Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev • Hacker News Board

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#11

Post by gnicholas » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 6:53 PM UTC

nntwozz wrote: post #10

gnicholas wrote: post #6

I used to have a clipboard manager that gave me access to my last X copied items, as well as a navigable list of snippets. A few years back, a MacOS update broke whatever tool I was using, and I ended up buying BetterTouchTool. BTT does give me my clipboard history, and it appears to be very powerful in general, but I can't figure out an easy way to replicate the navigable list of snippets. I do use the MacOS text ex…

This is the way: https://maccy.app

Looks sleek and very lightweight; where does it say how it handles snippets? Or is the 'pinned' functionality supposed to be used to get old items to hang around?

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#12

Post by hoosieree » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 6:56 PM UTC

These are impressive, but can they fix an app that intercepts MacOS's defaults and hijacks them with inferior versions?

Specifically I am interested in fixes for Outlook, which overrides the default text editing cursor movement commands with its own shortcuts.

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#13

Post by alin23 » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 6:59 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #9

alin23 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raycast's snippets mentioned in the article can do exactly that, screenshot here: https://shots.panaitiu.com/GmT5v4Zj It can do the incantation thingie, but it also allows binding a hotkey to showing a list of your snippets, searching through them, and inserting them with Enter. It can also do hyperlinks, bold, italic, if the app you're typing into supports rich text. Example: https://shots.panaitiu.com/gw50Zdcm

Thanks, I was just checking it out based on the article mention. Looks like it's free for personal use, too! EDIT: Looks like for snippets, it requires a key command to get Raycast to appear, then you have to say Search Snippets, then you have to type your search string, then you have to select the desired snippet. Is it really this many steps? My old workflow was shift-cmd-v, choose the desired snippet via arrow key…

Nope, you can do it in a single step. You can record a hotkey for any action that Raycast has, you don't need to go to the main UI: https://shots.panaitiu.com/y6cGQTLN

I rarely if ever see that main search UI, I have hotkeys for all my favorite workflows.

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#14

Post by mechanicum » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 6:59 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #9

alin23 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raycast's snippets mentioned in the article can do exactly that, screenshot here: https://shots.panaitiu.com/GmT5v4Zj It can do the incantation thingie, but it also allows binding a hotkey to showing a list of your snippets, searching through them, and inserting them with Enter. It can also do hyperlinks, bold, italic, if the app you're typing into supports rich text. Example: https://shots.panaitiu.com/gw50Zdcm

Thanks, I was just checking it out based on the article mention. Looks like it's free for personal use, too! EDIT: Looks like for snippets, it requires a key command to get Raycast to appear, then you have to say Search Snippets, then you have to type your search string, then you have to select the desired snippet. Is it really this many steps? My old workflow was shift-cmd-v, choose the desired snippet via arrow key…

If you can’t get that working, Alfred[1] is a similar app with Snippets functionality including rich text, dynamic replacements, and is configurable to bring up the search by hotkey.

[1]: https://www.alfredapp.com

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#15

Post by httpteapot » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 7:02 PM UTC

I recently purchased a MacBook, and while I'm thoroughly impressed with the hardware, I find the keyboard navigation in the desktop environment somewhat lacking in comparison to my previous experience.

Having used Linux Pop OS for many years, I've grown accustomed to the intuitive and powerful tiling window manager and keyboard navigation shortcuts it offers. I'm struggling to find a comparable solution on the macOS platform.

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#16

Post by gnicholas » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 7:03 PM UTC

alin23 wrote: post #13

gnicholas wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I was just checking it out based on the article mention. Looks like it's free for personal use, too! EDIT: Looks like for snippets, it requires a key command to get Raycast to appear, then you have to say Search Snippets, then you have to type your search string, then you have to select the desired snippet. Is it really this many steps? My old workflow was shift-cmd-v, choose the desired snippet via arrow key…

Nope, you can do it in a single step. You can record a hotkey for any action that Raycast has, you don't need to go to the main UI: https://shots.panaitiu.com/y6cGQTLN I rarely if ever see that main search UI, I have hotkeys for all my favorite workflows.

Dope, thanks!

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#17

Post by nntwozz » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 7:06 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #11

nntwozz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the way: https://maccy.app

Looks sleek and very lightweight; where does it say how it handles snippets? Or is the 'pinned' functionality supposed to be used to get old items to hang around?

Yep, for now.

https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy/issues/130

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#18

Post by gnicholas » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 7:26 PM UTC

nntwozz wrote: post #17

gnicholas wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks sleek and very lightweight; where does it say how it handles snippets? Or is the 'pinned' functionality supposed to be used to get old items to hang around?

Yep, for now. https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy/issues/130

OK thanks. Funny, the commenter in that thread came from the same software as me — ClipMenu. It was simple and worked great!

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#19

Post by richbell » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 7:30 PM UTC

httpteapot wrote: post #15

I recently purchased a MacBook, and while I'm thoroughly impressed with the hardware, I find the keyboard navigation in the desktop environment somewhat lacking in comparison to my previous experience. Having used Linux Pop OS for many years, I've grown accustomed to the intuitive and powerful tiling window manager and keyboard navigation shortcuts it offers. I'm struggling to find a comparable solution on the macOS…

It's a sore-spot for sure. I've found that Rectangle[0] does a good enough job.

[0] https://rectangleapp.com/

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#20

Post by sgt » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 7:31 PM UTC

TIL about https://folivora.ai/ (BetterTouchTool). Brilliant.. and it's so refreshing to see an app that I will own and won't be a subscription. I can't stand that.