

Ask HN: tips for working with Mac OS X without using the mouse? (RSI) - thibaut_barrere

I noticed that avoiding the mouse is very useful to lessen the effects of RSI.<p>Do you have tips (useful tools, hints, ...) on how to avoid the mouse for almost all tasks on Mac OS X (I'm a developer, most of the day) ?
======
mccutchen
This might be old news to you, but it took me a while to discover after I
started using OS X:

Cmd-Tab switches between applications (as I'm sure everyone knows), but it's
less useful on OS X than Ctrl-Tab is on Windows or Linux because it doesn't
switch between individual windows in those applications.

Cmd-Tilde (~) was the missing link for me. It switches between windows in the
current application. Those two are probably the most important keyboard
shortcuts I know on OS X.

Plus, another endorsement for Quicksilver. That's always the first application
I install, and I now find it really frustrating to use any computer that
doesn't have it installed.

And maybe you should set your Dock to auto-hide, so you're not so tempted to
move the mouse over there to monkey with things.

~~~
jaxn
That is Cmd-` (~ would require a Shift)

And after Cmd-Tab, Cmd-~ takes you backwards in the list of apps. So if you
Cmd-Tab too many times, Cmd-~ takes you back instead of having to cycle
through.

Likewise, in Safari Cmd-} (aka Cmd-Shift-]) and Cmd-{ take you forward and
backward through the tabs. This also works in Terminal.

Cmd-L puts the focus on the location bar in Safari if you want to type in a
URL (or tab over to the search)

Quicksilver is cool, but I just use Spotlight for launching apps. Cmd-Space
turns on Spotlight.

If you use TextMate, I highly recommend the TextMate book from Prag Press.

Those are some of my favorites.

~~~
prawn
Only had a MBP for a few days (first Mac), but isn't Safari tab-cycling also
via Ctrl-Tab, and Ctrl-Shift-Tab to go in reverse? At least on the laptop
keyboard, involving the square brackets would necessitate a fairly long
stretch, or using both hands?

Being new to the Mac, I'd be happy to hear more shortcuts!

~~~
roryokane
It seems you haven’t noticed that there is a Command key both to the left and
to the right of the keyboard, so Command-[ and -] are pretty easy to do one-
handed if you use the Command key on the right. I think Ctrl-Tab is just there
for compatibility with Windows browsers that use that as their main tab-
switching shortcut.

~~~
prawn
Oops! I use my left hand for keyboard shortcuts while the right hand is
occupied with the mouse so didn't even think to look for Command or Option on
the right side!

------
roelbondoc
I'm a ruby/php developer who works on a Macbook Pro 9 hours a day and I've
learned to work w/o a mouse. Took a while to get used to, but now I keep my
mouse in my desk drawer and only pull it out if someone borrows my computer.

First it starts with the setup. At work I have an external monitor and
keyboard. I keep my MBP to the right so I can use the touch pad here and there
when I can't use the keyboard for certain things.

Here are some tips/programs/plugins I use:

1) Vim (not macvim) and screen - This dynamic duo is the greatest invention. I
recommend it to anyone who has the time to learn. Once you do, you'll never go
back.

2) Vimperator - Firefox plugin - This one has changed my browsing experience
for the better. Once you learn all the commands you'll be flying through
pages.

3) Remap your CAPSLOCK key to ESC - Once you start using vim and vimperator,
the esc key becomes more useful. I remapped my CASPLOCK key to ESC so its
quicker to reach. I used the program called PCKeyboardHack.

4) Learn your keyboard shortcuts.

6) Try to replace programs you use often with console versions. For example I
dont use any gui programs to access databases. Diffs/text search/file searches
are all done through command line.

7) Spotlight - I don't use Dock, sometimes I forget its even there. I would
disable it if I could.

8) pbcopy - command line program that you can use to copy to your gui
clipboard. Try piping contents of a file to it. Becomes very handy.

Most of my day I spend using Vimperator and Terminal. So it's easier for me to
not have to use a mouse.

~~~
doki_pen
I'm not trying to besnarky, but why even use a MAC. It seems like Linux is a
better fit and less expensive. MAC is really about the UI, and if you don't
take advantage of that you are just left with an almost Unix environment.

