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A universal shortcut (Cmd + Shift + P is the muscle memory one from programs like VS Code) that brings up relevant actions based on what is happening. This does a couple of things:

  1. Allows a fully keyboard-centric workflow, even without needing to learn keyboard shortcuts.
  2. It allows the GUI to stay minimal and clutter-free as a lot of actions can be triggered via the command palette instead of needing to create buttons. Buttons can follow down the line if needed (this makes it faster to test new features).
  3. (Subjective) It is faster to navigate an application this way than via buttons.

A simple command palette would be great. A more sophisticated one would be even better! E.g. surfacing each users most used actions as auto-suggestions before anything is typed, allowing keyboard shortcuts to be seen and edited within the command palette itself etc.

  • Vlad replied to this.

    I recommend using something like Paletro (paid), or Raycast's Search Menu Items command (free).

      eirk I somehow missed that Raycast could do this! That is epic!!

      Not as smooth/native looking or as powerful as a built in command palette would be but does the basic function well.

      Thanks!

          I personally wouldn't use a command palette here, as the functions are relatively simple. Most of the shortcuts that are required are quite intuitive, and I use them instead of the buttons. Ofc, you can make an extension with Raycast to do absolutely whatever you want to!

            15 days later

            Hekima What is command palette for those of not using VS code?

                Vlad It's a way to perform actions using just the keyboard, without needing to remember any keyboard shortcuts. It does so by having a single keyboard shortcut bring up a text box (combo box rather) that allows the user to type in the command they are looking to execute.

                So for example, if I wanted to pin a tab (something I do rarely so never remember the keyboard shortcut on Orion) - instead of look for where the Pin button is, or have to use the mouse/trackpad, I would bring up the command palette and type 'Pin' - which would suggest the action to me and execute it when selected.

                Well built ones, such as those on text editors like VS Code, will improve that basic experience. Things like:

                1. Remember frequently executed commands and suggest them/list them without the user needing to type anything.
                2. Allow fuzzy searching/related term searching. E.g. Allow a user to find the 'pin tab' command by searching for 'sticky tab'
                3. Display the actual keyboard shortcut within the palette so that a user can train themselves to remember it via constant exposure. E.g. If I use the 'pin tab' command via the palette dozens of times, and each time, I can see the dedicated keyboard shortcut listed there, eventually I will remember the dedicated keyboard shortcut without ever having to look it up.
                4. Allow changing/customising the custom keyboard shortcut for each of the commands.

                Alfred App or Raycast - these can be thought of as command palettes for Mac OS as a whole.

                • Vlad replied to this.

                    Hekima Thanks but a screenshot or two would be better than a thousand words 🙂

                        9 days later

                        @Hekima I use Paletro. Works in every app, which is awesome.

                        Although, I wound up here looking for a similar feature, but what I'm really looking for is a Command Palette that can trigger extensions by their shortcut since there's no way to customize Safari shortcut buttons (only toolbars via Sys Pref > Keyboard > App Shortcuts).

                        Paletro demo

                        Img

                        Someone from this thread should summarize what the minimum viable implementation of the ask consists of...

                        As someone who has never used palettes I am utterly at loss here..

                          19 days later

                          Vlad
                          Essentially, you execute a shortcut which creates a new pop-up window (similar to macOS' Spotlight or the third-party app Alfred), that allows you to execute common commands. This could be switching to a tab, opening the history panel, toggling an extension, toggling reader view, et cetera. You type in the name of what you want to do and it does it. These are easier to learn than keyboard shortcuts and there can be far more of them.

                          The MVP would be a shortcut that opens a text box where the user can type in the name of a command as it appears in the menu bar and Orion executes it upon pressing enter (using arrow keys or the mouse to navigate if there are multiple matches). In other words, it would function very similar to the search bar in the 'help' section of the menu bar.

                          Nicer yet would be if it showed the most recent and/or most used commands by default, and if it included "submenus", for example you could type in 'history', search through your browsing history, then 'activate' whichever link you wanted into a new tab using enter.

                          Sidenote: A similar function exists in Vivaldi called "quick commands". It supports just about anything you can do in a browser. It would be nice to see something similar in Orion!

                              2 months later

                              Vlad

                              To add to lumitry's great answer, I'd like to suggest an alternative approach.

                              Vivaldi's "quick commands" are a separate feature. You open it by a hotkey, make your choice and it disappears.

                              One of its features is "switch to an open tab". In Chrome, this is built into omnibar:

                              My idea is that the best of both worlds would be - have it all available from Orion's address bar (or, shortly, OrionBar :-) ).

                              Right now, when I type something in OrionBar, the search scopes seem to include:

                              • top hits
                              • search engine suggestions
                              • bookmarks & history

                              By adding the following scopes, the OrionBar becomes quite powerful command palette (no separate interface required):

                              • open tabs (search by title & url), a suggestion would include "switch to this tab" badge;
                              • windows (search by name), a suggestion would include "switch to this window" badge;
                              • available browser commands (as with other scopes, frequently used commands become Top Hits).

                              Before:

                              After:

                                Oh, wait, I just typed something and Orion offered me to switch to a matched tab! I am sure I tried that before and saw no options to switch to an existing tab. Interesting!

                                  vladstudio This is less a 'command' per say, it is due to the autocomplete suggestions preference, if you have open tabs enabled:

                                      10 days later

                                      I agree.

                                      another reason:

                                      I prefer focus mode with vertical tabs open. Why? vertical screen real estate. A command palette which allows navigating to an url or tab would make the perfect complement.

                                      I currently use https://github.com/brookhong/Surfingkeys to do that but since the extension support is very flaky right now that's not a good solution

                                        Orion fuzzy search for open tabs is great, much better than Safari.

                                        One small improvement for those of us with 100s of open tabs, is "tab search mode" a feature I use all the time in Firefox: in the address bar you type % (percentage) + one space followed by search terms, and you only get results from open tabs.

                                        • Vlad replied to this.
                                          9 days later
                                          3 months later

                                          Well this casual user is looking for it in Orion after using tab search functionality in Chrome, Edge and Firefox so the answer might be "because they already use it". Also this would be a great feature; a complement to the tab switching preview which is also a great feature.

                                          • Vlad replied to this.