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Function keys productivity trick

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Re: Function keys productivity trick

#41

Post by Encrypt-Keeper »

crazygringo wrote: post #16
chii wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why the function keys are seperated into groups of 3, and you can feel which it is by feeling the gaps between them.

Not on a lot of keyboards. (Edit: I mean no groupings at all, not about the size of groupings.)

I've never seen a keyboard that does this. Just took a look around the office to confirm.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#42

Post by eviks »

The function keys are too far away for such frequent operations, so it's much better to map apps to regular alpha keys (some can also have a mnemonic benefit like 'f' for File manager) with a modifier, e.g., CapsLock or even Space (though these would need to be behind a tiny delay not to interfere with typing), with a proper keyboard remapping app like Karabiner

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#43

Post by wutbrodo »

the_gipsy wrote: post #35

No, you're using the computer wrong. See, you should use a tiling window manager with several workspaces and shortcuts without having to look at your keyboard, e.g. Meta+4 to go to workspace 4 where you have your chat apps.

Ha, this was my first thought, though I've got a built-in damper on being that annoying guy who brings up tiling WMs in every workspace conversation.

It is a little amusing to see such a dramatic headline supported by the extremely elementary thesis that you should have kbd shortcuts for your favorite applications.

On top of that, numbered shortcuts for arbitrary apps is way worse than using Super+[arbitrary key].

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#44

Post by theelous3 »

the_gipsy wrote: post #35

No, you're using the computer wrong. See, you should use a tiling window manager with several workspaces and shortcuts without having to look at your keyboard, e.g. Meta+4 to go to workspace 4 where you have your chat apps.

Yep. Came to say this. Having say, meta+4 for "chat" is far better than having f4 for "a chat app".

You arrive to your chat workspace, your works slack side by side with your favorite irc and matrix clients, all positioned and scaled perfectly every time. Adding more / fewer / swapping apps in is just a matter of invocation, and there the new configuration sits waiting.

The concept is expanded greatly. Shoutout to i3 and xmonad, for my personal setups.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#46

Post by eviks »

trumpeta wrote: post #5

Another way of doing this is assign Hyper key to Caps Lock with Karabiner and then use that to set up hyper+X shortcuts to different or macros using Hammerspoon. So e.g. I have hyper+a for Alacritty, hyper+b for Browser etc.

You can also make your Spacebar (with a tiny delay not to interfere with typing) an app-launcher key, and then you don't even need to move your poor pinky for such frequent space+r for browser space+f for file manager, etc.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#48

Post by SkeuomorphicBee »

In this kind of discussion people often focus solely on frequent actions, but there is one class of action that should have priority for the limited keys: the infrequent urgent. That is, tasks that don't happen that often, but when they do they are very urgent. For me the best example is the sound volume controls, I don't change sound volume nearly as often as I alternate between apps, but when I need to change the sound volume I need it right now, so that is what I'm using my F-keys for.

Re: Function keys productivity trick

#49

Post by seanw444 »

bvrmn wrote: post #24
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 '(…

This. It makes more sense to bind apps to homerow keys with some chain or modificator to "snipe" often-used applications instead of F-keys.

More of a mnemonic in my case, not just homerow, but yeah launching frequented apps has never been more fluid than when I switched to my tiling WM.
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