~/.config/i3/config:

  # emacsclient
  set $em_daemon ~/.local/bin/em

  # make a quick launcher for specific things I do all the time
  bindsym $mod+o mode "spotlight"

  mode "spotlight" {
       ## specific files in a new emacs buffer
       # dired in home
       bindsym d exec $em_daemon ~/; mode "default"
       # ibuffer
       bindsym e exec $em_daemon --eval "(ibuffer)"; mode "default" #
       # guaranteed new scratch buffer
       bindsym s exec $em_daemon --eval '(switch-to-buffer (format-time-string "%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S"))'; mode "default"

       ## common binaries
       bindsym f exec firefox ; mode "default"
       bindsym h exec --no-startup-id zeal ; mode "default"
       bindsym j exec --no-startup-id ~/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/bin/jetbrains-toolbox ; mode "default"
       bindsym m exec --no-startup-id mendeley ; mode "default"
       bindsym k exec --no-startup-id keepassxc ; mode "default"
       ## special launchers
       # ipython
       bindsym i exec zsh -c '$alacritty -e ~/.local/pipx/venvs/ipython/bin/ipython'; mode "default"
       # app switcher
       bindsym a exec "rofi -show window -show-icons -theme gruvbox-dark-hard.rasi"; mode "default"
       ## just in case we did this by mistake
       bindsym Escape mode "default"
  }

    bindsym $mod+F12 exec "pwgen -sy 32 1 | tr -d '\n' | xclip"

I couldn't disagree more.

My mental sanity depends on some fixed beliefs. One of those is that every key sequence not involving the Win key is sent to and handled by the application in focus. Including F-keys, which many applications expect, in any case. Ex: F2=edit cell, F9=recalculate in Excel.

Global actions handled by the SO or DE must involve Win. Ex: Win+L lock screen.

And yes, Redmond-imposed Alt-Tab is an abomination: it should have been Win+Tab since the beginning.

The workflow you're proposing could be easily achieved with Win+ a carefully chosen letter. Benefits: 1. the letter is easier to remember; 2. You have 20-something free slots instead of 12 (excluding the ones that are already taken for standard actions like L for lock); 3. Most probably your fingers are already there and you have muscles memory of where the letters are; 4. Consistent, expected behavior of where keys are sent to.

In this kind of discussion people often focus solely on frequent actions, but there is one class of action that should have priority for the limited keys: the infrequent urgent. That is, tasks that don't happen that often, but when they do they are very urgent. For me the best example is the sound volume controls, I don't change sound volume nearly as often as I alternate between apps, but when I need to change the sound volume I need it right now, so that is what I'm using my F-keys for.

No, you're using the computer wrong. See, you should use a tiling window manager with several workspaces and shortcuts without having to look at your keyboard, e.g. Meta+4 to go to workspace 4 where you have your chat apps.

Windows users can do this by pressing Win+digit with open apps or apps you have pinned on the task bar.

Linux Mint, as with many other windows shortcuts, has this also

> You're using function keys wrong

You are using computers wrong.

Apple is the only one that lacks this. Windows and most linux WM have this for at least 20 years!

windows you just use WIN+[1,2,3,4...] to alternate between your quick launch apps.

Linux obviously you have a myriad of options. Including the top comment here now about using virtual desktops which is even better than application (but you can mix them too!)

And all that while still keeping your Fkeys functionality on each application!

The time I was forced to use a Mac for development was the time my productivity was lowest and frustration highest.

I'm fully convinced that Macs exist only because managers (and wanna be managers) make those decisions. Not to mention i've worked on employeer provided apple, dell, hp, lenovos... macs were the only ones i had to send to IT with failing keyboards, dead screens, etc.

While talking of function keys—

My greatest annoyance with keyboards is that Fn keys (as found to one side of the left Ctrl/Control key; ubiquitous on laptops and common on other keyboards) are always implemented in firmware, and simply don’t do anything with most of the keys, but implement them in such a way that I can’t either.

My laptop’s keyboard has one Fn key, and 82 others.¹ I can only use Fn with 20 of them—one is legitimately handled in firmware², one does nothing³, two emit combos⁴, and 16 emit distinct key codes. The remaining 62 keys? They just get passed through as though I weren’t holding down the Fn key.

