211–220 of 257 posts
I prefer ShortCat's model: https://shortcat.app/ Similar to Vimium, but for the whole OS. Apparently Homerow is similar, judging from comments I'm seeing here. I really wish I knew an equivalent for Linux. I might even leave Gnome behind if a different DE has a good model for this.
Enable JavaScript This site requires JavaScript to function properly. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. The way I see it, if you go for keyboard-only approach you aim for efficiency. And then you build a site, that doesn't work without javascript at all. Which is a contradiction if you ask me.
The System Settings app seemed so incredibly hostile to keyboard navigation. I was able to start it, but tab only moves you in and out of the search window. From there, you can search for Bluetooth, but there seems no way to move from the left-hand menu tab the main contents. Within the main window, there are no buttons unless you hover with... a mouse, and no way to traverse the list via keyboard.
It'd be great to bring back some basic standards for how tab and arrow keys should aid in situations like this. I don't need them all the time, but they'd have saved me a real headache had they been there then.
If you wanted to go in the other direction, you could achieve more productivity with faster mouse skills. The competitive FPS genre has spawned a bunch of aim training tools[0] to improve muscle memory. [0] https://www.3daimtrainer.com/
I still have a keyboard with a track point I don't understand why they are not popular at all and only a few manufacturers build them. It doesn't replace a mouse for me, but the track point is between the G H B keys and can be reached without moving the fingers away from the typing position. So it's great for some simple mouse commands.
It also didn't help that (at least for the T-series of the era) the trackpoint nib had a reputation for causing a bright spot on the LCD within a year or two, from the contact pressure when the lid was closed. I removed the rubber cover to avoid the screen damage, which guaranteed I would never use it.
I get that some people like it, but those are my two reasons for not :)
A while back I had to install a bluetooth mouse on a Mac mini with out existing mouse attached. It was a nightmare only reserved after lots of searching on my phone to enable the accessibility mode setting allowing arrow-based mouse movement. The System Settings app seemed so incredibly hostile to keyboard navigation. I was able to start it, but tab only moves you in and out of the search window. From there, you can…
The Mac once had zero ability to navigate a dialog without a mouse, other than Enter/Return to do the default button, and Cmd-period (later ESC once it appeared) for cancel). The original Mac also famously had no arrow keys because they were worried developers, if given arrows, would build (or port over) apps that were keyboard-first or which underused the mouse, and they needed the mouse to be a first-class citizen to make the platform truly differentiated.
Windows by contrast started out mouse-optional, so it never lost the keyboard functionality - it’s deeply rooted in the interface’s DNA.
Wow, as cool as this is, it's kind of a shame that we need to say "use coords to show where the mouse should click" instead of designing interfaces that keep pointing-device-free users in mind.
With Windows in particular, you absolutely can navigate Windows + Office keyboard only. I do it every day. Now, third party software, is always going to be all over the place. Stuff that was largely built on Win32 components works fine, but "modern" stylized applications rarely have strong support.
Unfortunately in Excel many operations can be done only with the function keys (e.g. F2, Shift-F8). I'd argue that leaving the center of the keyboard to press the function keys is not easier or quicker than reaching for the mouse.
I prefer ShortCat's model: https://shortcat.app/ Similar to Vimium, but for the whole OS. Apparently Homerow is similar, judging from comments I'm seeing here. I really wish I knew an equivalent for Linux. I might even leave Gnome behind if a different DE has a good model for this.