~~~
tvon
Not to pile on, but It's "Mac", short for Macintosh. MAC is, as far as I can
think, only for Media Access Control (as in MAC address).

That said, my first thought for the low barrier to no-mouse would be Linux as
well, but as others have said there is more to OSX than just a pretty face.

~~~
doki_pen
yeah, sorry. entered from my "auto-correcting" android phone. too lazy to fix.

------
zackola
I'd say try becoming ambidextrous with the mouse, and switch hands every month
or so.

And under Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts make sure Full Keyboard Access is on
'All Controls' so you can focus/select buttons with tab.

Also, make that useless Caps Lock key into Ctrl :)

Ctrl+F2 = Access Menu bar Ctrl+F3 = Access Dock

I will give someone 1 american dollar if they can tell me how to get menu bar
selections to wrap back around to the top when I get to the bottom of the
menu.

EDIT - the magic mouse has been fantastic for eliminating the need for precise
clicking when scrolling - that swipe to scroll feature is amazing, especially
in tabular apps like Sequel Pro and Excel.

~~~
Timothee
I did the same thing (full keyboard access and Caps Lock=>Ctrl), so I don't
have much to add.

For your question, I just noticed you can use Page Up/Down to go to the
top/bottom of the menu.

Is there a way to select which functions keys should work as function keys and
which one work as the Apple special keys (Exposé, volume control…)? The reason
I ask is that I always found it inconvenient to use shortcuts like Ctrl+F2
because I have to move my hand much more to get to the fn key. But at the same
time, Exposé is too useful to be left behind it.

~~~
jcl
I'm not sure if this helps in your particular case, but I believe some of
Exposé's functions are mapped to four-fingered multitouch swipe gestures on
the touchpad (up and down).

~~~
Timothee
Thanks, but yeah, in my case, it doesn't work since my MacBook is too old to
support it. But I tried it and it seemed very useful indeed.

------
edj
There's a lot of excellent advice here. Beyond keyboard shortcuts, there's a
universe of options to help combat RSI. Here are some of the things I do:

1) Posture. You want your eyes to be on the same plane as your screen so your
back and neck are straight. You want your elbows to be be bent at around a
90-degree angle--that helps keep your wrists straight. And you want your
shoulders to be relaxed, not hunched.

2) Breaks. Both long and short. I used to use software for this, specifically
AntiRSI for Mac. I think I did an 8 minute break every 52 minutes and a 30
second break 5 minutes or so. Now that I've built up better habits I don't use
this software anymore.

3) A good chair. My favorite is the Swopper. It's quite expensive, though--
around $600 I think. Right now I have standing desk and no chair. I like this
set up even better than sitting on an ergonomic chair.

4) A good keyboard. I like "clicky" keyboards in the vein of the old IBM Model
M. I use a DAS Keyboard. Costs around $100. It's not ergonomic per se, but the
mechanical keyswitches provide great feedback so you can reduce your keystroke
pressure to just the right level.

5) Physical therapy aids. I use Theraputty during my microbreaks. It's like
silly putty, only it comes in various levels of resistance. I like green,
which is medium-firm. Costs like $5 on Amazon. Some people also use the
colored rubber bands, but that's more for elbow and shoulder work and my RSI
is all in the wrist/hand.

6) Other activities. Rock climbing has very nearly cured my RSI. When I climb
regularly my hands, wrists, and forearms are strong enough that keyboarding
can't touch them.

I suspect fighting RSI is like fighting obesity (though I only have the former
so I can't be sure): it's all about building good habits. There's no magic
bullet and you can't simply cure it and be done. It's an always on-going
process. Hope this helps. Good luck!

~~~
blackguardx
I second climbing. I have been climbing consistently for over two years and
have never had a bout of wrist tendonitis like I used to. My wrists sometimes
get uncomfortable if I am stuck in an awkward position for long (e.g. typing
like a bunny) but I generally have no more pain.

------
bingaman
Visor <http://visor.binaryage.com/> hasn't been mentioned but it's how you
should be opening and running your terminal.

Turn on and spend a few minutes learning the keyboard shortcuts in GMail if
you use it (conveniently, they map nicely to vi). This alone probably has
saved me days of mousing, plus it can make ripping through your inbox kind of
fun.

I also strongly second vimperator (the only reason I'm still using Firefox)
and sizeUp.

Finally, just try unplugging your mouse occasionally to see how you're doing
and what is still causing you to reach for it. Then sharpen the saw :)

