This document contains a list of frequently asked questions. If you question is not listed or properly answered below, you can ask your question on r/vieb or via a github issue. Feel free to ask questions on the subreddit or on github if you can't figure it out.
On Windows you would download releases ending in .exe or win.zip.
On Linux you download either the AppImage or your distribution's native format (e.g. deb for Debian/Ubuntu and so on).
For Mac, there are two zipped Apps, one for x64 and one for ARM64.
Vieb releases are offered in two different architectures:
- ARM64, for Silicon macs, Raspberry Pi's, micro-computers etc. (suffixed aarch64 for rpm and pacman builds)
- x64, for pretty much all other regular devices (also suffixed with amd64, x86_64 or no suffix at all)
It's important to make sure that you download the right architecture for your system.
If it's a zip/tar.gz archive that you downloaded, you can extract it and double-click the executable. On Windows, you can simply double-click on the ".exe" file to run the program. If you are using Linux, you can download the AppImage to be able to do the same. For most other download options, you need to use your distribution's package manager, usage should be similar to other packages of the same type.
You can disable app store requirements with sudo spctl --master-disable. If you need a signed app, you can sign it yourself with sudo codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/Vieb.app.
Or you can try these instructions for opening the app as is.
If you use a Silicon device, signing the app yourself is required, as explained here.
If none of these work, you can build the app from source with the README build instructions, the final command can also be npm run buildmac to just build for mac.
If these instructions do not seem to be followed at all, your issue might be closed,
as it's not Vieb's responsibility to fix your operating system quirks for you.
Try starting Vieb from a terminal or cmd window, to check for startup errors or other logging. You can start Vieb with "vieb --debug" to view the internal debugging tools of Vieb, which should also be checked for errors. If using mac, see the startup info above this one. If you get a weird sandbox error on Linux, you probably need to enable unprivileged containers. There are instructions on the arch wiki how to enable this.
Most general usage information can be found in the help page.
You can open it with the F1 key or the :help command.
Below are questions that are either not explicitly covered in the help page,
or are asked a lot regardless of their existing documentation/explanation.
Vieb is Chromium/Electron based and implements a wide range of features aimed to FEEL like Vim. For a list of features, see the homepage. See this issue for my motivation of starting Vieb. Proper comparisons and migration guides haven't been made yet, but there are example viebrc files for popular desktop browsers and Vim browser extensions.
Google blocks a lot of software that isn't Chrome from accessing their services.
Even users of Google's own Chrome, are sometimes getting blocked.
Fortunately, for the time being a workaround exists for all this, which is to set a Firefox useragent.
You can use :set firefoxmode=google within Vieb to mimic Firefox when visiting Google pages.
Keep in mind that while this works, it's entirely possible for them to block Firefox as well in the future.
See this issue for more background information.
Another thing you might encounter, is that strict site isolation is required for your Google sign-in to be preserved. You can enable this on startup with "--strict-site-isolation", though this will block Vieb from accessing iframes in follow mode. If you rely heavily on Google services it might be worth the trade-off to use this startup option, which offers for more reliable Google logins at the cost of a limited follow mode implementation. For Vieb to have strict site isolation without the follow mode limitation this Electron issue needs to be fixed.
Yes, there is a command for that named :makedefault.
For details, see the help page using :h makedefault and the
defaultapp script directory.
Same as Vim, there is a strong mode separation. Basically, it allows you to use the keyboard more efficiently, by making keys available that are otherwise reserved for typing. It achieves this by separating functionality into different modes, which is exactly what Vim does, and was a big reason for starting Vieb. See also: my answer to remove this separation and this thread for my lengthy motivation for creating Vieb.
Electron has no support for dynamically allowing or blocking popups.
You either enable them globally, or block all of them.
Even if globally allowed, the popup windows can not be interacted with like the regular Vieb window.
No custom code can be ran in them, and you would need to use the mouse to interact with it.
All new windows are opened in a new tab when using Vieb for these reasons.
Finally, popups are bad for usability and should no longer be relied upon.
Also see MDN for a list of reasons against using popups (or window.open in general, which is the JavaScript api for opening custom windows).
I encourage users who run into sites still using popups today to get in touch with the site authors about this.
No, Vieb does not automatically update, nor does it check for any of that in the background.
Vieb will ONLY make requests when opened pages fetch new resources
OR when you specifically ask it to (either via navigation or with custom settings).
Checking for updates can be done by opening the :version page and specifically clicking "Check for updates".
Alternatively, you can watch the github repository
or subscribe to the official Vieb subreddit to be notified of new releases.
Lastly, if your system has a third-party package, you could use that as well.
These packages might be customized or updated at a later date, but they get updates the same way you are used to from your operating system.