I don’t like using the mouse—the computer mouse, I mean. Whenever a pop-up appears, or a menu needs clicking, or a file requires a double-click, or a link needs following, you have to search for it with your eyes, move your mouse there (after figuring out where your mouse cursor is), then open it with a double-click, a single-click, or maybe a wheel-click if you want to open something in a new tab. When you write code or use a text editor and need to move the cursor to a different line or a specific character, and so on…
All of this involves unnecessary and awkward movements. You have to scan the screen more than necessary and use that tiny bit of mental effort to do something so simple. And the worst part is, you have to move not only your hands but also your eyes to search the screen.
There’s a beautiful solution: the keyboard.
Let’s say you could press one key while keeping both hands on the keyboard (which they already are when typing) and all links get highlighted. Press another key, and you’re redirected to the link. Or press the capital-letter version of that key, and the link opens in a new tab. Wouldn’t that be comfortable?
Or what about scrolling with your keyboard without having to move your entire hand to the right side to press the arrow keys or the dreaded Page Up and Page Down keys?
Text Editing
When coding or writing an essay, wouldn’t it be nice to move your cursor using only the keyboard? To jump from line x to line n in one go? Or jump from one function to another?
Those of you into minimal tech like me probably know what I’m getting at: Vim keys.
Vim is a text editor with three modes: Normal, Insert, and Visual. Depending on the mode, you can either write text as in any normal editor or, in Normal mode, use keys mapped to commands such as “jump to line n” or “move forward/backward n words.” You can even remap commands to fit your personal style.
You move the cursor with h, j, k, and l. Want to go to line 200? Just type 200G. Want to go to the start of the line? Press 0. End of the line? $ has you covered. And so on… Vim has a steep learning curve, but afterward, it’s very comfortable.
Browsing the Web
I hate browsing the web with a mouse. Thankfully, Vimium exists. Press f, and each link gets highlighted with a letter above it. Press that letter, and you visit the page. Or press F, and the link opens in a new tab instead. D for down, U for up, Shift+j for the previous tab, Shift+k for the next tab, and much more.
I see a link, press f, and open it without moving my hand to the mouse or having to position the cursor over the link.
Files
There are many terminal file managers like lf or ranger (I prefer lf because it’s much faster and can be scripted with simple bash). They all follow the same idea: move around with h, j, k, and l; search with /; and more. Just use Vim keys. Easy. You can create custom commands and map them to shortcuts. For example, I have commands to convert selected files to PDF, create archives, or extract files from archives—all without a mouse, and never having to move my hand beyond the letter keys.
Others
I also have various shortcuts for my window manager, Hyprland. By pressing Super+[some key], I can open my browser, different browser profiles, my file manager, the terminal, VS Codium, or just Vim, Vim Wiki, or even the dreaded Discord (I really don’t like Discord…). I can open any PDF on my machine by bringing up a rofi menu, typing the name of the PDF or any of my Vim Wiki articles, setting the temperatures of the screen, searching the web or visiting bookmaked websites with rofi and so on.
Not much eye or hand movement is required.
Caveats
Sometimes you don’t have the option to avoid the mouse because a certain application doesn’t support it. Sometimes, the mouse is simply more convenient. But most of the basic things I do regularly on my PC can be done with the keyboard and can thus be simplified by using applications with Vim keys or mapping commands to keypresses.
This is a bit more cumbersome to achieve on Windows (I tried on my company’s laptop for work)—at least the key-binding part—but it’s still better than nothing.