Glossary

Terms used in Tridactyl's documentation.

addon
A Firefox extension such as Tridactyl
bovine3dom
The esteemed maintainer of Tridactyl and author of this glossary.
commandline
A text-based interface to Tridactyl for running commands interactively and selecting from completion options, also called ex-mode. By default, bound to `:`
completion
An object that can be selected from the commandline to complete a partially typed command, such as a URL for `:open` or a tab for `:tab`
control
The key marked 'ctrl' on your keyboard. Unlike many other programs, we really do mean the key marked 'ctrl', and not the splat key on MacOS, which we call 'meta'
deprecated
A command or setting that will eventually be removed from Tridactyl, but works for now
emacs
An operating system that only lacks a decent text editor. Inexplicably popular despite the fact that `nano` and `notepad.exe` are superior and pre-installed on most machines
ex
The original line-based text editor upon which Vim was initially based. The commandline is called 'ex mode' in honour of this, commands are called 'ex commands' and we sometimes call series of ex commands 'ex scripts'
firefox
The web browser you're almost certainly using right now
github
A popular code hosting site (aka 'forge') that allows you to store, share and discuss code with other users. At the time of writing, it's where Tridactyl was mostly hosted, although it's important to remember that `git` is decentralised and so really Tridactyl is hosted by developer who has ever cloned it
gitter
A now mostly dead chat service that has been replaced by Matrix, but still works
issue
A bug report, feature request or question on GitHub. We often talk about 'filing' issues to mean creating them
javascript
Brendan Eich's long-running joke played on humanity. Tragically, it is also the language in which we are forced to write Tridactyl.
jumplist
A kind of history of bits of pages you have been on, accessible with `<C-o>` and `<C-i>`, and `g;` for text fields you have edited
keybind
A relationship between a key press or series of key presses and a command
keydown
An event triggered when a key is first pressed, represented in keysequeences as `<D-[character]>`
keypress
An event triggered when a key is pressed and periodically while it is held down, represented in keysequences as `[character]`
keysequence
A series of key presses or key combinations that are descibed using a special language where, e.g. `<C-j>` represents `ctrl + j`
keyup
The event triggered when a key is released, represented in keysequences as `<U-[character]>`
layout
Which button inserts which character on a keyboard. You can change this in software.
libera
An IRC network that became popular after Freenode imploded. Come talk with us on #tridactyl like it's 2002
mappings
Another word for keybinds
marks
A way of remembering a position or URL
matrix
A chat network
messenger
A small program that runs in userland and makes `:native` work for various tasks such as opening URLs Mozilla thinks are dangerous, starting system utilities like `xclip` or restarting the browser
mozilla
The foundation that controls Firefox and Thunderbird.
pentadactyl
A now defunct fork of Vimperator and one of the key inspirations for Tridactyl.
pipe
A way of sending data between commands, usually represented by `|`
popup
A small window that appears in the middle of the screen, usually without consent to display something that the website wishes to annoy you with. Thankfully, web browsers block them universally, and so now they appear within webpages instead in the form of newsletter signups and 'cookie consent' dialogs, which is vastly better than having easily detectable new windows created because ... there's got to be a reason, right? Anyway, don't use the internet without an adblocker like uBlock Origin installed, kids
rc
Shorthand for 'tridactylrc'
rebind
To change the keybind a command is associated with
recently
Anything within the last decade
sandboxed
A security feature that prevents processes such as Firefox from accessing the file system, which breaks most of `:native` without some extra fiddling and whitelisting. 'snap' and 'flatpak' are common forms of sandboxing.
sidebar
Part of the Firefox UI that appears on the left and extensions can put things in. We mostly use it for `:escapehatch` to get focus back onto the page, but `:sidebaropen` exists and has some enthusiastic users
treestyletabs
A popular Firefox extension that adds a vertical tree of tabs to the user interface
tridactyl
The best Firefox extension on the planet and the one you are using right now. Accept no imitations!
tridactylrc
A 'run commands' file that simply runs a series of commands at startup. Many users use these files to 'store' their settings, but it is important to remember that it really is just a bunch of commands to run at startup. See `:source`, `:mkt` and `:native`
userchrome
A semi-secret file that Firefox reads, if the preferences are set correctly, and allows you to edit the GUI. Tridactyl has a helper function for this called `:guiset`
vim
The best text editor in the universe, second only to 'ex'
vimperator
A now defunct Firefox extension that was the main inspiration for Tridactyl.
wiki
Tridactyl's largely unmoderated and well hidden wiki, stored on GitHub
xclip
A command line utility that allows you to manipulate the clipboard under Linux and X11. See `:help yankto` and `:help putfrom`
xsel
A command line utility that allows you to manipulate the clipboard under Linux and X11. See `:help yankto` and `:help putfrom`