Why mouse-free?

Mouse-free is a state that you can do almost all of you work by using only the keyboard, so it is meaningful when you are frequently switching between keyboard and mouse/trackpad, where keyboard for editing and mouse/trackpad for navigation. In my opinion, mouse-free is only useful for programmer or word editor, and it is useless for gamer or graphic designer.

Mouse-free seems like a geek term, but its true intention is to refine your workflow, improve your productivity, and give more fun to your job. It is not necessary, but it is harmless to try.

What do we need?

First of all, there are many alternatives to my configuration. One should be open-mind and find the best way for yourself.

A good keyboard

This is not necessary, but a good keyboard makes you want to use it more, and that is the motivation to mouse-free.

Vim-mode editor

First of all, I said vim-mode editor instead of a software call vim. Vim-mode is an powerful editing pattern, which uses the alphanumeric keys and a few function keys, like ctrl, shift or tab, to do all the work of editing, navigating, modifying, and searching by using different modes. With vim-mode, you can achieve mouse-free for your editing work.

Quick Launch App

During programming, maybe we want to google something, so we will switch to the browser. Or we want to take a note, loop up something or chat with others, so we need to open other App. My practise is to launch all the App by searching and open, using spotlight or its alternative: Alfred. Furthermore, I defined some key combination for some commonly used App, like

So I can quickly switch between these App without any mouse click. This function can be achieved using the Alfred workflow or native Automator software. Here is the tutorial for automator.

Window management

To someone who are still using mouse to resize your window, there is better choice now. Normally, we just want to resize our window to some specific layout. For example, left-half and right-half, or maybe a quarter. Here is a free software to do that, Rectangle (Do not pay for these basic functions).

If you want to split your finder window, here is a powerful alternative, QSpace. This software makes me like finder, so I think it deserves the money.

Maximize your working area

As I mentioned before, I do not need to click to open App or any file, so I will hide the dock and this gives my extra working space. Another thing that annoys me is the menu bar, so I also hide it.

System preferences -> Docks & MenuBar -> Automatically hide and show the Dock
System preferences -> Docks & MenuBar -> Automatically hide and show the menu bar

Last word

This is one's personal preference to choose his/her workflow, and there is nothing right or wrong.