Category: Productivity

Keyboard Kung Fu: Tabbed Browsing – Revision & Exercises

Posted Jun.20, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Today we look back at some previous Keyboard Kung Fu lessons and use them in an exercise to consolidate our understanding of browsing the web using tabs.

Revision: Three Previous Lessons

Let’s quickly refresh our memories with three recent posts involving tabs in the web browser.

Go to back to the previous page, go forward to the next page

In Previous, Next Page we learned how to go back to the previous page by holding your thumb on the ⌘ key and tapping the [ key with your index or middle finger.

Return to the page you were on by moving the next page with the ⌘ key and the ]

Moving back and forward in the browser’s history in the way provides a fast and easy way to navigate through pages that you’ve already visited.

Opening additional tabs

The Open a New Tab lesson demonstrated how to have multiple websites open in one window by opening additional tabs in the browser.

⌘T = open a new tab
⌘W = close the current tab

Open a link in a new tab

We can also open any links we see in web pages in separate tabs. Instead of clicking on the link in a webpage, hold down the Command key first and then click the link.

⌘-click = open the link in a new tab

Switching between open tabs

The Switching Tabs post taught us how to use the Command key and any number key to switch between tabs that we currently have open.

⌘1 = move to 1st browser tab
⌘2 = move to 2nd browser tab
⌘3 = move to 3rd browser tab, etc.

Using the arrow keys to switch tabs

We also saw how you can use the left or right arrow keys to switch tabs in the Safari browser: ⌘⇧← & ⌘⇧→ and that the same can be done in the Chrome browser by using the ⌘⌥← & ⌘⌥→ keys.

Alternatively, you can cycle through the open tabs in most browsers with the universal tab-switching keyboard shortcut: ⌃`.

Exercises: Tabbed Browsing

Now that we’ve recapped a few previous keyboard shortcut lessons that enable us to work with tabs in the web browser, let us apply these techniques to some real life simulations.

Exercise 1: Grasshopper Level

In this scenario you currently have your web browser open with a single tab loaded with this page that you are reading right now. While reading this sentence you see this link to the main Keyboard Kung Fu page and would like to visit it to read some of the past lessons.

Task: Visit the Keyboard Kung Fu page by clicking the link above, then click on a link on that page to visit one of the past lessons. Now return to this page using only the keyboard.

Exercise 2: Master Level

A similar scenario: you currently have your web browser open with a single tab loaded with this page that you are reading right now. While reading this sentence you see this link to the main Keyboard Kung Fu page and would like to visit it to read some of the past lessons.

However, this time you would like to load a few of the previous lessons in separate tabs without leaving the main Keyboard Kung Fu page.

Task: Visit the Keyboard Kung Fu page by clicking the link above, then open three links in three new tabs. Now visit each tab and then return to this page using only the keyboard.

Exercise 3: Sage Level

A different scenario this time: You are reading a page that just has a URL, it’s not clickable. https://www.vintuitive.com/keyboard-kung-fu/

Task: Highlight the link above. Now using only the keyboard, copy the link, open a new tab, paste the link into the address bar and visit the page. Close that tab to return to this page, again using only the keyboard, no mouse.

A man may know the world without leaving his own home.
Through his windows he can see the supreme Tao.
– Chapter 47, Tao Te Ching.

Tags: browser, mac, tabs, web

Keyboard Kung Fu: Switching Tabs

Posted Jun.13, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Do you find yourself opening several tabs while surfing the web? It doesn’t take long before you have ten or more tabs open in one browser window. Moving from one tab to another efficiently is made easy with a few simple keyboard shortcuts.

Switching between open tabs

Use the Command key and a number key to switch directly to any particular tab.

⌘1 = move to 1st browser tab
⌘2 = move to 2nd browser tab
⌘3 = move to 3rd browser tab, etc.

Using the arrow keys in Safari

While using the Safari browser, hold down Command and Shift together with either left or right arrow key will switch through your tabs. For example:

⌘⇧← = move to the tab to the left of the current tab.
⌘⇧→ = move to the tab to the right of the current tab.