I really wish I could use that Fn key just as a regular additional modifier. I use Super+[hjkl] in my tiling window manager, why can’t I use Fn+[hjkl] instead if I want to?

Yes, I know that shifting it all from firmware to driver would cause inconvenience in some situations. Look, perhaps we could at least begin by adding a key code for Fn when it’s tapped by itself or with any of the 62 keys. I dunno, Hyper or something (is Hyper a thing at that level? or is there some other extra modifier available?). That’s sufficiently pragmatic, right?

—⁂—

¹ Asus Zephyrus G15 (2021), GA503QM. I included the power button as one of the 82 keys, as I use it that way: I have XF86PowerOff switch to a Sway/i3 mode where pressing it again shuts down, r reboots, h hibernates, &c. It’s fun being like most projectors with their “press the power button again to show you actually meant it”. But you know my favourite key on the keyboard? XF86AudioMicMute. Really not looking forward to the inevitable day when I get a laptop without one again.

² Fn+Super disables/enables the Super key. Windows things. Wish I could disable this feature, because just occasionally I accidentally trigger it, and I will never want it.

³ As far as I can tell, Fn+Space just gets swallowed. evtest on the appropriate /dev/input/event* file doesn’t show anything being emitted.

⁴ Fn+F6 = Super+Shift+S, and Fn+F9 = Super+P, because those are standard Windows shortcuts. I don’t get why they did it this way, though they’re both very common, given how much more interesting stuff they’ve done than most others. Mostly I’m just grumbling about duplicates because I already want Super+P to do something else, so now Fn+F9 is a dead weight, though I would otherwise have used it.

Can people hit their function keys without looking at the keyboard? Sure, hitting F5 to go to your terminal is less keystrokes than e.g. Cmd+tab+tab, but I can't hit anything in the function row without glancing down at my keyboard. And I put a lot of value in looking at my keyboard as little as possible

For my Gnomies, the Run-or-raise extension [0] is stellar. It does exactly what it says: you bind a key combo to a launcher command, and optionally define a windowname or wm_class query to check for the existence of the program before it's launched. If it's running it's raised, if it's not then it's run. It has options for the window behaviour after toggling, optionally minimising the programs etc.

I can't rate it highly enough. It helped me finally step away from my decade-long i3wm-adhd addition, where everything else failed.

[0]: https://github.com/CZ-NIC/run-or-raise

So, let's say F2 does something important in an open app (e.g. "Rename file" in Explorer) - does that mean it would not work anymore?

Or am I missing something obvious?

This is not too different to how I've been using tiling window managers for the last decade.

There 9 or 10 virtual desktops which are accessed with WIN+1-0.

1 is for shells, 2 is the IDE, 3/4 are browsers, 6 is administrative stuff, usually a root shell, 0 is for zoom, 5,7,8 are less defined or just "whatever doesn't fit". In addition I'm using the multi-monitor switching from xmonad in i3 (i.e. if I have [1] on the left and [2] on the right screen, when I activate [1] while on the right one, they switch places, if I activate [3], then it will replace [2] and [1] stays on the left one).

It sounds very pedantic but I don't even have to think when context switching and it's made my life a lot easier. Interestingly it doesn't work as well on my private computer because (to no one's surprise) I am using many more GUI tools and do different things when not working.

For the macOS folks, I prefer rcmd to accomplish the same thing with less cognitive overhead: https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd/

If macOS didn't added a very annoying fade-out/fade-in delay when switching Spaces, you could simply use them with maximized apps and hotkeys for switching them. Another design mistake from Apple.

Charmstone [1] is a different take from everything mentioned here (I'm the developer).

The idea is to use your spatial memory to switch/launch apps faster than anything else that I've found, with a smaller learning curve and less memorization.

You can use keyboard shortcuts with the arrow keys, modifier keys + cursor movement, or a trackpad gesture.

[1] https://charmstone.app

I've recently bought an Elgato Stream Deck*[0] (programmable 15-key LED macro-pad) and would strongly recommend it. Simply: define an icon, define a shell script/app/site and press a button to execute.

