By Graham K. Rogers

There are many sources online that show how users may get the best out of keystrokes possible on Macs and OS X. I recently wrote about using allocating keys in OS X Mavericks, Keyboard Preferences and followed that with a minor change that Mavericks had brought with specific keystrokes for switching keyboards.

The use of keystrokes is an important way for power user to be at their most efficient: using a key combination is much quicker than resorting to a mouse and the pull-down menus. It is also valuable to know certain key combinations for processes when a Mac is started up. A number of links are available at the bottom of the page.

While most users will be content with using the default key combinations for tasks when working in applications, there are some power users who will want to take this further and remap keys: changing them to have new functions.

An article I came across this weekend - Remapping Keyboard Keys on Mac OS X Mavericks by Matthew Palmer - covers this in some considerable detail. This may be useful for those who build and run apps. As such it does require some technical skills as well as the use of an application specifically for the task.

Matthew's clear explanations of the syntax used for making such changes to the necessary files may be a little complex for some not used to coding or command line work. Those who are capable of, and interested in such work will find this a useful resource.

Key Commands on a Mac

Key Commands on a Mac (2): Startup keys and Some Suggestions for Their Use

Key Commands on a Mac (3): More Startup keys and Suggestions for Use

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.