Berticus
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As an app launcher? What do you do hit the windows key then arrow and enter your way to the app you want?Originally Posted by javyn
Something tells me you're a *n*x user rather than Windows.
I am a nix user. Use dmenu to launch apps. Hit Alt+p, type in 3 letters for most apps, tab, other options, and you're done. So when I want to launch firefox, I'll do something like:
Alt+p, fire, tab (because no other applications start with the word fire), and I add the necessary flags
For Windows, I'd do something similar, except it's the Super key+r, type in the command and options. Super key is the key with the Windows logo on it for those who don't know.
I've been a Windows and Linux/BSD user for over a decade, and I eventually found the best of both worlds in MacOS. I still use Windows in VMWare, and I still have linux on VM and on a dedicated laptop for specific needs. Also, I've never been afraid of change when it comes to user interface. I've taken elements that I learned within each OS and I try to integrate them into all of my environments (e.g., app launchers, no desktop icons, no start menu, no dock, no taskbar, etc) to achieve maximum productivity.
Day 1 of no desktop icons, I thought it was the dumest thing ever. Day 10, I couldn't believe I ever used desktop icons for anything. They are so inefficient. You have to move a bunch of windows out of the way in order to access them. Either that or you give up usable window space for the icons.
Day 1 without a dock in MacOS, I thought I was missing out. Day 2, I realized I was missing out when I had the dock. A mouse shortcut not only takes longer to navigate through, but its a waste of screen space. It also takes time to manage. App launchers solve this problem and many more, and they manage the addition and removal of applications automatically.
What distribution do you use? You sound like someone who would favor awesome/xmonad/musca/wmii/dwm/scrotwm/ratpoison/larswm/stumpwm
For me it was sort of opposite. I fell in love with the idea long before I tried it out.
Screw trying to remember different keyboard combos for app launcher. I'm getting too old for this ****.
Well the way I see it, is you can remember just one combo, and it's a combination you configure (unless you're in Windows). From then, it's just a matter of knowing what program you installed. For example, I know I installed firefox, so instead of go through a menu and submenu and eventually locating the icon to launch firefox, I could just type fire, it'll already be selected because I know nothing else starts with the word fire, enter or tab to add options, and I'll be good to go.
And it's not like you actually remember, it's your fingers which will remember, kind of like touch typing. Before you realized what you've done, the application you want will already be open and ready for you to do your business. Plus, you have to keep in mind you're moving your hands away from the keyboard, move to the mouse, move the mouse, move your hands back to the keyboard. You could, instead, keep your hands at the keyboard, type in a few characters, and you're good.
Interesting side fact, but I use the same principles when it comes to passwords. I don't know any of my passwords. I use a random password generator I wrote, have my fingers remember where to go when I'm looking at the username and where I'm logging in to. So when someone asks me for a password, I wouldn't know. I have to sit down in front of a keyboard, close my eyes and imagine where I'm logging in to (it doesn't work if I'm looking at a blank page and see characters coming out as I type), let my fingers get to work, and then read what I've typed.
I'll have to check that out. But I hear you on a clean desktop. Windows desktop was not designed as an application launcher but as a workspace much like....well, a desktop!
But it hasn't made any progress towards that since... a really long time. If you want to work in an environment much like the desktop, you would get something like bumptop, where the files have a physical component to them and can be grouped, thrown around (bounce off each other or off the walls), have different weight depending on how big they are, and all that jazz like an actual desktop.
Besides, when you're working at a computer, you're not really working at a desktop, you're working in an application like a browser or something. For me, I'm in vim 70% of the time I'm at my computer (I don't use a word processor or any office suite) and 20% of the time I'm using firefox. I've chosen applications so my hands rarely have to move outside the active area (where the letters are). For example, I chose vim because instead of using the arrow keys to navigate through text, I type h, j, k, l, b, e, w, or G (if I know the line number).