It natively supports 'profiles' for contextual actions if a given application is active, and 'folders', to extend the actions available given the 15 key limitation.

I believe there's also a SDK + plugin infrastructure which lets you define live-updating icons, but I haven't given this a try.

[0] https://www.elgato.com/en/stream-deck-mk2

* EDIT to differentiate from Steam Deck

Another way of doing this is assign Hyper key to Caps Lock with Karabiner and then use that to set up hyper+X shortcuts to different or macros using Hammerspoon.

So e.g. I have hyper+a for Alacritty, hyper+b for Browser etc.

I think this workflow is interesting and the title unfortunately clickbait-ish. We can read about things we find interesting without claiming X is better.

No. My function keys are used for things I do more often, like change color profiles, toggle a single app into dark mode, etc.

My favorite trick is not the function keys but other "useless" keys: like Caps is remapped to be Esc (when released before another key is pressed) or Control (when used in conjunction with another key: act as a modifier), my 2 shifts and 2 alt do their normal modifier function (when used in conjunction with another key) but when used by themselves act as PageUp/PageDown Home/End

Going up 2 pages up in the browser? Shift Shift. Top of the page? Alt. Bottom? The other Alt.

For the Control keys, as I don't need that many I've experimented with a few remapping, but BackSpace/Delete are very handy.

Going to the previous page in the browser? Alt+Control.

I’ve tried _so_ many different desktop workflows (including writing two custom window managers!), and I’ve finally settled for the exact same workflow - F -keys bound to my most common apps, all fullscreened. It becomes muscle memory within two weeks, and it’s faster than anything else I’ve tried by a mile. I use Thor for MacOS if anyone wants to replicate it, it’s a no-fuss version of the author’s setup.

If I ever do need to see two things side-by-side, I’ve also got Rectangle for window positioning. A single cmd+caps lock+H/J/K/L for left-half/restore/maximise/right-half is all I’ve found is necessary.

Karabiner has already been mentioned here but I'll add that goku (https://github.com/yqrashawn/GokuRakuJoudo) is THE way to setup Karabiner and it can be hard to overcome the extremely verbose and unergonomic default json config of Karabiner otherwise. Goku also makes it trivial to add shortcuts which are activated by quickly pressing one key while another is held. I use this for the kind of launch mode described in the OP. eg. w + e = editor (Intellij), w + r = chrome, w + f = firefox.. The drawback to these shortcuts is that they can unintentionally be activated when regularly typing since we don't always release a key before pressing the next. That's only happened seldomly for me though since "w" isn't a frequently used letter and I've set the shortcut activation window pretty low so the w + <key> key has to be pressed essentially immediately after w.

Similarly, I use q + w for previous tab, q + e for next tab, and s+d to open the clipboard history from Alfred

I like my hands resting near the bottom of the keyboard, so Cmd-tab is very quick as it is within reach and does not require using my eyes. To use those function keys I’d have to look at the keyboard, which feels like a waste of time.

Though I’d rather have function keys back instead of the touchbar, as changing volume/brightness now requires looking at the keyboard as well as a certain precision/dexterity.

Edit: formatting.

I bind mine to virtual desktops, but I have the same applications on each desktop all time, so the workflow is quite similar.

All the apps I use the most are open most of the time. I can just use cmd+tab to switch between them quickly.

To each their own, but this feels unnecessary to me in my own personal workflow. I've never thought to myself "boy I wish I could open one specific app, that wasn't already open, with a single keystroke"

Alfred workflow instructions in case you don't wish to use Keyboard Maestro for this:

https://ldstephens.medium.com/launch-your-favorite-mac-apps-...

A better "hack" for linux users: Linux supports a "digital-only" modifier called "Hyper". You can use Xmodmap to set a key as hyper on press, and set Hyper-F[X] to whatever functions you wish to.

Alternatively, use a keyboard with QMK, or install a dedicated application like KMonad.

Broad standards are so valuable. When a hotkey becomes common across apps and operating systems, we should work hard to preserve that rare and beautiful covenant that humanity has achieved together.

F1 means help.

F2 means edit. It edits filenames on most operating systems if you have a file selected, and cells in most spreadsheet programs.