~~~
js2
Seems substantially similar to DTerm -- which BTW, doesn't require SIMBL
<http://www.decimus.net/dterm.php>

~~~
bingaman
Tried it and I much prefer Visor. But I tend to want to go into Terminal and
stay there rather than just running single commands.

------
chriseidhof
There are a lot of emacs keybindings available in OS X's text fields, you can
even add your own. Check out [http://www.applematters.com/article/emacs-
commands-work-in-o...](http://www.applematters.com/article/emacs-commands-
work-in-os-x-how-awesome-is-that/) and the links in those comments.

In particular, the following links are very interesting:

<http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html>

<http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/selectors.html>

<http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/system-bindings.html>

------
namastasyai
I find Quicksilver to be absolutely essential to my OS X keyboarding,
<http://www.blacktree.com/quicksilver> I always disable the spotlight trigger
and assign Quicksilver to the oh-so-easy command-space trigger. Try it! It's
faster than spotlight and vastly more extensible.

------
pvg
<http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC380LL/A> (you don't have to put it on the
side of the keyboard or you could get one of the tinier al. keyboards)

Not the same as mouse-less operation but a lot less strain than reaching for
and moving a mouse.

~~~
isleyaardvark
A nice thing about the Magic Trackpad is you can set it to "tap to click" and
just set it on your lap. It's not the ideal setup, but it's pretty nice.

------
scotth
I use and love SizeUp.

<http://irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/>

~~~
roryokane
As cjoh also mentioned, Divvy (<http://www.mizage.com/divvy/>) is a more
customizable alternative to SizeUp.

------
Hemospectrum
Get a launcher app. Quicksilver has long been a favorite of Mac users, but I'm
much more fond of a newcomer called Alfred (<http://www.alfredapp.com/>).
There are a few others, as well.

The idea is to extend the command-line metaphor to parts of OS X where a
regular shell isn't useful, and most such tools provide a whole lot of
functionality besides just launching apps.

------
gabrielroth
I've dealt with RSI too, so I have a few years experience trying to minimize
mouse use.

Other people have talked about the main keyboard shortcuts -- Command-Tab,
Command-Tilde, and Control-F2. Make these second nature. Also, of course,
learn the keyboard commands for your most-used applications. You can add and
change many keyboard shortcuts in the Keyboard preferences pane in System
Preferences. Make liberal use of this to make the commands you use most often
the easiest to remember and invoke.

I used Quicksilver devotedly for years, but it became much less stable with
Snow Leopard. It may be better now that it's under more active open-source
development, but I'm happy with LaunchBar. Certainly one of those two (or
Butler, or Alfred, or there's probably others) will allow you to perform basic
filesystem tasks (launching, opening, moving, copying, duplicating, opening a
document with a specific application, etc. etc.) with a few quick key
commands.

A general suggestion: Don't try to learn every single keyboard shortcut all at
once -- it'll never work. Instead, figure out the single most common reason
you're reaching for the mouse, and replace that with a keyboard method. Once
that's second nature, repeat the process. You'll be surprised at how quickly
you can learn this way.

Use shell scripting, AppleScript, Automator, Keyboard Maestro, and/or Hazel to
simplify anything you do repeatedly. Once you've reduced mouse use, you can
use these tools to reduce keyboard use as well!

Good luck.

------
alanthonyc
The Magic Trackpad.

After getting my MacBook Pro, I knew I couldn't go back to a regular mouse
again unless I could use a multi-touch trackpad on it. I had no plans of
buying a desktop Mac at all until the new trackpad was released this summer. I
got one a couple of weeks ago and find it works perfectly.

~~~
jon_hendry
I had to disable pinch-to-scale with mine. All too often I'd be reading
something in the Xcode documentation window, and a slight, inadvertent
movement of my fingers would cause the text to get really big or really small.

------
Artagra
Divvy will help tons:

<http://www.mizage.com/divvy/>

Otherwise, consider getting a trackpad / trackball for when you have to use
the mouse. Or even using your mouse with your left hand (my brother does
this).

~~~
thibaut_barrere
Thanks for all this - trying out Divvy right now, and will definitely consider
buying a trackpad.

I already switch hand from times to times and it helps, too.

