Archive for the ‘Keyboard Shortcuts’ Category

Use Text-To-Speech (”Start Speaking Text”) in Firefox

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

A few days ago I made my yearly move from Safari to Firefox. It starts up quicker for me than Safari and web pages load 2-3x faster.

However, I was stumped today when I wanted my Mac to read me a Flash 101 tutorial. I went to Firefox -> Services -> Speech, but “Start Speaking Text” was grayed out.

text to speech in firefox.jpg

After a quick Google search I found a simple 2-step solution (thanks to aynmensch @ mozillazine): setup a shortcut key for “reading selected text” which can be evoked within Firefox.
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Popularity: 7% [?]

Browse Files Using the Arrow Keys in Quick Look’s Full Screen Mode

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

A new hint was posted today on Mac OS X Hints explaining how to re-gain use of the arrow keys in Quick Look’s full screen mode. The solution worked but I thought that there had to be a better, quicker, easier way.

So, I started trying various other keys when in Quick Look full screen and I stumbled upon a much easier solution:

[video solution after jump]
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Popularity: 8% [?]

Jump Directly to Safari’s Search Box

Monday, September 15th, 2008

Just heard this great shortcut mentioned on The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab Podcast:

In Safari, Command+Option+F will bring you directly to the google search box.

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Although this is listed in the Edit menu, I never noticed it before and it beats my old method, Command+L (url bar) then Tab.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Create Bookmark Folder While Creating New Bookmark in Safari

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

In Safari, when you create a new bookmark by pressing Command+D or by clicking the “+” icon in the toolbar you see this pop-up window:

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As a highly organized bookmarker, not having the option to make a new bookmark folder from this pop-up is a big pain. As you can see, I’m bookmarking a motorcycle helmet, but don’t have a folder for “Helmets.”

BTW… a sub-hint here is that you can click the folder list (”Computers” in the above image) and start typing the first letters of the folder you want to appear instead of finding it manually in the list.

However, the problem this hint fixes is when you don’t already have a folder. The hint is that at this pop-up window, you can press Command+Shift+N – this will automatically open a new “Organize Bookmarks” window and create a new bookmark folder, ready to be named:

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Just put the folder where you want, go back to the original bookmark pop-up menu, and select the new folder you just created.

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Popularity: 7% [?]

New Leopard “Sleep Display” Shortcut

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

Picture 6.pngAs you probably know, I’m all about shortcuts and using the keyboard instead of the mouse to improve efficiency and productivity. Well, there’s a new shortcut in Leopard just for sleeping the display (I did have a hot corner setup, but this is faster and easier): Shift+Control+Eject

Popularity: 5% [?]