I’m very interested in a UHK because I’d like a split keyboard with a mouse built in.
I am generally wondering which module would be the best fit for someone who switches tabs and windows frequently though. I’m not a programmer or developer but I do a significant amount of typing and multitasking. In other words, I’m not sitting in one program for very long most days.
I am not lookint for extreme levels of precision, more for the option that works best as a traditional vertical or trackball mouse. I also don’t tend to use the additional extra buttons built into specialized mice, just scroll, left, and right click.
Most use keyboard shortcuts for that. You can define whatever is convenient for you. I have Alt-Tab on Space-key (hold) + D-key for example.
If you like trackballs, order it. I personally prefer trackpoints, which allow to cover a large screen area, without much effort. Scrolling can be done in several ways as well. I like to use the trackpoint for that as well – Mod-key (left) held down.
You can even use the mouse layer, without any modules, which is not a full mouse replacement but works (a bit slower to use, but reliable) for basic mouse functions you name.
I agree with previous statements: switching windows and tabs are easily handled by keyboard shortcuts; especially if you have your hands on the keyboard for typing, it feels very natural to just hit some key combos to change to the previous tab, next window etc.
If you don’t like the default keymap, you can easily map your preferred keys or key combinations to produce Alt-Tab (switch to next window), Alt-Shift-Tab (switch to previous window), Ctrl-PgDn (switch to next tab), and Ctrl-PgUp (switch to previous tab).
For moving the actual mouse pointer, I am very used to trackpads on laptops, so that’s the main reason why I added a trackpad module to my UHK.
Echoing the sentiment of others above, keyboard shortcuts are the way to go. Both ALT-Tab and then ALT-Arrow keys for browser navigation, or CTRL-PageUp/Down for tab navigation, all of which could be bound to a single key if you prefer.
Also I’d like to advocate for mouse keys. I ordered both the trackball and the touchpoint module, ended up using the touchpoint module the most, and now I use neither. Instead I now exclusively use the mouse keys function mapped to a layer.
FN4 is mapped to the left spacebar key. I use this layer both for mouse and arrow key navigation, as I do a lot of text editing. I have it toggleable though I almost exclusively just hold it. The right shift is to slow the cursor down for those times where I need more precision, like grabbing a window border.
I also have a right handed capable mouse layer that I toggle on/off with the right mod key or the left side key between Super and ALT:
This is almost exclusively used to short interactions like changing a Youtube video. I needed a right handed version toggleable for one handed operation. My dog will often sit in my lap while I’m watching stuff so two handed operation would disturb her.
And then finally my pointer speed settings in my desktop environment, KDE:
I originally started using these because I was having wrist issues with the trackpoint, as the wrist rest is not long enough to comfortably use with my long fingers. After a while I got used to it (and dialed in my settings) and now I find I actually prefer this over any other form of mouse input.
I have some extra bindings that show in here that are mostly just leftover experiments from me dialing in my ideal layout (like the mod key and alt-tab on the mouse layer)