~~~
Artagra
My pleasure. One more tip - try switching mice from time to time. I used to
use a MS mouse at home and a Razer mouse at the office to reduce strain -
different shapes reduced problems. The Razer you control with your fingers,
palm on the desk, while the MS mouse I had in my palm, moving my whole hand.
Using both every day reduced strain :)

[http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID...](http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.207541300)

------
thought_alarm
When you're working/coding you should never have to use the mouse, except for
say, positioning windows, etc.

Use the Keyboard Preferences to add or change shortcuts for your most-used
commands. This can be done system-wide or on a per-application basis.

For example, give the "Access Menu Bar" command a better shortcut, such as
Option+Space; give Window Zoom a shortcut (I use command+control+Z), etc.

In your most-used apps, explore the menu bar to see what keyboard shortcuts
are already available, learn them, assign shortcuts for commands you use the
most.

And make sure the software you write can also be navigated using the keyboard,
assign thoughtful keyboard shortcuts, etc.

------
jfager
I haven't seen anyone mention Optimal Layout yet in the thread, so I will:

<http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout/>

It lets you move, resize, and tile windows easily with just the keyboard, and
you get a better Cmd-Tab that switches by window (though unfortunately it
binds to Alt-Tab by default, and I haven't figured out how to override that).

I think it's better than both Divvy and SizeUp.

Also, +1 for vimperator and Quicksilver.

------
cjoh
Divvy for a window manager, quicksearchbar for shortcutting, and the vimium
chrome extension or conkeror browser are super handy.

I prefer quicksearchbar to quicksilver.

I wrote about how to set up divvy shortcuts here:

<http://infovegan.com/2010/08/18/manage-pixels-not-monitors>

As a paying user of both divvy and sizeup, I have to say I'm bummed about my
initial expenditure on Sizeup. Divvy is far more customizable.

~~~
cabacon
+1 for divvy, _especially_ if you switch back and forth between an external
monitor and the laptop display at different resolutions. I have a ton of app-
hotkeys setup to resize everything to the aspect ratio I like after swapping
resolutions.

------
dgallagher
While not 100% perfect, nor supported by every app in Mac OS X, you can enable
voice commands under "Speech" in System Preferences. This will allow you to do
certain things without touching your mouse or keyboard (minus a "listen" hot
key)!

Your Mac will need a mic of course (most have them built in, except for Mini
and Pro desktops I believe...).

------
florentvaucelle
Also consider trying Zooom2 (<http://www.coderage-software.com/zooom/>). It's
all about moving/resizing a window with the trackpad and a key combination. I
can't live without it.

------
yalestar
One really simple thing that was driving me crazy was when an app pops up a
dialog with buttons. Coming from Linux and Windows, where you can tab between
the buttons and just hit enter to click the selected button, I was shocked
that Mac doesn't do this.

Turns out, Enter always fires the default button that's colored blue (e.g.
Save), but you have to hit Space to fire the button that's _highlighted_ (i.e.
just outlined in blue).

That simple revelation has prevented me from defenstrating my MBP in a fit of
pique.

------
spanktheuser
I'd add two points to the excellent comments above. My RSI was aggravated by
use of the mouse. I found that using a trackpad with tap-to-click enabled
helped significantly. But even more important was moving _all_ of my
informational surfing, twittering, emailing, etc. to the iPad. That probably
accounted for a couple hours of computer use a day. Perhaps I'll come down
with "iPad wrist" in the future, but for now the different gesture patterns
don't trigger the RSI pain.

------
doubleg
You could use Conkeror. It's a keyboard-oriented browser based on Mozilla
inspired by Emacs and vi: <http://conkeror.org/FrontPage>

The extension 'Vimium' for Chrome offers similar functionality:
[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/dbepggeogbaibhgn...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb)

------
gregwebs
A lot of great tips here. I tried hard to get used to things, but I always
felt that I was fighting the Mac window manager. I now have Virtualbox running
Linux on my Mac. In full screen mode it is the same as running Linux. I use
Xmonad, a tiling window manager with great support for keyboard shortcuts.

My other pain point was that Mac doesn't have autocopy, although I am not sure
if that is good or bad for your RSI.

------
ignu
i like my apps fullscreen to eliminate all the other noise and using spaces to
navigate.

fullscreen macvim is actually a beautiful editor.

------
crazydiamond
Surprisingly no one has mentioned Namely (<http://amarsagoo.info/namely/>).
Its a free alternative to QS and Launchbar, although simpler.

+1 for FF + Vimperator, Screen + Vim.

I also use vifm for a filemanager, alpine/mutt for emails, Gmail with keyboard
shortcuts enabled.

------
0x5a177
One of my favorite shortcuts is the Command-? (Command-Shift-/) which will let
you search the application menu in any app.

