Keyboard
Long-time Mac keyboard advocates have reason to rejoice—Mac OS X is by far the keyboard-friendliest Mac OS ever released. Not only do you have access to the Terminal (Chapter 15), which is about as keyboard-centric as you can get, but the graphic world of Mac OS X now sports a number of features designed to make it easier to manipulate from the keyboard.
Full Keyboard Navigation of Your Mac
Granted, the mouse is a significant invention, but at heart, it’s still a rodent. And rodents are pests. In short, the mouse slows you down. So if you’d like to exterminate your mouse and strictly use the keyboard for selecting buttons, navigating lists, and handling other onscreen elements, this hint is for you.
Open System Preferences → Keyboard & Mouse → Keyboard Shortcuts tab, and activate “Turn on full keyboard access.” From now on, pressing Tab will jump you through every screen element that will accept your interaction (as shown by the highlight surrounding each element when you Tab to it). Hitting the Space bar once a screen element is selected is the equivalent of clicking on it with the mouse.
Tip
Once you’re in a menu, simply type the first few letters of a menu item to jump right to it. Then hit Enter to select it.
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