Using the arrow keys in Chrome

In Chrome the keyboard shortcut is a little bit different. Instead of using the Shift key, exchange it for the Option key:
⌘⌥← = move to the tab to the left of the current tab.
⌘⌥→ = move to the tab to the right of the current tab.

One keyboard combo to switch all tabs

Alternatively, you can cycle through the open tabs in most browsers with the universal tab-switching keyboard shortcut Control and the Tab keys:
⌃tab = cycle through open tabs in a browser.

Next week we’ll look at consolidating three previous lessons on tabbed browsing: moving back and forward in the browser’s history, opening new tabs, and Switching between browser tabs with some practical exercises.

A man may know the world without leaving his own home.
Through his windows he can see the supreme Tao.
– Chapter 47, Tao Te Ching.

Tags: browser, chrome, safari, tab

1 Comment

Keyboard Kung Fu: Open a New Tab

Posted Jun.06, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Surfing the web with the use of multiple tabs in the browser can be great for increasing productivity.

One browser, many tabs

We’ve already seen how to move back and forward through the web browser’s history, but sometimes it is more advantageous to surf laterally instead of chronologically. We do this by using more than one tab at a time.

Often while reading a web page, I’ll want to open another tab, either to do a quick web search or to view another website without leaving the page that I am currently reading. I can then close the newly opened tab when I’ve finished and be returned back to the page that I had left earlier.

In these situations I’ll use the Command-T keyboard shortcut:
⌘T = open new tab in front of the current tab.

A new tab opens in front of the current tab and the cursor is placed in the address bar ready for you to enter a URL. Type in the website address that you’d like to visit and press the Return key to load the page.

Here are a few more tips related to opening and closing tabs:

Open links in new tabs

Web pages are often full of links and can lead you down a veritable rathole if you were to follow them while reading a page. That would be very distracting. So what can you do? Ignore them? Finish reading the article then scroll back up the page and follow each link?

Links can be opened in new tabs that load in the background allowing you to continue reading the current page without distraction. Instead of clicking the link as usual, hold down the Command key first and then click on the link:
⌘-click = Open a link in a new tab behind the current page.

Using this technique you could load all the links on the page in individual tabs in the background, enabling you to continue reading the current page without distraction. Once read, you can then switch tabs to read the other pages that were linked to in the original article.

This ⌘-click technique can also be used on the browser’s back button to open the previous page in a new tab behind the current tab.

Commanding closure

Once you’ve finished with the current tab it can be closed, returning you to your previously opened tab. To close the current tab use the Command-W keyboard shortcut:

⌘W = close the current tab.

Reopen a recently closed tab (Chrome only)

If you accidentally close a tab in Chrome, you can easily reopen it with the Shift-Command-T combination:
⇧⌘T = reopen a recently closed tab

We will continue working with tabs in the next Keyboard Kung Fu lesson.

The great Tao is broad and plain, but people like the side paths
– Chapter 53, Tao Te Ching.

Tags: browser, tabs

2 Comments

Keyboard Kung Fu: Make Your Mac Listen

Posted May.30, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

We’ve covered how to make your Mac speak, but did you know you can also make your Mac listen? No longer do you need to type out large slabs of text, you can use dictation instead.

Your own personal secretary

Making your Mac listen to you is as easy as tapping on the key combination that you have set up to trigger the dictation function. I have changed mine to Control-Option-S to match the related action for making your Mac speak to you. Once you’ve finished dictating to your Mac use the same keyboard shortcut to stop the Mac listening.
⌃⌥S = start & stop dictation.

Make your Mac listen with Control-Option-S

Make your Mac take dictation from you with Control-Option-S

Changing the key combination to suit you

By default, the keyboard shortcut to trigger Dictation is to press the fn (Function) key twice. As with the lesson on how to get the Mac read to you, you can change the default keys used to turn on Dictation to your own key choice by going to System Preferences / Dictation & Speech. Click on the Shortcut: field, then choose Customize and enter your own key combination.

