Universal Access makes it easier to use a computer if you have disabilities such as poor eye sight or hearing. But there are many features hidden away that can benefit other users as well.
One of these features is sticky keys. Sticky keys makes it possible to perform keyboard combinations hitting only one key at a time. To turn this on, go to System Preferences -> Universal Access -> Keyboard and switch Sticky Keys to On.
Now when pressing Command/Option/Control/Shift/fn you see the characters pop up on your screen.
That key is stuck there until you click your mouse or hit a different key. This allows you plenty of time to figure out the key combination.
If you have difficulty pressing 3 or 4 keys at once or you’re learning a new keyboard combination–this could be extremely helpful.
Let’s use an example. In Safari and make sure you have items on your bookmarks bar.
Press Command, let go and then press 1. You’ll see the first item in your bookmarks bar loads.
There’s a slightly different way to approach this as well.
Say you’re going to be using the Command key many times in a row. If you press it twice quickly it will get “stuck”. Now, any key you press after this will be in combination with the Command key.
So in this example now you can just press 1, 2 or 3 and Safari will load the different bookmarks. This is without using the Command key.
If you’re not used to this it can be a little difficult at first.
Sticky keys is great for those who have trouble pressing multiple keys at the same time.
However, sticky keys is also great for users just learning keyboard shortcuts. In no time you’ll learn the different symbols and be on your way to mastering OS X.
Thanks Brandon for the tip! Submit your own Mac Tip and get some traffic.
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