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Full keyboard access and Finder shortcuts

Submitted by Merlin on September 16, 2004 - 1:58am.

Depending on how and how much you like to use your keyboard for getting around, you might consider going to “System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts” and enabling “Turn on full keyboard access”. Among many things, this lets you tab through drop down menus on web pages. (You’d already given up all hope, hadn’t you?)

That “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab is also the place to enable or re-assign a bunch of key commands you may not know were even available in the Finder (did you know you can jump to the Dock using your keyboard?).

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But don't fall for the...

Submitted by John (not verified) on September 16, 2004 - 4:56am.

But don’t fall for the trap of thinking that just because you’re doing something with a keyboard rather than a mouse, it’s more efficient. Very often, a keyboard /feels/ faster, but the satisfying click of a bunch of keys is not necessarily faster than just mousing, especially given that you usually have to move your hand from the mouse to the keyboard. For some things, like copying and pasting, the keyboard commands are certainly faster; but this in most instances. I direct you to

http://www.asktog.com/TOI/toi06KeyboardVMouse1.html

If you really want to get fast, I suggest you install and start using Cocoa Gestures (http://www.bitart.com/CocoaGestures.html). When I used a Mac with a discrete mouse (I have a Powerbook now, and just use the trackpad) I was able to save huge time with sensible gesture actions.