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Navigation Patterns and Shortcuts

Glide Browser provides powerful keyboard-driven navigation patterns inspired by Vim. This guide covers essential navigation workflows and shortcuts.

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Basic Navigation

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Scrolling

Glide uses Vim-style motion keys for scrolling:
KeyAction
jScroll down
kScroll up
hScroll left
lScroll right
<C-d>Scroll down half a page
<C-u>Scroll up half a page
ggScroll to top of page
GScroll to bottom of page
The scroll implementation can be configured with glide.o.scroll_implementation. Set it to "keys" (default) or "legacy" depending on your preference.

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Jumplist Navigation

Navigate through your browsing history across tabs:
KeyAction
<C-o>Jump to previous location
<C-i>Jump to next location
The jumplist tracks:
  • URL changes within the same tab
  • Tab switches
  • History navigation (back/forward)
// Configure jumplist size
glide.o.jumplist_max_entries = 100; // default

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History Navigation

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Browser History

KeyAction
HNavigate back in history
LNavigate forward in history

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Page Navigation

Navigate to next/previous pages using link detection: 
// Customize patterns for next/previous page detection
glide.o.go_next_patterns = ["next", "more", "newer", ">", "›", "→", "»", "≫", ">>"];
glide.o.go_previous_patterns = ["prev", "previous", "back", "older", "<", "‹", "←", "«", "≪", "<<"];
Use the :go_next and :go_previous excmds or map them to keys: 
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "]]>", "go_next");
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "[[", "go_previous");

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URL Navigation

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Parent Directory

Navigate up URL hierarchies: 
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gu", async () => {
  const url = new URL(glide.ctx.url);
  const parts = url.pathname.split("/").filter(Boolean);
  if (parts.length > 0) {
    parts.pop();
    url.pathname = "/" + parts.join("/");
    await browser.tabs.update({ url: url.toString() });
  }
});

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Root Domain

glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gU", async () => {
  const url = new URL(glide.ctx.url);
  url.pathname = "/";
  await browser.tabs.update({ url: url.toString() });
});

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Site-Specific Navigation

Create custom navigation for specific websites using autocmds: 
// GitHub: navigate to Issues page
glide.autocmds.create("UrlEnter", { hostname: "github.com" }, () => {
  glide.buf.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>gi", async () => {
    const url = glide.ctx.url;
    const parts = url.pathname.split("/").filter(Boolean);
    assert(parts.length >= 2, "Not a repository page");
    url.pathname = `/${parts[0]}/${parts[1]}/issues`;
    await browser.tabs.update({ url: url.toString() });
  });
});

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Focus Navigation

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Browser UI

KeyAction
<C-l>Focus URL bar
<Esc>Return focus to page

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Page Elements

Use hints mode for keyboard-driven element focusing: 
// Focus editable elements
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gi", () => {
  glide.hints.show({ editable: true, auto_activate: true });
});

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Custom Navigation Mappings

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Quick Tab Switching

glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gt", async () => {
  const tab = await glide.tabs.get_first({ url: "example.com" });
  if (tab?.id) {
    await browser.tabs.update(tab.id, { active: true });
  }
}, { description: "Go to example.com tab" });

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Smart Home Navigation

glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gh", async () => {
  const homepage = glide.prefs.get("browser.startup.homepage") as string;
  await browser.tabs.update({ url: homepage });
});

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Advanced Patterns

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Context-Aware Navigation

Different navigation based on URL: 
glide.autocmds.create("UrlEnter", /./, ({ url }) => {
  const current = new URL(url);
  
  if (current.hostname.includes("youtube.com")) {
    glide.buf.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>n", async () => {
      // Navigate to next video in playlist
      await glide.content.execute(() => {
        document.querySelector<HTMLAnchorElement>('.ytp-next-button')?.click();
      }, { tab_id: await glide.tabs.active() });
    });
  }
});

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Multi-Step Navigation

glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>gh", async () => {
  // Open GitHub notifications in new tab
  const tab = await browser.tabs.create({
    url: "https://github.com/notifications",
    active: true
  });
});

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Accessibility

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Keyboard-Only Navigation

Glide ensures all navigation is accessible via keyboard:
  • Use f for hint mode to click any element
  • Use F for hint mode in new tab
  • Use <leader>f for hints in browser UI

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Focus Indicators

Customize focus styles for better visibility: 
glide.styles.add(css`
  :focus-visible {
    outline: 2px solid #0066cc !important;
    outline-offset: 2px !important;
  }
`);

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Performance Tips

The jumplist is stored per-window and automatically cleans up deleted tabs. Configure glide.o.jumplist_max_entries to control memory usage.
Scroll implementations using "keys" may behave unexpectedly on websites that override arrow key events. Switch to "legacy" if you encounter issues.

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See Also