Bit Literacy - Mark Hurst [59]
Setting up these keystrokes is easy with a tool like QuicKeys; the only other requirement is committing to learning and using these keystrokes instead of the mouse. I’ve set up my computer (and all my employees’ computers) to use the following keystrokes for the most common applications:
F6: word processor (on the Macs at my company, it’s AppleWorks)
F7: Web browser (Safari or Firefox)
F8: e-mail (Apple Mail or Mailsmith)
F9: text editor (TextWrangler)
F10: calendar (Now Up-to-Date)
On a Windows computer the applications would be different—the word processor would most likely be Word, and the e-mail and calendar would probably be Outlook—but the keystrokes could be the same. Function commands, the F keys at the top of the keyboard, are good choices for system-wide keystrokes because they’re generally not in use by anything else.47 Users should also have one-touch access to commonly used files and folders:
Files: QuicKeys allows you to define a keystroke to open a given file. This is best for the one or two files that you open most often. For example, at my company we define command-shift-A as the keystroke on everyone’s computer that brings up the team address list. No matter what application the user is using at the moment, command-shift-A brings up the address list in the text editor. (Text is the simplest and quickest format for the file; there’s no need to hunt around an intranet or bring up a slow-moving database.) To find a coworker’s phone number, an employee just types one keystroke and the list pops up instantly.
Folders: A Mac-based tool called Default Folder (available at defaultfolder.com) allows users to get to any folder in the file system with one keystroke. (Windows users should get a roughly equivalent tool, FileBox eXtender, at hyperionics.com.) For example, to open the parent folder in my computer’s file system, I just type command-1. This works whether I’m on the desktop (it pops up the folder window) or inside an application and need to navigate to the folder to save or open a file. Default Folder has saved me countless hours of clicking through the file system to find and open my several most commonly visited folders.
One-touch access also makes it especially quick and easy to share bits between common applications. For example, I may see some text on a Web page that I want to put in a new text file. After selecting the text (this is one action that may require the mouse, though command-A can select everything on the page), I type four keystrokes:
command-C to copy the text
F9 to go to the text editor
command-N to create a new file
command-V to paste in the text
One-touch access makes the task almost instantly achievable. Of course, it requires practice, but typing that sequence of keystrokes is an enormous improvement over using the mouse to navigate to, select, and click the right menu items.
This is how I work with bits at the speed of thought: in my mind I see the bits flowing from the Web page to a new text file, and it just happens. It’s important to realize that I’m working directly with the bits, not the applications, to get the job done. I keep my mind focused on the bits, and how I’m moving or changing them, but everything else is a blur—applications arrive, quickly play some part, and then move away again. The bits are in focus at all times.
This is peak performance: engaging bits directly, and only using tools in as-needed supporting roles. The goal of bit literacy is to engage the bits as efficiently as possible—ignoring what the applications want you to do, and instead using them for what you want to do. Bit literacy is a truly user-centered method: it puts users in charge of their own productivity and frees them from the unnecessary constraints of their tools. Bit-literate users should constantly attempt to reach this level of performance.