23

I use Google Chrome on OSX. Is there a way, within the browser, to get a text cursor that will allow me to navigate through text, selecting and copying text using only the keyboard?

I've looked at Vimium, Conkeror, and Vimperator, but as far as I can tell, they allow you to use the keyboard to navigate web pages (scrolling, visiting links) but don't provide a text cursor.

Is this possible?

Update: I have learned that this is called caret browsing or caret navigation. Is this possible in Chrome?

incandescentman
  • 1,343

5 Answers5

21

Recently Google Chrome introduced built-in functionality to browser with caret, just press F7 or go to Settings > Advanced > Accessibility and then turn on "Navigate pages with a text cursor" switch.

enter image description here

Prolog
  • 336
10

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + J to open the console.

  2. Enter the following into the console and press Enter:

    document.body.contentEditable=true

Now you get a cursor and can even edit the whole page.

Oliver Salzburg
  • 89,072
  • 65
  • 269
  • 311
4

Vimperator has caret browsing. The default keybind for it is C.

Oliver Salzburg
  • 89,072
  • 65
  • 269
  • 311
Raphael
  • 41
3

So far, it is not yet implemented or planned:source. You can star this feature request and remain updated.

Ashildr
  • 2,770
  • 5
  • 28
  • 45
Thieme Hennis
  • 233
1

The chrome extension, Caret Browsing supports mode switching between the caret and the normal browsing.

enter image description here

I think many people'd like the caret navigation back/forward as well, but it hasn't supplied the feature yet.

Jeff T.
  • 129