Just like Siri, now with offline mode

The dictation feature utelises the same voice recognition technology as Siri on iOS and works system-wide so it can be used with any app once you’ve enabled it. Like Siri, this dictation feature uses Apple’s servers. With Mavericks, the latest Operating System for the Mac, however, came the ability to use the dictation feature while offline. Just tick the Use Enhanced Dictation box under the Dictation settings and the processing will be done on your Mac instead. Without Enhanced Diction turned on the Mac will only listen for up to 30 seconds at a time before it has to stop and send that chunk to Apple’s Servers.

Understanding different accents and languages

Dictation also supports other languages such as English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Korean and Italian, and even different accents. As you can see I have mine set on the Australian form of English so that it can understand my accent and words that only us Aussies use. It even learns the unique features of your voice and adapts with continued use to better understand your accent.

Use punctuation commands, like “full stop”, “new line”, “open bracket”, “caps on”, “smiley face”, “dollar sign”, etc. A full list of these commands can be found on the Apple website.

Using an external microphone for better results

You’ll notice in the System Preferences pane for Dictation & Speech there is the option to set the microphone you’d prefer to use. The default setting is to use the internal microphone but you can change that to any external microphone you like. A headset, for example, would be ideal for dictation as your voice will be clearer with less noise interference. Using an external microphone will enable you to get up close to the mic so that your voice will be more clearly heard.

Talking is the new Typing!

In speech it is good faith that matters
– Chapter 8, Tao Te Ching.

Tags: dictate, listen, microphone, speak

Keyboard Kung Fu: Make Your Mac Speak

Posted May.23, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Reading from a screen for prolonged periods of time can be a strain for many. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your Mac to speak the information to you instead?

Speak at my command

Making your Mac speak to you is just a matter of selecting the text that you would like to hear spoken and tapping on the text-to-speech key combination.

The default keyboard combination for this one is Option-Escape, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can change the trigger to any key combo you like. I have changed mine to Control-Command-S, because ‘S’ is for ‘speak’:

⌃⌘S = speak the selected text.

Make your Mac speak to you with Control-Command-S

Changing to your preferred key combination

You have the option to change the combination of keys that trigger the text-to-speech action. Go to System Preferences / Dictation & Speech and ensure that there is a tick in the box beside ‘Speak selected text when the key is pressed’. Clicking on the 'Change key...' button then enables you to enter your preferred key combination to speak the selected text.

In the screenshot below from an earlier post on audio, I have selected the text and then used the ⌃⌘S combination to execute the text-to-speech function. Click on the sound file to listen.

I am Lion, hear me roar…from the Land Down Under

With the introduction of the Lion operating system (10.7) Apple included over 50 new high-quality voices in 22 different languages. You’ll notice in the sound file above that I am using the voice called Lee, who has an Australian accent.

The Mac’s voice quality certainly has improved a lot since it was introduced by Steve Jobs in 1984.

Perfect speech is like a jade-worker whose tool leaves no mark.
– Chapter 27, Tao Te Ching.

Tags: mac, speech, voice

1 Comment

Keyboard Kung Fu: Increase Your Vocab

Posted May.16, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

How often do you come across words that you don’t know the meaning of while reading online? Do you stop and look up the definition of the mystery word in the dictionary app, search online, or just guess the word’s meaning based on the context within which the word is used?

If you are anything like me, you are much more inclined to look up the definition of a word if it’s easy to do so. Here’s a completely frictionless way of finding out the meaning or words with one swift key move.

Look up the definition of any word easily with Control-Command-D

What’s that word mean?

Place the cursor over the word in question and then hold down the ⌃⌘D keys. A small window then pops up with the dictionary definition of the word as well as the thesaurus and entires from Wikipedia.

