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Comment by psytrx | Hacker News Reader

Some people prefer a keyboard-focussed workflow and try to avoid using the mouse as much as possible.

Weird.

The only thing weird here is your lack of context and understanding, all while still commenting.

Some people need tools like this, as an assistive technology - think RSI, Parkinsons and other issues that affect dexterity or elbow movement. Not so weird.

Thank you for the examples of necessity over examples of preference.

Thank you for explaining - as a consequence of illness and disability, I can understand the need.

But why someone would intentionally make things more difficult for themselves as a preference, I don't get. It would be like walking around in crutches when you have two perfectly healthy legs.

If implemented well (as [0] is), it can actually be much faster than using the mouse for certain tasks. For example, when browsing Google results, it’s a lot quicker to navigate to a result by pressing the first letter or two of its link text than dragging the mouse to click the link.

As a more common example, I only launch applications by opening a prompt (e.g. Spotlight on Mac) and typing the first couple letters of the program I’m starting. This is much faster than navigating using the mouse to the applications folder/menu/dock/taskbar etc. and clicking an icon.

I agree keyboard-based navigation is not faster for everything. Luckily, tools like this don’t prevent you from also using a mouse!

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33222384

Reminds me of the times when every clickable element had an unde&rlined key and could be activated by alt-r. Then some designheads decided that it is non-beatiful and killed it.

I like to keep both hands on the keyboard. Every mouse movement incurs the cost of reaching the right hand for the mouse, then moving the right hand back and re-finding my place on the keyboard. I don't like that constant back-and-forth movement. It breaks my flow and it can make my arm ache.

Why would you use a mouse when you have a perfectly good keyboard with 68+ keys and God knows how many viable input combinations?

If taken to the logical conclusion, your question extends to "why do we have keyboard shortcuts when you can just mouse there?" Taken to the illogical conclusion: "Why even have a keyboard when you can just use a mouse?"

There are times when a mouse is good, there are times when I don't want to take my hands off the keyboard and mouse for something.

Seems unlikely you are a serious software developer, software engineer, or sysadmin. It’s well known mouse use slows you down and causes ergonomic issues.

> intentionally make things more difficult for themselves as a preference

No-one would do that, that would be crazy. People intentionally make things easier for themselves as a preference, and different people find different things easy or hard.

Because once you learn how to use it, the keyboard is much faster and more capable than a pointing device.

So it's less like crutches and more like rollerblades.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com