A mouseless tale: trying for a keyboard-driven desktop

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Tiling and keyboard-driven window managers

  • Many participants highlight tiling WMs (i3, sway, dwm, ratpoison, AwesomeWM, stumpwm) as strong bases for mouseless workflows.
  • PaperWM is seen as an interesting, more “scrollable” alternative; some like it because it lets you keep full-height apps (editor, browser, terminals) without cramped grid tiling.
  • Others stick with i3/sway mainly due to switching costs, not conviction that they’re objectively best.
  • Windows users mention komorebi + hotkey daemons as a way to approximate Linux-style tiling and deep keyboard control.
  • Mainstream OS tiling (Windows, macOS, KDE) is criticized as “half-baked”: tiling exists, but resizing one window doesn’t automatically rebalance others.

Browser and desktop keyboard navigation

  • Vimium is repeatedly described as transformative for web browsing; Vimium C noted as a faster variant.
  • Tridactyl is praised for combining link-hinting with better integration (e.g., editing text in real Vim, global keybind to escape Firefox pages where extensions are disabled).
  • There’s nostalgia for Vimperator; current Firefox extension limitations cause friction when plugins are inactive on some pages.
  • Qutebrowser attracts enthusiasm for deep keyboard control and scripting; downsides include weaker ad blocking and missing plugins.
  • On macOS, tools like Homerow, Shortcat, Contexts, and mouseless.click are mentioned as “Vimium for desktop” equivalents.

Ergonomics, hardware, and partial mouseless setups

  • Some reduce mouse movement via left-handed mousing, trackballs, or split keyboards with central trackpads/trackballs (UHK, Sofle, Svalboard).
  • A few were forced into mouseless use by hardware issues; with sway/i3, Vimium, Emacs, zathura, warpd, etc., it was tolerable but they still prefer having a mouse for apps that assume one.
  • Consensus that pointing devices remain superior for certain tasks (maps, complex websites); goal is minimizing, not absolutely eliminating, mouse use.

OS-level keyboard accessibility and regressions

  • macOS is criticized for poor default keyboard navigation (Bluetooth dialogs, alerts, some Settings screens). Full Keyboard Access and various shortcuts exist but are seen as undiscoverable and clumsy.
  • Windows is remembered as historically excellent (menu underlines, accelerators) but newer versions hide cues and introduce inconsistent snapping behavior.
  • Linux generally fares better, but dialog/tab navigation is still incomplete, especially in Electron apps.

Learning, workflow, and philosophy

  • Practices like “mouseless Mondays” help people discover shortcuts, speed up workflows, and expose product accessibility issues.
  • There’s debate over investing in app-specific shortcuts versus “eternal” skills like touch typing and Vim; others counter that custom, portable keybindings can be worth the effort.