Why should you consider the hotkey switching approach?
Tags: tooling, productivity
Published: 2023-10-16 03:06:06


## Introduction
Have you ever wondered why it takes so long when you are in the middle of something and you want to open another app or go back and forth between selected apps, e.g. VsCode - Chrome?
This is due to the attention needed to switch to another app. This is not a big deal if you don't deal with many apps on your day-to-day tasks, but unfortunately, that is not the case for most of us.
You could improve your workflow greatly by eliminating the required attention if you configure hotkeys for your favorite apps.
Let's dive in, shall we?


## The why?
Imagine how slow our typing would be if [_touch typing_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_typing) was never invented. Of course, we all would be typing slowly but also it would take a lot more effort to constantly switch our sight between the screen and the keyboard. It would be _exhausting!_

A small excerpt from Wikipedia on one of the advantages of touch typing,

> "[Reduced switching of attention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_typing#Reduced_switching_of_attention)
> A touch typist does not need to move the sight between the keyboard (that is obscured with fingers and may be poorly lit) and other areas that require attention. This increases productivity and reduces the number of errors"

**Well, what does any of this have to do with improving your workflow?**

It takes a lot of effort for us to switch between the apps that we use daily and which we constantly juggle many times a day. But we don't realize it as we are so used to it. You don't have to drain your energy if you put our "touch typing" trained muscles to use.
_Note: You can still adapt this workflow even if you are not an expert with touch typing. It's certainly easier if you know your way around the keyboard._


## The how?
The only step is to configure different hotkeys for your favorite apps using a tool such as [Raycast](https://www.raycast.com/), [QuickSilver](https://qsapp.com/), [Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/), or similar.
E.g. Configure "option+b" to open the browser, "option+v" to open the VsCode, and so on. Once the configuration is done, press the hotkey and you can see the respective app opens instantly.

_Here is an example configuration in Raycast, you can find my other configurations at the bottom of the post._
![Example hotkey setting for notes](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wyel9zm7rnggnozw6k9r.png)


This may take some time to get used to, **but you will power through the apps without losing your attention to the task at hand once it sets in your muscle memory.**


### What's wrong with the de-facto way?
  You may wonder why should you use this approach as you are already comfortable with the traditional approach(es). Because it's slow, not precise, and it doesn't scale!!

**Fullscreen the apps**
  This might be the widely used approach. Although you can fullscreen your favorite apps and quickly swipe to the desired app, you still need to visually process and move through the apps. This approach works better if you are only using one handful of apps (albeit taxing) and it becomes slower with more apps.

**Switching apps using the dock**
 You will have to move your mouse pointer an arbitrary distance depending on the pointer location, to the desired app in the dock. It's understandably slower and not the best approach!

**Cmd+Tab(ing)**
  This works decently if you only have one handful of apps open. But it becomes slower as you have more apps opened and when you need to switch frequently.


### My configurations

| Application      | Command |
| :---             | :----:  |
| Notes            | ⌥+N     |
| Brave browser    | ⌥+B     |
| Calendar         | ⌥+C     |
| Slack            | ⌥+L     |
| VsCode           | ⌥+V     |
| Sublime Merge    | ⌥+M     |
| Postman          | ⌥+P     |
| Figma            | ⌥+F     |
| Wrap (Terminal)  | ⌥+T     |
| Spotify          | ⌥+O     |
| Zoom             | ⌥+Z     |

I use Raycast and here is the [user guide to adding hotkeys](https://manual.raycast.com/command-aliases-and-hotkeys).
_Tip: You can also choose different hotkeys that are easier to access for you._


That's all folks, I hope you found this useful. This is my first post and I appreciate if you have any feedback. Cheers!