Every time I hold my mouse with the right hand after several minutes I feel something is wrong with my fingers, palm and wrist. Most of the stressful tasks on a browser is switching tabs and scrolling down/up. Therefore, I need to learn some keyboard shortcuts to avoid holding the mouse so often.
I’ve found a good resource for keyboard shortcuts here: http://www.keyxl.com/aaa3447/416/Google-Chrome-keyboard-shortcuts.htm.
Therefore, for the common tasks I need, below are the basic shortcuts that I don’t even care using for so long that I never know it exists.
- Open a new tab – CTRL + T (I actually know this)
- Close the current tab – CTRL + W
- Switch through tabs – CTRL + TAB, or CTRL + PgDn or CTRL + PgUp
That’s all I need since I do them most of the time spending on browsing or even in web development.
What’s yours?
Depends where I’m at. Windows at home, Mac at work, and still having trouble not mixing up shortcuts in my head from these two OSs.
Ctrl+T (tab forward), Ctrl+Shift+T (tab backward), Ctrl+1 (or 2, 3, 4) (switch to tabs 1 through 4), Alt+Tab (window forward), Alt+Shift+Tab (window backward), Windows+D (minimize all), Windows+R (run command), Ctrl+Shift+Escape (task manager, for when stuff freezes; Ctrl+Alt+Delete does this too but needs clicking through an extra menu first), Ctrl+Alt+Delete (from DOS/BIOS, restarts computer),
Mac has some similarities, some differences. The weirdest is Ctrl+Tab, switch programs. Works like Alt+Tab in windows, but if the program is minimized, it will not restore it but keep it hidden. Unless you press Ctrl+Tab then Alt… then it shows the window. Freaky shortcut, awkward too, but you get used to it.
Photoshop Shortcuts: Ctrl+T resize object, Ctrl+Shift+I inverse selection, Ctrl+Shift+O save for web (custom shortcut), V arrow, M select, W wand, Z zoom, P paint, T text, Ctrl+[ Ctrl+] change brush size, D reset colors, X swap colors, Spacebar+Click look around, Ctrl+Alt+Z undo, Ctrl+Shift+Z redo.
All this saves me a lot of time clicking. 🙂 While I never used them to avoid hand stress (but that is a very nice plus) they’re perfect for dealing with tiny buttons and tabs. It interrupts my workflow when it takes 2 seconds to get my mouse over a tiny button (like Mac minimize) and click. I’d sooner Cmd/Alt+tab and everything just works.
… And wow, it’s like I wrote a book chapter for a comment. Guess I’m passionate about shortcuts. 😛 But they save me a lot of time in my work (webmaster) and let my hand rest a bit.
Wow, thanks Daniel R. for sharing.
Well, I only use 2 OS (Windows/Linux) and I found it amazing that those CTRL+PgDn/PgUp also works for Firefox.
I should teach my wife about this.
Because of the usage of the control key, I am now able to lift “heavy” things with my pinky. xD I’m also using vimium for more shortcuts.. 😀