Alt+F4 means close.

Alt+tab means switch program.

Ctrl+C is copy, Ctrl+V is paste

I feel the same way about automobiles. It doesn't really matter whether we initially decided that the brake pedal would be the right or left of the gas pedal, but the fact that you can get in just about any car in the world and rely on the pedals to be in roughly the same place and do roughly the same thing is magical. If you're going to move them around, you better have a great reason.

The agreements we've achieved on standards, even when they're not perfect (QWERTY keyboard, heirarchical directory structure), should be considered global treasures and treated as such.

The idea is not centered around F-keys. The idea is to have fast shortcuts to every app you need regularly. You can use any other keys.

The problem, of course, is that all keys are already taken. Even F-keys are normally taken by volume control, playback control, brightness control, etc, and you have to press Fn-F1 to access F1. There are no spare keys, unless you buy a dedicated keypad.

So I, as likely everyone else, have a bunch of Win+something shortcuts, often involving 2 or 3 more keys. (Using KMonad to have modifiers on the home row helps.)

But the idea still stands. I already have shortcuts for the screen shot app, for the character map app, etc; why not add shortcuts for bringing Emacs or Firefox or a terminal to the front? I'll explore that.

>it should have been Win+Tab since the beginning

In the beginning, there was no "windows key".

Well it’s worth noting that you can achieve this very easily by just pinning apps to the taskbar : Win+1 will toggle the first one, Win+2 the second one and so on up to 9.

Bingo.

I’d like to add two parts:

1. Alt-Tab also works to select which Excel file you want in focus. I often have 10+ Excel files open and choose what I need with Alt-Tab-Arrow.

2. I can open all apps fast using Windows+Text. For example, Excel opens if I hit the Windows Key then “exc”, Chrome opens if I hit the Windows Key then “chr”, etc. Mac users can do the same by replacing the Windows Key with Command + Space.

I see no upside.

Idk where you were at that era but the Win key came out half a decade after Alt-Tab.

Win95 didn't even have the Win key.

Goodness. Think before you post. :) A thing cannot be an abomination for not making use of a building material which would not exist for most of the decade.

I see your point, but personally I never liked following fixed beliefs if in the long run I could benefit from dropping them. As an example, that's why I also learned Dvorak (which was much more painful than re-learning F-keys).

What about special key sequences like Ctrl+Alt+Delete on Windows, or Ctrl+Alt+F-key on most Linux distros?

Or even more crazy special commands like Alt+PrintScreen+REISUB?

Agreed.

Some keyboard come with dedicated volume +/-/mute keys which is great and frees up function keys.

I have "screenshotting" as a frequent need -- which in some occassions is an urgent one too :)

I use 3 different types of screen capture (current window, select a region, repeat last region) mapped to F6 F7 F8 on all my machines now which gets a lot of use.

That is a fine use, but multimedia keys use 3-7ish (depending on how crazy you go) of the 48-ish function keys readily available. By which I mean, unmodified, SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT, and that's without counting multiple modifiers. I've got volume, mute, pause, fast forward and reverse in there but it's far from the only things I've got. (Well... technically FF, reverse, and pause are WIN-right, WIN-left, and WIN-up respectively, but same principle.) I'm not even close to using up all the function keys.

I've mapped these in something like the last four window managers I use, and they've survived across probably a dozen physical keyboards now. Physical buttons for these things come and go but "WIN-Up" (or Super-Up if you prefer) has always been there.

(I did use a mac with a touch bar for a bit. Was that ever a train wreck for me, as you might expect. Fortunately, people don't seem to be copying them and dumping the function keys. I'm actually perfectly happy with them being a reduced-height bar across the top, as most laptops seem to have now. They don't need to be full height.)

In general, I say to anyone who makes a living on a computer... take control of your keyboard! I don't obsess on not using the mouse at all, but the keyboard can do a lot. There's a lot of keys on there, even ignoring the letter keys (which are densely enough "taken" by a lot of other things I don't tend to override them much).

