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk ( or ) is a legendary reptile reputed to be a serpent king, who causes death to those who look into its eyes. According to the ''Naturalis Historia'' of Pliny the Elder, the basilisk of Cyrene i ...

and

Pale Moon Pale Moon is an open-source web browser with an emphasis on customization; its motto is "Your browser, Your way". There are official releases for Microsoft Windows and Linux, as well as contributed builds for various platforms. Pale Moon origi ...

browsers, but has since started to degrade due to no updates and will only work after applying community made patches. For the Pale Moon browser there is an actively maintained fork of Pentadactyl using the same name being hosted at GitHub.

Tridactyl

There is a WebExtension called Tridactyl, a Vimperator and Pentadactyl inspired Firefox-interface on GitHub

Reception

In February 2011, Erez Zukerman of

Download Squad Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...

described Pentadactyl as "probably the weirdest and coolest add-on we've ever seen." In June 2011, Chad Perrin of

TechRepublic TechRepublic is an online trade publication and social community for IT professionals, providing advice on best practices and tools for the needs of IT decision-makers. It was founded in 1997 in Louisville, Kentucky, by Tom Cottingham and Kim S ...

noted: "As a former Vimperator user who has spent substantial time in surf,

Uzbl Uzbl is a discontinued free and open-source minimalist web browser designed for simplicity and adherence to the Unix philosophy. Development began in early 2009 and is still considered in alpha software by the developers. The core component of Uz ...

, and Vimium, as well as more cursory time trying out other browsers and Chromium extensions that offer similar interface options, I am much happier with Pentadactyl than any of the alternatives. Its command functionality, in-application help documentation, completeness, configurability, stability, and (for those using the nightly builds, at least) currency are all superior to the other possibilities for vi-like keybindings in a browser."

References

External links