It seems to me expedient to share my personal experience of productivity growth in Mac OS X (by the example of 10.7), in particular, by maximally avoiding the use of the mouse (through what we will come to many other ways).
What is the relevance of the problem?
1. Ergonomically aiming and getting a mouse into a small object is always worse for time, fine motor skills and vision than using operations that do not require the identification of small objects and “aiming” at them. For the most common example, it’s enough to compare the number of people in Windows who switch the keyboards with a key combination or with a mouse in the corresponding menu on the desktop (which also seems to be within reach).
2. For mobile work, the big difference is to take the mouse with you or not. If in Windows, many do not have enough internal touchpads for full-fledged work, then when you look at a macbook with a connected mouse, cognitive dissonance arises - because Some of the things for which a person took her on the road objectively have a more effective alternative solution if he gets rid of a certain paradigm of consciousness.
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3. Less use of the mouse in OS X for rolling with Windows helps to prevent a number of inconveniences and errors - in particular, the “red cross effect” and “single desktop syndrome”, as well as better understand the differences between windows and processes.
It will not be a banal replacement of the mouse with keyboard combinations, but more systemic changes that fundamentally change the organization of work.
So.
I. What internal OS X resources more effectively replace mouse use? Let's see why, after moving from Windows, first of all I want to use the mouse:
1. Minimize the windows (in order to get them out of the dock later). Of course, Cmd + H is faster than aiming at the yellow dash in the upper left of the window. But meanwhile ... why minimize them if you can create as many desktops as you want? Minimizing windows makes sense when working on a single desktop (but then why bother to use os x?). It makes absolutely no sense if we say you have 10 desktops. How it works?
Why is it convenient to have exactly 10 desktops? Because between them it is very convenient to switch combinations from Ctrl + 1 (table number 1) to Ctrl + 0 (table +10).
We organize themed desktops depending on what programs will be opened for them. We take into account at the same time that it makes sense to keep programs on the common desktop, between which it is supposed to move objects (for example, mail and explorer for dragging files) and which it makes sense to see together, deployed side by side (for example, Word and Preview for simultaneous operation). above pdf based document). Most programs manage to configure the opening always on a fixed desktop (MS Office under 10.7 is the only exception I noticed). However, all this can be combined as you please depending on the agenda, creating on any table any combinations of windows of any programs: in any case, always move the window you need to the table you want, pointing at its frame and pressing Ctrl + number - let's say when you have at the same time several bundles (documents, folders, windows) of the same programs on different tables, united by different themes.
Well, the simplest office example - there are 3 different projects (a sales report in the city A for the quarter - you need to simultaneously see and edit 2 Excel plates, 1 Word, 2 Finder folders - table 4; write an application for leave according to someone else’s sample as scan - Word + Preview, table number 5; edit 2 interrelated presentations based on the wish list in Evernote - throw 2 Powerpoint windows and one Evernote window on the desk # 6). All these windows are deployed along each other - at least 2 windows, even on screen 11, can be seen simultaneously. And when there are fewer simultaneous projects, a habit is developed - I need to work in Word and pdf, this is Ctrl + 4. I need something auxiliary and computer, such as Activity Monitor or Disk Utility - this is Ctrl + 8. Chats - on the sides along each other, the windows of different messengers - this is Ctrl + 2. And the wallpaper to choose each table to match its tasks.
At the same time, we note that (depending on the amount of RAM), all of this can live in limited quantities and combinations for years, without requiring windows to be minimized in any situations. You can always return to the desired project by pressing Ctrl + number, making the windows fully open. Note that the rest of the desktops remain empty.
Further, you can always bare the desktop by spreading your fingers on the touchpad (well, this is essentially like Win + G).
Further, I recommend everything that is possible and everything that does not require joint viewing with the windows of other programs, to lead in full-screen applications. This is at least Safari, iCal. Why does it make sense? Such programs generally will not take the place of the desktop. You just always can get into them, but on the desktops will not take the place of their windows. In the end, the convenience of a free desktop became so important for me that I brought Mail to fullscreen by refusing to drag and drop files (especially since mailing a file is conveniently right from the conductor, and saving from Mail is convenient to the desktop). What if suddenly you need to constantly see, for example, a browser tab on another desktop, spread out on the side of another program window, you can pull it out of full-screen mode, or you can simply use another browser for this purpose for example, to work on a single project requiring word / preview, I have to search for something on one site through almost every word, a separate chrome window flew to the same desktop.