~~~
michael_scheibe
This shortcut is genius. In TextMate for example, you can type the first few
letters of a project and open it near instantly if it's still in your recently
opened list. It's one of my biggest productivity differentiators in OS X. You
should all try it.

I think it's enabled by default on Snow Leopard (not on Leopard). You'll find
it under Setting > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Application Shortcuts >
Show Help menu.

------
superheroname
Not exactly what you're asking for, but I found the only thing that "cured"
RSI for me was push ups. Check out <http://hundredpushups.com/> and give it a
shot for a few weeks, I'll bet you see a difference. I struggled with RSI for
years before hitting on it.

------
kjetil
I always add the following keybindings in System preferences:

Cmd-<, Cmd->: switch windows Cmd-': zoom (the green 'maximize' button on
windows)

I just use Spotlight for launching (Cmd-space).

Oh, and set caps lock as ctrl. MacOS supports this out of the box, unlike
Windows.

------
Hagelin
"MouseClick is an ergonomic software that will click the mouse for you. The
software assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury
(RSI).”

<http://ufridman.org/mouseclick.html>

~~~
thibaut_barrere
Are you using it ?

~~~
Hagelin
Nope, thankfully I don’t have a need for it.

------
sullrich
A great tip: Hit command and then space afterwards. This will drop down the
spotlight search box where you can quickly launch applications. For example I
will hit command, space and then type Term<enter> which will auto complete to
Terminal.

------
spif
My mostly mouse-less OSX toolbox:

1\. SizeUp, small window management tool with keyboard shortcuts

2\. QuickSilver

3\. Ctrl + tab

4\. Things quickentry ctrl + alt + cmd + space (that one is actually very
helpfull)

------
yanowitz
This is a post from earlier in the year on this subject:
[http://smartic.us/2010/02/04/using-your-mac-without-the-
mous...](http://smartic.us/2010/02/04/using-your-mac-without-the-mouse/)

------
anotherperson
KeyRemap4Macbook

I’ve enabled “Simultaneous Key Presses” which allow me to use F+H/J/K/L
instead of arrow keys. It takes a little getting used to, but I find myself
hardly ever needing to leave the keyboard.

------
joestein
I use the wacom bamboo. Its intended for graphic designers but its also very
ergonomically and fun to use, and apparently their newer models act just like
the mac trackpad too. I also do baoding ball exercises

------
sgiese
Using SnapRocket will allow you to select different windows using the keyboard
instead of the mouse.

<http://graymatterlabs.com/snaprocket>

------
abraham
SizeUp is great to move application windows around with keyboard shortcuts.

<http://irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/>

~~~
Mizage
You might also checkout Divvy by Mizage for unique window management on Mac OS
X: <http://mizage.com/divvy>

~~~
abraham
I checked out Divvy at one point. I recall not needing the extra power so I
stuck with SizeUp.

------
gte910h
Automator Automator Automater (Free drag and drop scripting toolkit already
installed on the machine).

------
thibaut_barrere
Thank you all, thank you really! I will definitely summarize all this into a
blog post.

------
Jakob
ctrl-F2 and ctrl-F3

Did you try the Apple Magic Trackpad <http://www.apple.com/magictrackpad/> ?

------
ignu
just get rid of your mouse for awhile, even if it kills your productivity.
it'll make you figure out the keyboard shortcut for everything.

------
awt
How do you position windows on Mac without a mouse?

~~~
kevinburke
Use Divvy and shortcuts - Full screen is Cmd+E, then F, right is Cmd+E, then R

------
ido
Did you try using a trackball?

