Ideal System and Logic Commands while injured hand recovers

[Dynamic_Notes]

Hi,

I injured my hand (dominant) and the recovery will be a while. I can somewhat use the keyboard for short periods but all mouse work is non dominant hand which I don't want to overuse. I dont want to use siri or anything wireless.

Any helpful hints and tips appreciated. Here's a couple of things Ive come up with.

- Column view in the Finder (which I use mostly) - instead of having to constantly adjust the width to see all the text, I can have them default to a new width by option/click/hold and drag the little resizing marks at the bottom of the column. Control clicking the " gives me 3 more options for resizing.

- setting up a complete new set of Key Commands using the easiest positions for this time and of course saving my current ones to be reinstated later. 
(some ideal keycommands are set by default for some things I dont use. These are ideal candidates!)

- Command/O to open anything (should've done this one many years ago)
 

[gacki]

I was in a similar situation last year. I'm normally right-handed but had to rely on my left hand solely for some months after surgery.

Things I tried:

• using voice commands (with Talon) - not much success so I abandoned this quickly
• using a browser extension for vim-like keyboard commands (still using this one)
• using a large trackpad instead of a mouse (worked better than a mouse for my left hand; however meanwhile I'm back to using an ergonomic mouse with my right hand)
• using "keyboard maestro" to construct single-key commands for repetitive tasks. Example: I'm using Sibelius to write scores; and one of my jobs was to insert fingerings. I created a number of key commands that would simply insert the fingering 1-5 for a selected note (instead of having to select the note, hit the key command for "Fingering" and then typing the number); this is something I did after my right hand regained some functionality. I was already using key commands as often as possible; however keyboard maestro opened lots of other functionalities here.

 

[Dynamic_Notes]

Thankyou for your input @gacki. Really appreciated and I hope you've had a full recovery.

Keyboard maestro seems to be coming up a lot. Going to check it out.

14 hours ago, gacki said:

vim-like keyboard commands

what is vim?

Thanks.

[gacki]

4 hours ago, Dynamic_Notes said:

what is vim?

It's a text editor based on vi.

The various extensions for web browsers (like vimium) in its spirit allow browsing nearly completely from the keyboard alone without mouse interaction. For example, if you hit the key "f" in your browser all links on the page get a shortcut which is overlaid; you then simply type this shortcut (typically up to three letters or numbers, often just a single one) to follow the link.

I found it very helpful for one-handed web browsing so I didn't have to switch between keyboard and mouse/trackpad all the time.

 

 

[Dynamic_Notes]

Thankyou for that.

[David Nahmani]

On 9/16/2022 at 1:47 PM, gacki said:

using a large trackpad instead of a mouse (worked better than a mouse for my left hand; however meanwhile I'm back to using an ergonomic mouse with my right hand)

Apple's magic trackpad is a wrist saver for me. I could not go back to a mouse now. 

One thing though, I disabled all pressure behaviors (Force click and haptic feedback) so that I never have to actually apply any pressure on the trackpad. I also went to accessibility settings and under Pointer Control, click Trackpad Options and enable dragging with three finger drag. 

At least that's saving my right wrist.