Why Touch a Mouse?

Why touch a mouse? Don't you know they carry germs and diseases. Btw, I'll have to tell the story of catching a mouse in my college apartment sometime. But this isn't really about mice; not those kind, anyway.

(Alternate title: Keys to a Happy Life. I thought it was a nice play on words, but it just sounded pretentious.)

One of the things I love about my Mac is the keyboard shortcuts. (Yes, Microsoft Windows includes some keyboard shortcuts, too. I used them as much as possible. Try 'alt-tab' or 'windows key + d'.) But, when I'm working at my computer, it's quicker to keep my hands on the keyboard, rather than go hunting for the mouse, and find the cursor, and blah, blah, blah. It's just quicker to hit a couple keys and I'm done. Plus, I work on a laptop, so most often I don't even have a mouse connected, just using the trackpad. That's still not as fast or convenient as keyboard shortcuts. It takes some practice, but I think it's like playing piano or guitar or learning how to type; pretty quickly your hands go on auto-pilot. So...

If you use Safari, enjoy this list from Apple. I don't use all of these - it's more than I have use for - but some are really helpful. Favorites: Cmd-L = address bar, Cmd-Opt-F = search, Cmd-T = new tab, Cmd-Shift-right or left arrow = switch between tabs, Cmd-click link = opens link in new tab/window.

Also, try using some of these shortcuts in Finder and other programs, just to get around. Favorites: Cmd-W = close window, Cmd-Q = quit program, Cmd-Tab = switch between open programs, Cmd-H = hide program, Cmd-Shift-3 = Screen grab.

Two-finger scrolling and the new four-finger expose on the trackpad are terrific and used all the time. And if you're not using Spotlight (Cmd-Spacebar) to launch programs and open files, well, you're just giving yourself unnecessary headaches!

BONUS: If you ARE on a Mac, take a deep breath and press Control-Option-Cmd-8. Smiles!

Technorati tags: apple, mac os x, safari, keyboard shortcuts, it's a little geeky