Well, why in the end minimize the windows? It became clear that it was just a paradigm of life on one table, in which it was necessary to switch between the windows of all programs. The difference with a multi-doctoral organization is like a one-room apartment in comparison with a ten-room apartment.
2. Close windows. Here, first of all, when moving from Windows, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between closing the program window and terminating the process. Completed work with a specific presentation, a specific letter, a specific browser tab, a specific report - Cmd + W. Not completed - see item 1 above, let it hang on your desktop for at least 5 years open in the same place, the operating system allows you to restore the state and through all the restarts. And the processes (word, outlook, safari, excel, etc.) do not need to be killed by Cmd + Q, if there is a possibility that in the near future we will work with other similar documents. Why waste an extra couple of seconds on launching the program and loading it into RAM? Indeed, the program is no longer needed in the foreseeable future - we will kill it by Cmd + Q, but in relation to what we use every day, this team is not needed at all if there is enough RAM. If it’s not enough, we’ll look at the Activity Monitor and, if we don’t install new plans, we think someone will temporarily beat them. Everything about the crosses forgotten.
3. Run programs and reopen windows. Here, at first glance, the most obvious solution is the dock. Right? Not! Pointing the mouse into the desired icon when you have 20 programs open and 100 windows in them is unproductive. Remove it, it is not needed at all - make it invisible and reduce.
A) How to get back to the necessary windows? Everything is very simple, they are on the right desktop. Where is the quarterly report, Ctrl + 4? And an application for a vacation, Ctrl + 5? Show a reduced view of all the active program windows (the degree of reduction depends on their number and screen size) - palm on the touchpad down or F6. Immediately circle to switch to other windows of the program - Cmd + ~.
B) How to return to the open program? Again, Ctrl + Desktop. Or see the points below, especially D. Because under 10.7 some have noticed an unpleasant bug in the form of the disappearance of the display of active windows from the table, you return to the table, and there is nothing there until you enter the program or document (it should not be so just a very rare bug on the forums).
B) how to run a new program? Ctrl + space + first 2-3 letters of the name in English. Or, if there are not so many of them, it’s more convenient to get into the big icons than to the document, but it’s more convenient to get into the icons on the touchpad, although as the installed programs increase, the value of Launchpad drops and, for example, I don’t use them at all.
D) Show all open processes - Cmd + Tab.
D) And what is the easiest way to get into any programs with a minimum of body movements? And here we go to the most delicious, third-party launchers. I highly recommend Quicksliver, an extremely popular free program that hangs in the background and assigns a simple keyboard shortcut to any application. It is usually most convenient to do this through an ALT + letter or number, because ALT is the least systemically involved. Thus, you immediately set the 15-20 most frequently used programs for easy-to-remember combinations: alt + s for safari, alt + m for Mail, alt + w for Word, alt + t for iTunes, etc. Of course, there should be an instant call to the system settings. With these commands, you either open them from scratch, or get into the last window left. And I also love the numbers associated with the desktops on which these programs were sitting or sitting. Well, it's so simple - to explain to a child or a pensioner how to “go online” - just press ALT + 3! (if such a combination is assigned to a particular browser). Calendar look? ALT-1. Etc. etc. Note that there is no manipulation of windows at all, no work with the mouse, in these examples the programs generally hang fullscreen and the desktops do not occupy.
Et voila: we do not need to do with windows, crosses and dock. We have a lot of programs and windows, we easily, in one motion, switch:
1. between tables
2. meanwhile applications
3. between application windows.
4. Remember that the settings of any program are always cmd + ,.
5. Remember that in the explorer (well, as I used to call Finder), cmd + c, cmd + v, cmd + z, cmd-d always work. We are not looking for the “copy, move” mouse-like menus. The logic is simple - the object will always go to another disk while keeping the source within one disk - by default, always moving. You need to leave the original - first cmd-d and move the duplicate.
6. Remember about the context menu services, available by right-clicking on an object. This is me to the fact that through the system keyboard settings, arbitrary keyboard commands are configured for these actions. For example, with the file selected in Explorer, I can press Ctrl + s to create a new letter with it attached.
