Archive of January 13, 2009
I am a die hard keyboard shortcut user. Strong keyboard shortcuts in an application are a requirement, not a bonus.
Despite this, I believe we are on the verge of a shift in the way machines and people communicate. Increasingly, it is about touch rather than type or movement.
Originally, computers were almost exclusively controlled through text (command line interfaces). This was (and is) highly efficient but not very user-friendly. With the advent of the GUI, pointing became the dominant form of input for most users. Hardcore geeks still use the keyboard as much as possible, but the average user is tied to the mouse.
With the development of multitouch technologies, we are able to get the benefits of both the keyboard and mouse. Multitouch has proven to supremely efficient, in comparison to the keyboard and mouse. Additionally, there is nothing more natural-feeling than multitouch; your touch immediately creates an appropriate response from the computer.
In terms of consumer products, Apple has proven to be a pioneer in multitouch development. Both the Apple laptop lines and iPhone lines now include multitouch support.1
When I bought my first Apple laptop, one of the features which truly stood out to me was the ability to scroll with the trackpad. The gesture is elegant and simple, with none of the cumbersome wheels or pointing of other laptops: to scroll, just swipe two fingers.
Despite this, I always felt that Apple wasn’t truly exploring the potential of multitouch. Enter MultiClutch.
Essentially, MultiClutch allows anyone using one of the newer MacBook or MacBook Pro models to assign gestures for keyboard shortcuts. The power this creates is immense, limited only by your imagination.
Right: My current MultiClutch configuration
I currently have MultiClutch configured to quickly swap through spaces, control my music, and hide applications. These gestures help me to control my environment with minimal interruption.
Though there is a plethora of potential configurations, one of the most useful is the ability to quickly swap though a multitude of windows even on a small laptop screen. Hopefully, this technique will prove useful in your workflow as well.2
To begin, download MultiClutch. Once downloaded and installed, head to the new “MultiClutch” panel of the preferences.
In this panel, you need to add four gestures. To add a gesture, click the small plus sign in the bottom right. Then select the dropdown in your new command and choose an appropriate gesture. Finally, double click the “key command” field and press the appropriate key combination. The mappings I use in my setup are relatively straight-forward:
- Swipe left → command + left arrow
- Swipe right → command + right arrow
- Swipe down → command + down arrow
- Swipe up → command + up arrow
Above: The Spaces preferences panel, as I have it configured
After you have configured MultiClutch, you must configure Spaces. You can do so in the Exposé & Spaces panel of system preferences. Check the box to enable spaces and add an appropriate number of spaces. (I use nine.) Then, at the bottom, chose two keyboard shortcuts to hop between spaces. I recommend using control (^) and arrow keys. With this enabled, you will be able to switch spaces by holding control while pressing the appropriate directional key. Your swipe gestures now will work perfectly.
You can now use nine screens, even on a small laptop. To move from screen to screen, just swipe with three fingers across the trackpad. You will then switch to the space in that direction. This technique has a distinct science fiction feel to it, but is also highly efficient.
Multitouch, combined with Spaces on Leopard, makes a small laptop screen 9 times “bigger.”
What potential do you see in MultiClutch? What gestures do you use? On another note, would you like me to do more or fewer of these techie-type posts?