You can call me lazy or just computer literate, but my keyboard allows me to go where I want with just one key-stoke, most of the time. Yes, I know about Tabs, and about the Bookmarks Bar in Safari and other browsers, but why grab the mouse when where you want to go is just a single key away?
(Yes, you have to first type in or click on the site you want, but after that, you can just type the first letter and it will automatically pop up for you.)
I guess what got me started on this subject was watching my wife type in an addy in her browser – “www” . . . “google” . . . “(dot)com.” I told her you don’t need to type the “www” or the “(dot)com” since the browser is smart enough to fill that in for you, so just type the name of the domain and hit “return.”
Then I noticed that she moused everything, where she could just use the keyboard instead. For instance, she would go to the scroll bar on the side of the window on the monitor, instead of using her arrow keys on the keyboard.
If you think about it, you can pretty well surf the web in Safari (other browsers, not so well) without ever touching your mouse at all.
Here are my single key connections to my favorite websites. Of course, the main row of the keyboard (ASDFG-HJKL) is my main thing, so we will start with those:
A is for AUTOBLOG.COM (or AIRLINERS.NET for Owen)
S is for SLASHDOT.ORG
D is for DIGG.COM
F is for FARK.COM
G is for GIZMODO.COM
H is for a church forum I write for
J is for an investment site I attend
K is for KINGFEATURES.com
L is for LIVEPAGE.APPLE.COM
The other keys are all useful too, as in the top row of letters:
W is for my webmail server (so I can get my mail from anywhere)
E is for ENGADGET.COM
R is for ROGERBORN.COM (shameless plug)
T is for (Critical Thinking) WRITING.BORNGRAPHICS.COM
U is for UCOMICS.COM
I is for IMDB.COM
O is for WEBELEMENTS.COM (Oxygen – Since I teach Chemistry)
P is for PAYPAL.COM
Let us not forget the bottom row of letters:
Z is for ZDNET.COM
X is for X-PLANE.COM
C is for COMICS.COM
V is for VERSIONTRACKER.COM
B is for BOINGBOING.NET
N is for NEWS.GOOGLE.COM
M is for MYMAC.COM (Last, but not least!)
So you see, it is so easy to just click on a single key to go where you want to go. Once in a while, you will need to click on two keys, if say, several of your sites uses the same first letter, but all of this is still much easier than draging the cursor around to the Bookmarks line, or using the Tabs. And for naviagation across the page, you cannot beat the ARROW keys for tight control – much better than the mouse.
So? What are some of your favorite sites? And do you have any short-cuts to share?
Regards,
Roger Born
“Never Squat With Your Spurs On”
.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.