7. An experienced intern likes to use “hot corners” to call the dashboard, mission control, expose. However, this is not the most convenient solution in the presence of keys created for this, which is easier - press F3 / F4 / F6 or aim at the corner of the screen?
8. We will think once again whether it is worthwhile to open extra windows at all if you just need to look (Cmd + 3 mode in the Finder with a wide right column, press the space bar from any program) or print (Cmd + P).
9. Who works with Microsoft Word - separately you can come off in the tools - customize keyboard. And, contrary to several strange reviews, it works regardless of the current layout - at least in 2011. We noticed that compared to Word under Windows, where Win is systemically busy, we have added an extra modifier (you can assign Ctrl + A to Greek alpha, without losing the "select all" commands).
10. Driving with 2 fingers up and down on the touchpad is really much more convenient than using a scrollbar. And to drive left-right on the touchpad in the browser is really much more convenient than aiming at the buttons back and forth. And Safari works these gestures much smoother and faster than third-party browsers.
11. As a result, we have a mouse left to get to the right places within the program window and to move objects. And this is exactly what it is meant for.
Ii. How can these resources be used even more productively?
1. MagicPrefs. A free program that allows you to create arbitrary finger gestures on the touchpad and mouse (separately! That is why, for example, I have one and the other separately on the aimag) and, in particular, linking them to keyboard shortcuts. Here the possibilities are just endless, just a few examples of your own: making a click with 3 fingers is perceived as a click with Cmd held. Put 4 fingers at any place on the touchpad at the same time = Cmd + W, close the window or tab. What is more convenient, aim at the cross or just touch the touchpad with the palm of your hand? It will simply be enough for him that the fingers lie at the same time 4. Apply 5 fingers = Cmd + Tab, show running programs. Put 3 fingers on the mouse = Cmd + Backsace, delete the selected one. Put 2 fingers on the mouse = Cmd + E, safely remove the disc. Fantasy is inexhaustible, that who uses more often!
2. Griffin PowerMate, rather for stationary work (very few people will carry this with Air). A beautiful wheel that binds the keyboard commands of an active program to 8 standard gestures (short press, long press, turn right, turn left, turn to one side or the other with one press or another - and that 3 turns in 2 directions and 2 clicks without turning) . Logical associations help here - for example, in the mail I turn the wheel to the left “will respond to everyone”, to the right - it will forward, short press - it will create a new letter, etc. In the Finder, my short press will create a new folder, a long one will send the file by mail. In general, within each program, 8 gestures are transferred to the keyboard commands you select. I especially recommend it in cases when keyboard shortcuts you often use are too bulky - roughly speaking, if you need shift options you need more often than options without them.
Iii. Separately, a couple of words about Spoltlight. By and large, you can not use anything at all and just live in it. His power in terms of finding everything is unprecedented. Just press Ctrl + space and ....
1. Immediately open any folder, wherever it is? Please, just start typing the first letters of the name - by the second the number of possible options will decrease dramatically.
2. The file is similar.
3. The program is the same
4. Writing - Similarly
5. Event in the calendar - yes please.
6. Count everything without a calculator - always please, just enter the numbers and signs, even the number “pi” he knows.
Iv. All of the above is more effective the wider the screen and the more RAM. I have this all expressed in an extreme degree thanks to 32 gigs of RAM and three 27'-screens in a row, allowing me on 10 desktops to keep projects of any complexity always open at current locations for years. However, in the same way, I worked on Air with a single screen of 11 and 2 gigs of RAM. More precisely, the ideology is the same, the degree of convenience is different.
V. My personal experience - for one and a half years of extremely intensive daily office work in 10.6 and 10.7 on 3 computers, I have never used any of the crosses in the upper left corner of the windows. I used the dock literally a couple of times. Oddly enough, I did not find the use of Mission Control - it is probably more relevant when the desktop is one.
Vi. And finally, I strongly recommend everyone to make your Finder more informative, it is always a gain of at least a couple of minutes a day - first, use the “column” view, stretching the right one to see the contents of the files. And secondly, do not forget that Finder paints any folders and files in different colors (by the way, like Mail, letters). Why not, at the level of such basic visual impressions, immediately give a signal about the degree of completeness of the project, or about which counterparty it relates, at least in color?
I believe that it makes sense to share similar experiences for multi-configuration Linux configurations and in terms of popularizing simple system keyboard commands that are little known to the average user in Windows.