Expand your vocabulary and writing style

This literary tip is not only useful for finding the meaning of words while reading, it can also be very beneficial while writing. Sometimes when I’m writing an article I find myself repeating the same words. Not wanting to bore my readers to sleep, when I do find myself repeating a word I’ll use the ⌃⌘D shortcut on the word to bring up the thesaurus. From there I can use one of the suggested synonyms or click to open the thesaurus for a more detailed list of options to substitute the word with another with the same meaning.

Exceptions to the rule

Unfortunately, this tip doesn’t automatically work with all apps. Trying to use this keyboard shortcut to define words while using the Chrome browser for the first time, for example, I found that it didn’t work.

There is a fix for this!

Go to System Preferances / Keyboard / Shortcuts / Services and scroll down to the “Searching” section and look for the first entry there: “Look Up in Dictionary”.

There I noticed that by default, the “Look up in Dictionary” service had no keyboard shortcut set for it, it’s a wonder it was working in any apps. So the solution is to add the shortcut manually so that it applies to all apps.

You can choose any key combination you like. I personally prefer the ⌃⌘D so I have set it to use that.

After doing so the keyboard shortcut works system-wide, and should now work on all apps.

Now you can expand your vocabulary while you read by effortlessly giving definition to the undefined.

There was something undefined and complete,
coming into existence before Heaven and Earth.
– Chapter 25, Tao Te Ching.

Tags: definition, dictionary, lookup, thesaurus

Keyboard Kung Fu: Force Quit Apps

Posted May.09, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

We’ve seen how to take down an app with Command Q in a previous tip. In this lesson we look at taking a more forceful approach to quitting apps.

The Mac Daddy of App Quitters

Sometimes when you really get stuck in a jam and there seems to be no way out this tricky little move can take down any stubborn apps.

Command-Option-Escape = Brings up the Force Quit Applications Window

The equivalent of Control-Alt-Delete on Microsoft Windows, the ⌘⌥esc key combination brings up a window listing all the running programs so that you can select and force quit any program.

When to use Force Quit over the standard quit

Force Quitting can be very useful when an app has hung and won’t respond to the standard Command-Q move. When applications freeze up in this way they can prevent you from accessing the Finder, other apps, and sometimes even the Apple Menu. Force Quitting the hung app then is sometimes the only way to get back control of your Mac.

Important: Be aware that Force Quitting the offending app means that you’ll lose any unsaved information. Therefore, always try the ⌘Q move first, and if the app refuses to quit then unleash the ⌘⌥esc combo.

Force quit the current app without the Force Quit window

Sometimes you just want to quit the current application without bringing up the Force Quit Window. To do so just add the shift key: hold down ⌘⌥⇧esc for a second or two and the current application will close. The additional few seconds of delay prevents you from accidentally Force Quitting apps.

Now that the conflict has been resolved and harmony has been restored to your Mac you can return to being productive.

What is not in accordance with the Tao soon comes to an end.
– Chapter 30, Tao Te Ching.

Tags: quit

2 Comments

Category: Productivity

Revision: Three Previous Lessons

Go to back to the previous page, go forward to the next page

Opening additional tabs

Open a link in a new tab

Switching between open tabs

Using the arrow keys to switch tabs

Exercises: Tabbed Browsing

Exercise 1: Grasshopper Level

Exercise 2: Master Level

Exercise 3: Sage Level

Switching between open tabs

Using the arrow keys in Safari

Using the arrow keys in Chrome

One keyboard combo to switch all tabs

One browser, many tabs

Open links in new tabs

Commanding closure

Reopen a recently closed tab (Chrome only)

Your own personal secretary

Changing the key combination to suit you

Just like Siri, now with offline mode

Understanding different accents and languages

Using an external microphone for better results

Speak at my command

Changing to your preferred key combination

I am Lion, hear me roar…from the Land Down Under

What’s that word mean?

Expand your vocabulary and writing style

Exceptions to the rule

The Mac Daddy of App Quitters

When to use Force Quit over the standard quit

Force quit the current app without the Force Quit window

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