Keyboard shortcuts can be overwhelming at first—especially when they are inconsistent across various websites, but once mastered, are an enormous time saver. Plus, you’ll look like a computer wiz in front of your friends and family, who will then allow you to be their go-to computer tech. A win-win situation!
Google Search
Keyboard navigation is enabled by default in Google Instant, simply use the up/down arrow keys to navigate through the search results. Highlighted results will have a small blue arrow next to the title. Pressing right with a result selected will open the site preview, and pressing the enter key will open the link. Google Instant can be toggled with the menu located to the right of the search box on any result page.
Gmail, Reader, and Calendar
Google has an expansive set of keyboard navigation controls for many of their products. Comprehensive lists of available commands can be found below. Keyboard navigation for Gmail must be enabled in your settings.
The Reddit Enhancement Suite adds full keyboard navigation to Reddit, allowing users to quickly preform common tasks with a quick keystroke. Available for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.
Twitter has added native keyboard navigation with their recent redesign, below is a full list of available shortcuts.
Dropbox
Under “Account Settings” in the web interface, check the “enable file browser keyboard shortcuts” box. A list of available shortcuts can be found by typing “?” from the home window.
Universal Navigation
If you really want to get serious about completely ditching the mouse, try the Keyboard Navigation extension for Google Chrome, which assigns an alphabetical key combination to every link. It has the unfortunate side effect of being absolutely hideous (though, it can be quickly disabled), but it gets the job done.
