HN Explorer

Ask HN: OS X/Linux: Which helps to decrease mouse usage/increase productivity?

5 points by abraham_s ↗ HN
Hi,

I am trying out new techniques/tools/equipment to increase my "general productivity" (roughly defined as how fast can I get stuff done). Some changes I have made is using Dvorak layout on a kinesis advantage keyboard, using Alfred, keeping apple magic trackpad on my keyboard. I found the latter two via HN comments. I wanted to reach out the HN readers for such tools/method that they use.

13 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 33.5 ms ] thread
abraham_s
iterm2 on OSX is an example of another tool that made my life much better. On the editor side I am using emacs and I am very happy with it.
BrainInAJar
the open command and pbcopy/pbpaste are great tools if you're going to use the terminal for a lot of stuff
vezzy-fnord
Your implication that productivity increases with more exclusive use of the keyboard against all other input devices, is dubious. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_chording, and programs where it is put to good use (acme).
abraham_s
Thanks for the link. I didn't know something like this existed.
Someone
You also will want to read http://www.asktog.com/TOI/toi06KeyboardVMouse1.html and http://www.asktog.com/TOI/toi22KeyboardVMouse2.html (opiniated and old, so probably at least partly dated). If you can find it, the book "Tog on interface" gives some details about what Apple did to measure this (from what I remember, they moved the menu miles away from where the mouse was, and the menu still beat the keyboard due to Fitt's law)

http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/30682/are-there-any-re... gives some more recent studies on the subject. I haven't read them, but it seems to me that keyboarding can be faster than mousing if you do it very, very, often.

And of course, the quality of mouse and keyboard matters a lot, too (early Windows mice were bad compared to Mac mice, mostly due to software (I have seen Windows mice were it was impossible to address every pixel on the screen, possibly due to staircasing/aliasing (what does one call that?) in the conversion between coordinate systems); this reminds me of http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Shut_Up.txt, which isn't really related, but may be an interesting read, anyways)

Someone1234
Seems like Parkinson's law of triviality, or maybe just pure procrastination. If this project works out, best case scenario, you've saved like a second or two? How much time have you already wasted trying to figure this out?
abraham_s
It is really about avoiding distractions rather than time saved. I feel that the act of reaching for the mouse is a noticeable distraction for me.
EvanPlaice
The productivity gains don't come from increased typing speed. They come from the ability to script and automate most, if not all, of the administration and setup tasks from the command line.

The first time a system is built will always take a significant amount of time. It's the ability to quickly and easily replicate the process that saves in the long run.

For example frameworks save on setup by providing a scaffold to build on. Package management systems (ex apt-get, npm, etc) save on the time required to build, update, manage dependencies. Provisioning (ex puppet, chef) save on setup and administration of full system builds. Containerization can be used to standardize development and production deployments.

If the processes can be scripted, versioned, and shared publicly via open source platforms and package registries then the initial setup can be reduced to nothing more than finding and gluing the right pieces together.

Windows is still years behind the curve on automation simply because the ecosystem still builds on the assumption that everything should be configurable via a GUI.

It's not so much, keyboard vs mouse as computer vs human. Automation will always produce the greatest gains in productivity and automation is best left to the command line.

drl42
Master emacs & shell. You can achieve a high level of productivity if you can get into the flow. Of course, this requires more training and you will be slow initially, but over time, it helps.
abraham_s
I guess my question should have been more clear. I am already using emacs and shell. But I feel there are still areas to improve. Alfred on OSX helped to avoid using the mouse in situations. I am looking for any other tools like that.
drl42
Here are my thoughts on this - After emacs and shell, I typically spend time using the browser. I am thinking of trying out Conkeror[1] to minimize my use of the mouse.

[1] http://conkeror.org/