Fast-open (Fn-type-release)

[ryqiem]

Hi guys!

 

Just recently tried the new app Contexts which has the feature of quick-launch, ie.

 

Press Fn (or another pre-selected modifier key)

Type your query

Releasing Fn activates the query

 

I love this feature as it's so rapid, but in Contexts it doesn't allow for launching of apps. In Alfred I think it could be awesome to have for window-switching and app-launching.

 

What do you think?

 

Martin

[dfay]

I'm not sure I'd like holding down a modifier key while typing keywords and arguments.

[ryqiem]

@dfay Definitely agree! I suggest it's used for app-switching and -launching only 🙂

[vitor]

6 hours ago, ryqiem said:

@dfay Definitely agree! I suggest it's used for app-switching and -launching only 🙂

 

But Alfred doesn’t have a mode that just switches and launches apps. What you’re suggesting would require the introduction of a new mode of operation that is extremely similar to what’s already present (thus opening the possibility for user confusion), to arguably save a negligible amount of time on one specific task.

[ryqiem]

It's a small time-savings, yes, but it's also by far my most used task (100's of times a day). I imagine that goes for most users – but I don't have the data to back that up 🙂

 

 

[deanishe]

2 hours ago, ryqiem said:

It's a small time-savings, yes, but it's also by far my most used task (100's of times a day). I imagine that goes for most users – but I don't have the data to back that up 🙂

 

Nobody's questioning the utility of an app/window switcher feature, but rather the wisdom of adding a feature to Alfred that works in a fundamentally different way to all the existing ones.

 

The run-on-release aspect appears to be your favourite part of the feature, but nothing else in Alfred works that way. As such, it's extremely unlikely that any app-switcher feature would work that way, especially considering that Alfred already uses fn as a regular modifier for Hotkeys, meaning it would also interfere with existing functionality.