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Function keys productivity trick

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Re: Function keys productivity trick

#181

Post by ozaark »

powersnail wrote: post #170

Is there a keyboard-oriented window manager that doesn't require memorizing what keys do what? What I envision is having one master key combination to pull up a panel or overlay of some sort, which displays which key I press next to go to a certain place, or do a certain action. So there's just one thing to memorize. Sort of like how vimium works in browser, where you press 'f', and each clickable gets a little label…

On Mac I just use CMD+space to pull up spotlight which very quickly opens anything matching what you type from there. Usually within a single keystroke after CMD+space pulls up the desired app and typically takes under a second. It does a lot of other neat things as well but I use that feature daily.

Windows is similar in just pressing the windows key allows you to type the name of an app or file but in my experience is much slower and inaccurate compared to OSX.

It's easier for me to remember the name of the app I want than that+the key binding with muscle memory I've then had to set.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#182

Post by aendruk »

My favorite function key trick is to first move the number keys into a “virtual numpad” and then move the function keys down onto the unused number row. That way the function keys are easy to reach without looking and always available without conflicting with the laptop’s media/utility keys.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#184

Post by Eduard »

alasdair_ wrote: post #158
teo_zero wrote: post #125

I couldn't disagree more. My mental sanity depends on some fixed beliefs. One of those is that every key sequence not involving the Win key is sent to and handled by the application in focus. Including F-keys, which many applications expect, in any case. Ex: F2=edit cell, F9=recalculate in Excel. Global actions handled by the SO or DE must involve Win. Ex: Win+L lock screen. And yes, Redmond-imposed Alt-Tab is an abo…

>it should have been Win+Tab since the beginning In the beginning, there was no "windows key".

In the beginning, there was the "super key" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_key_(keyboard_button).

Its purpose: control the (global) desktop environment (versus e.g. Alt/Ctrl/etc, which control the currently focused/active/local application).

Many "Windows key" shortcuts do desktop environment actions, hence the Windows key is the super key.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#186

Post by abirch »

roxgib wrote: post #185

Another solution to this problem is to get a standalone numpad and assign the keys as hotkeys. Lots of macro apps allow different functions to be assigned to specific keyboards.

autohotkey is my friend. I love it when a program doesn't give you an option to remap keys

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#187

Post by agumonkey »

codemac wrote: post #176
agumonkey wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lovely, I never thought of using emacsclient as a global wm entrypoint ps: I think I need to write an i3-whichkey that displays the current set of bindings because I often forget my own config :)

wait until you find out about exwm

Oh I know about it, I'm just willingly not reading more as I'm already lagging behind :D

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#188

Post by chrismorgan »

williamdclt wrote: post #91

I can't hit Fn keys reliably without looking. Instead I mapped switching to my common programs to `fn+h/j/k/l` and other closeby keys (firefox = fn+h, vscode = fn+j, etc). My right-hand fingers are already on hjkl anyway, it's much much faster for me :)

Proper keyboards group in clusters F1–F4, F5–F8, F9–F12, with gaps between them. Unfortunately, this practice is regularly disregarded (even though uniformity is obviously a terrible idea), and particularly uncommon on laptop keyboards.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#189

Post by [deleted] »

hprotagonist wrote: post #6

~/.config/i3/config: # emacsclient set $em_daemon ~/.local/bin/em # make a quick launcher for specific things I do all the time bindsym $mod+o mode "spotlight" mode "spotlight" { ## specific files in a new emacs buffer # dired in home bindsym d exec $em_daemon ~/; mode "default" # ibuffer bindsym e exec $em_daemon --eval "(ibuffer)"; mode "default" # # guaranteed new scratch buffer bindsym s exec $em_daemon --eval '(…

[deleted]

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#190

Post by nerdix »

sepsol wrote: post #178
sophacles wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you haven't already gone down the custom keyboard rabbit hole, I suspect you might like it. There's a pretty large enthusiast community out in the world, and there's a lot of ways to go custom - build your own from scratch, use a kit, use a pre-built with flashable firmware, etc. The firmwares used (e.g. QMK) allow you to build the sort of thing you're talking about into your keyboard and more.

Seems like a cool thing to try! Where should someone curious like me start?

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