Research in a browser from a game controller
The Web Research layout is built into InputConfig, free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.
On a Mac: Sends the shortcuts Mac browsers share. If the D-pad tab rows do nothing in your browser, change them to Control Tab and Control Shift Tab.
Yes, you can research across many tabs on a Mac with a game controller: back, forward, find on page and a new tab on the face buttons, tabs on the D-pad. Research is twenty tabs and find on page, so this is the browsing layout with Find on a face button. For a long reading session across a lot of pages, this is the one.
The layout, control by control
How the layout thinks
- Move through pages. Back, Forward, Find on page and New Tab on the face buttons.
- Tabs. Close tab and the address bar on the bumpers. D-pad left and right switch tabs with Command Option and the brackets.
- Point and click. The left stick is the pointer, the right stick scrolls, the triggers click and right-click.
If the D-pad does not switch tabs
- You: Press D-pad right with a few tabs open.
- InputConfig: Sends Command Option Right Bracket.
- Check: If the tab does not change in your browser, change the two rows to Control Tab and Control Shift Tab, which Safari, Chrome and Firefox all accept.
Control Tab is the fallback every major browser understands.
Tune it for a long session
- Find by voice. Find, then dictation, searches the page.
- Reader. Put the browser's reader key on the touchpad press.
- Bookmark. Put Command D on a stick click.
- Reopen a closed tab. Put Command Shift T on the other stick click, for the tab you closed by mistake.
Reopen closed tab is the row you will be glad of by the twentieth tab.
Get it in two clicks
- Get InputConfig free on the Mac App Store, open it, and click Smart Preset Maker on the welcome screen.
- Search for Web Research and pick it. The layout is created as a preset in your sidebar, named and ready.
- Press Activate. Every row can be changed afterwards: the editor's Scan button rebinds any control the moment you touch it.
Every binding, as a table
| Controller | Sends | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Left stick left | Mouse motion left (speed 16) | Cursor left |
| Left stick right | Mouse motion right (speed 16) | Cursor right |
| Left stick up | Mouse motion up (speed 16) | Cursor up |
| Left stick down | Mouse motion down (speed 16) | Cursor down |
| Right stick down | Scroll down | Scroll down |
| Right stick up | Scroll up | Scroll up |
| Right trigger | Left click | Left click |
| Left trigger | Right click | Right click |
| A / Cross | Command (Left), Left | Back |
| B / Circle | Command (Left), Right | Forward |
| X / Square | Command (Left), F | Find on page |
| Y / Triangle | Command (Left), T | New tab |
| LB / L1 | Command (Left), W | Close tab |
| RB / R1 | Command (Left), L | Address bar |
| D-pad left | Command (Left), Alt / Option (Left), [ | Previous tab |
| D-pad right | Command (Left), Alt / Option (Left), ] | Next tab |
Button names follow the Xbox / PlayStation pair shown in the editor, so A / Cross is the bottom face button on either pad. On a Switch Pro Controller the bottom button is labeled B; the mapping still fires on position.
Questions
How is this different from the Web Browsing layout?
Find on page is on a face button, back and forward are on the face buttons, and close tab and the address bar move to the bumpers.
Related
Completely free. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon. Open source on GitHub.
Updated