I've tried tiling WMs several times and they inevitably drive me nuts because on normal computer screen sizes, windows frequently end up awkwardly-sized adding scrolling requirements that wouldn't be present with overlapping windows that are sized to fit the content…

If I were to commit to a tiling WM I think I'd have to replace my main monitor with a 4k TV large enough to run at 1x UI scale without the UI elements being tiny so each window gets the virtual real estate required without effectively making the "tiling" part of the tiling WM moot by maximizing every window.

This probably boils down to the type of programs one uses though… someone living in chromeless text editors and terminals all day will probably fare better with tiling than someone who spends all their time in IDEs, graphics editors, and web browsers.

Or, use tiling window manager, but also have symbolic mnemonics for the apps (not have to remember on which desktop it's on, nor change your muscle memory if you change what desktop it's on).

For example mnemonic "M" for mail/email, so my xmonad.hs has something like:

    , ((mod3Mask, xK_m), raiseNextMaybe (spawn "/usr/bin/someemailprog") (className =? "Someemailprog"))

Anytime I hid modifier+M, it will either go to the desktop and window with the mail program, or start the mail program if it's not yet running.

Personally, my mail program is usually on desktop 1, but some of the other program, like Web browser, I move between desktops as needed for tasks. Hitting modifier+W always gets to it.

Yep. Came to say this. Having say, meta+4 for "chat" is far better than having f4 for "a chat app".

You arrive to your chat workspace, your works slack side by side with your favorite irc and matrix clients, all positioned and scaled perfectly every time. Adding more / fewer / swapping apps in is just a matter of invocation, and there the new configuration sits waiting.

The concept is expanded greatly. Shoutout to i3 and xmonad, for my personal setups.

> See, you should use a tiling window manager with several workspaces and shortcuts without having to look at your keyboard, e.g. Meta+4 to go to workspace 4 where you have your chat apps.

That's basically what I do. A tiling WM and then one modifier key (Super in my case but whatever) and then keys to go to any workspace/virtual desktop I want.

And most of my workspaces are always organized in exactly the same manner, so I know exactly where is what.

Ha, this was my first thought, though I've got a built-in damper on being that annoying guy who brings up tiling WMs in every workspace conversation.

It is a little amusing to see such a dramatic headline supported by the extremely elementary thesis that you should have kbd shortcuts for your favorite applications.

On top of that, numbered shortcuts for arbitrary apps is way worse than using Super+[arbitrary key].

My mind works differently. I need to put together a set of apps I'm using for a task, say, editor + browser + terminal for software development, or DAW + bunch of instruments + browser + player to work with music, or, say, GIMP + Krita + Inkscape for graphics.

Tiling helps, but I just have a bunch of shortcuts that tile a particular window just so under xfwm4.

That's not unique to tiling WM's. In Gnome too, you can just assign the keyboard shortcuts "Switch to workspace <n>" to Meta+<n>.

Is your tiling-manager also automatically focusing a window on that workspace? And are workspaces limited to a single screen, or do all screen simultaneously change state? Because those are the main reasons why I switch to specific apps instead of desktops/workspaces/tags/whatever you call it. Apps are reliable, but desktops seem too heavy and pointless for me.

Any recommendation for Mac?

Or, do that stuff but without a tiling window manager (:

That's what I do. I use fluxbox, but even Windows 10 has pretty decent built-in multi-desktop functionality.

s,tiling,floating like CWM.

Same keybindings.

win+a = app launcher

win+s = search windows

win+m = rename window

win+1-4 = wspace 1-4

shift+win+1-4 move to wspace 1-4

win + q = close window

win + r = reload cwm

Also, if you are a programmer and use non-ASCII punctuation (Spanish, French, German, Nordic):

        setxkbmap us -option ctrl:swapcaps -option compose:menu -option compose:rwin 

The US layout it's the best for programming, and with that setkbmap trick you can compose á-ú/ñ letters with ease.

> without having to look at your keyboard

Function keys are faster / more direct for people that do 100% touch typing, right?

If you haven't already gone down the custom keyboard rabbit hole, I suspect you might like it. There's a pretty large enthusiast community out in the world, and there's a lot of ways to go custom - build your own from scratch, use a kit, use a pre-built with flashable firmware, etc.

The firmwares used (e.g. QMK) allow you to build the sort of thing you're talking about into your keyboard and more.