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Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

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Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#141

Post by eviks »

snowe2010 wrote: post #139
eviks wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except you can't bind every menu item: some menu names are dynamic, so you can't bind to them, and not all the keys are supported, and there is no left/right modifier differentiation. Also, you have to retype the full command path by hand, which is insane, so you can't do that either (you should be able to just hover over a command and press keybind to rebind) Even with the awesomeness of Karabiner Elements there are…

Can’t you handle a lot of that with Automator? Honestly it’s funny to see so many people saying Mac is terrible at this when I can’t imagine a worse OS for shortcuts than windows and Linux you have to script everything. Mac managed to make it user friendly and scriptable at the same time.

A lot of what? What's your Automator handler that I can select a dynamic menu item and change those two keybinds with my arbitrary key combo?

Also, how is it user friendly to require users to retype the full menu taxonomy???

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#142

Post by nsonha »

Tagbert wrote: post #79
nsonha wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic blame the user kind of argument, what is the alternative workflow to "snap windows with a hotkey" then?

The point is that when switching OSs you are going to run into lots of places where the new OS does things differently that what you are used to. Your choice is to fight the new OS and try to keep doing things the way you are used to or embrace the new OS and learn some new workflows. That doesn’t mean adopting everything or abandoning everything, just try to be flexible and try some different things out. Just becaus…

so "3rd apps exist" that's your argument? I thought it was "alternative workflow"?

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#143

Post by nbzso »

ryangittins wrote: post #26
nbzso wrote: post #22

Better Touch Tool changed the way that I operate. Sequencing of keys can make you a productive monster:) Practically speaking, I remove the use of short keys that require to break my fingers every day.

Yes! I'm sure I'm not using it anywhere close to its full potential, but just being able to two-finger tap a link to open it in a new tab is huge. What are your favorite shortcuts?

I am using it with specific sequencing for different apps. One of the more strange use -cases is the combination of BTT and touch-bar-simmulator with Figma. Adding functionality to my vertical mouse and trackballs with different profiles for apps and so on.

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#144

Post by weaksauce »

eviks wrote: post #141
snowe2010 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can’t you handle a lot of that with Automator? Honestly it’s funny to see so many people saying Mac is terrible at this when I can’t imagine a worse OS for shortcuts than windows and Linux you have to script everything. Mac managed to make it user friendly and scriptable at the same time.

A lot of what? What's your Automator handler that I can select a dynamic menu item and change those two keybinds with my arbitrary key combo? Also, how is it user friendly to require users to retype the full menu taxonomy???

use hammerspoon[0] if you are so dead set on making this edgecase work. on the whole the system is quite flexible.

there's also applescript that can do a lot of other things too. I dislike the language but it's fairly powerful too.

[0] http://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.application.html#getMenuI...

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#145

Post by snowe2010 »

eviks wrote: post #141
snowe2010 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can’t you handle a lot of that with Automator? Honestly it’s funny to see so many people saying Mac is terrible at this when I can’t imagine a worse OS for shortcuts than windows and Linux you have to script everything. Mac managed to make it user friendly and scriptable at the same time.

A lot of what? What's your Automator handler that I can select a dynamic menu item and change those two keybinds with my arbitrary key combo? Also, how is it user friendly to require users to retype the full menu taxonomy???

>What's your Automator handler that I can select a dynamic menu item and change those two keybinds with my arbitrary key combo?

no clue, I don't use automator, but from what I understand of applescript and automator this should be completely possible. For what it's worth I use Hammerspoon like the other commentor and it's by far the best system I've seen for any OS. Also the more people that use it the better it gets so I highly recommend it.

>Also, how is it user friendly to require users to retype the full menu taxonomy???

I mean... you're able to change any arbitrary menu item in any program that exists. That's extremely powerful. I don't really know how you would make it make it any more user friendly.

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#146

Post by snowe2010 »

jen729w wrote: post #54
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…

I’ll just throw Magnet in the ring for a tiling solution. I have keyboard shortcuts well in muscle memory now for left/right third/half/two-thirds, and all four corners at a quarter of screen, and full screen. I find that meets 90% of my needs. Left/right two-thirds is my go-to when coding on 14”. VSCode on the left, Safari on the right. Both big enough to work well, but both leave enough of the other visible to be u…

Hammerspoon can handle that and much more, way more customizable and you can do amazing things like grid layouts. Completely open source, totally free, and the more people that use it the better it gets so I highly recommend it.

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#147

Post by eviks »

snowe2010 wrote: post #145
eviks wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of what? What's your Automator handler that I can select a dynamic menu item and change those two keybinds with my arbitrary key combo? Also, how is it user friendly to require users to retype the full menu taxonomy???

>What's your Automator handler that I can select a dynamic menu item and change those two keybinds with my arbitrary key combo? no clue, I don't use automator, but from what I understand of applescript and automator this should be completely possible. For what it's worth I use Hammerspoon like the other commentor and it's by far the best system I've seen for any OS. Also the more people that use it the better it gets…

I've already tried Hammerspoon a while ago

> any arbitrary menu item in any program that exists

That's false

> I don't really know how you would make it make it any more user friendly.

Just read my comment, it tells you exactly how to make it user friendly. And it's easy to come up with a few more ideas

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#148

Post by Tagbert »

nsonha wrote: post #142
Tagbert wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that when switching OSs you are going to run into lots of places where the new OS does things differently that what you are used to. Your choice is to fight the new OS and try to keep doing things the way you are used to or embrace the new OS and learn some new workflows. That doesn’t mean adopting everything or abandoning everything, just try to be flexible and try some different things out. Just becaus…

so "3rd apps exist" that's your argument? I thought it was "alternative workflow"?

My point was a suggestion to entertain the idea of adopting alternate workflows native to the new OS when you switch. When that doesn’t work there are often 3rd party tools to address the difference.

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#149

Post by eviks »

weaksauce wrote: post #144
eviks wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of what? What's your Automator handler that I can select a dynamic menu item and change those two keybinds with my arbitrary key combo? Also, how is it user friendly to require users to retype the full menu taxonomy???

use hammerspoon[0] if you are so dead set on making this edgecase work. on the whole the system is quite flexible. there's also applescript that can do a lot of other things too. I dislike the language but it's fairly powerful too. [0] http://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.application.html#getMenuI...

I'm not dead set, that's why I wouldn't waste time on writing a "this can take a little while to complete, because quite a large number of round trips are required to the source application, to get the information" in another bad language when it's much simpler to use Karabiner to send the offending keybind

By the way, what would I do with this menu info, is there another function to permanently rebind a given menu item?

I was just pointing a few fundamental flaws in this "surprisingly powerful" system

Re: Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

#150

Post by weaksauce »

eviks wrote: post #149
weaksauce wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

use hammerspoon[0] if you are so dead set on making this edgecase work. on the whole the system is quite flexible. there's also applescript that can do a lot of other things too. I dislike the language but it's fairly powerful too. [0] http://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.application.html#getMenuI...

I'm not dead set, that's why I wouldn't waste time on writing a "this can take a little while to complete, because quite a large number of round trips are required to the source application, to get the information" in another bad language when it's much simpler to use Karabiner to send the offending keybind By the way, what would I do with this menu info, is there another function to permanently rebind a given menu i…

you can write a hammerspoon script that will intercept some hotkey you want to use for that menu item and select it yes.
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