Mouse Keys without a keypad: MouseGrid for keyboards

Usually (when using my keyboard), I only resort to Mouse Keys when there’s a noncompliant link or button on a webpage, that can’t be accessed by tabbing or typeaheadfind.linksonly in Firefox. Generally, these links and buttons tend to be large targets, and waiting for the cursor to get to the top of the screen to click a header, for example, can feel slow. I was thinking it would be nice if there were a way to jump the cursor to a rough area of the screen, so that reaching the target would be quicker with less holding down keys. So I went looking for one, and found MouseGrid. [Link at end of post]

MouseGrid is freeware that can be operated by both the numeric keypad (NumLock ON) and the regular number and punctuation keys. That makes it particularly useful for those using laptops or other keyboards without number pads, particularly if their Fn keys are not sticky. Those keyboards aren’t conducive to even using Mouse Keys, making MouseGrid a welcome alternative option.

MouseGrid does not install itself into any directory, and doesn’t show up in the Add/Remove Programs menu — it installs itself to wherever you’ve told your browser to download files. In my case, Firefox put it on the desktop. It doesn’t need to stay there; you can pin it to your start menu or copy and paste it into Program Files or whatever you want. Its lack of trace makes it good to copy to a flash drive, too. When you highlight the icon and press Enter, you will receive a warning about running the software. Before you tell it to run anyway, for your convenience, uncheck the box about always showing the message.

MouseGrid then appears on your screen as a 9 square grid, which is numbered according to the numeric keypad. Therefore, the uppermost left corner is 7, 2 is the bottom center, and so forth. Pressing those numbers will jump your cursor to that area of the screen, and the grid will shrink. If you keep pressing numbers, you will gradually zero in on what you want, and pressing 5 will click it. If you press F1 after the grid appears, you will see which clicks correspond to which keys — be aware that some are different from the Mouse Keys assignments. A particularly nice touch is that holding down the number keys will make MouseGrid mimic Mouse Keys; that is, you can press a key to get to the rough area, then hold one to go the rest of the way instead of having to keep narrowing the grid. Mouse Keys with a boost, basically — much faster.

I do find having to have Caps Lock on to keep the program active is annoying, particularly since if you exit when you don’t want to, there’s not really a smooth way to bring it back up. (NOTE: This doesn’t mean you can’t turn off Caps Lock temporarily to type text or something.) Pinning it to the start menu takes the fewest keystrokes, or you could create an AutoHotKey script and avoid the problem altogether by assigning an unused key or keyboard shortcut the job of bringing up the application. For example:

Pause::Run, C:/Program Files/MouseGrid.exe

The AutoHotKey approach is especially recommended if you always want to have the program running in the background just in case. Highlight the script icon and press Control C, then go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. Press Control V. Your script will now be pasted into that folder and will start automatically when you boot your computer, so that all you have to do is press the key whenever. MouseGrid can be downloaded here.

Save the numeric keypad — don’t trap the MouseKeys!

Once again, a popular technology article is useless to me. This time it asserts that the cursor keys on the number pad have no function. Obviously, it was written by a mouse user. Because you can’t send in letters to their editor anonymously, I am anonymously posting my hypothetical letter here just so I can vent.

Dear Mr. Kurtz,

I always enjoy your “Tech Man” articles. However, I wanted to bring your attention to something you said in “Keyboard makers should delete some useless keys,” regarding the cursor keys on the number pad. For those of us who are physically unable to use a mouse and depend on the keyboard, it’s actually crucial that the keypad and the NumLock key have 2 states. This is because many of us use the Mouse Keys Windows accessibility option.

The most important Mouse Keys setting is that it be active when the NumLock key is off. This way, what controls the blinking cursor for you controls the mouse cursor for us. For us, the arrow keys and the keypad arrows are not identical. If we try to use Mouse Keys when NumLock is on, we lose the ability to enter numbers with the keypad. This is often inconvenient because some of us also use the Firefox add-on Mouseless Browsing, which relies on the numeric keypad for accessing links and fields. Also, users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Windows Speech Recognition make use of the number pad (and Mouseless Browsing) in the same way to write voice command macros.

I mention this because computer designers generally listen more to able-bodied people, which sometimes results in decreased accessibility for disabled people in the name of “progress.” If keyboard designers started making such a change widely across their merchandise, it would make things needlessly less accessible.

Sincerely,

Hand to Mouth

How to use Windows Mouse Keys

I wonder sometimes if I get ahead of myself. A lot of times I don’t mention things that I think are very basic, simply because I’m so used to them. A case in point: the built-in Windows accessibility options. I frequently mention Mouse Keys, for example, but I’ve never posted on how to set it up, simply because I assume the keyboard user already knows, or has already looked it up in the Accessibility Options.  [EDIT: I have indeed posted the instructions before, but will leave this post up because it's more  to the point.]  However, it shows up in my stats often enough that maybe I’ve been too hasty. So, here are some Mouse Keys pointers.

1. Activate Mouse Keys = left Alt, left Shift, NumLock. (NOTE: you may want to activate the Sticky Keys feature first, if you haven’t already.)

2. Press Alt S, then Alt M.

3. Press Alt S to go into the configuration.

4. Use the underlined keyboard shortcuts to adjust the speed and acceleration of the cursor via the arrow keys.

5. One of the most important settings is whether you use Mouse Keys with NumLock on or off.

A. If you use Mouse Keys with NumLock on to control the mouse cursor, you will not be able to use the numeric keypad to enter numbers. In this setting, turning NumLock off lets you use the keypad to move the blinking cursor.

B. If you use Mouse Keys with NumLock off to control the mouse cursor, you will not be able to use the keypad to control the blinking cursor. In this setting, turning NumLock on will allow you to use the numeric keypad to enter numbers.

6. Use Tab or the shortcuts to press OK, then Apply, then OK.

Cursor movement is pretty self-explanatory — it corresponds to the arrows on the keys. Number keys without arrows correspond to diagonal directions, relative to their placement on the keypad.

Left click = 5

Right-click = -5

Return to left click mode = /

Double-click = +

Drag = 0, then a direction key

Drop = .

Scroll = Page Down/Up (or Space for down)

A reminder on Mouse Keys and Mouseless Browsing

Perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier based on my stats; I’m so used to it that it never occurred to me. Mouseless Browsing in Firefox DOES NOT conflict with the Windows Mouse Keys accessibility option if you have correctly configured the Mouse Keys settings. You must check the box for using Mouse Keys when NumLock is OFF. Then, to switch from Mouse Keys to Mouseless Browsing, just press NumLock. And vice versa.

The Integrated Keyboard, or Mousing with Maltron

The other day David Hostyk posted a very helpful comment on my “About” page concerning a program called Integrated Keyboarding. Presumably, it lets you use the letter keys to move and click the mouse cursor, a sort of more convenient Mouse Keys — a clever idea.

However, it doesn’t look feasible for the Malt layout because the motion commands are bound to certain letters, which of course are for a QWERTY keyboard. (I’m guessing it would be problematic in Dvorak also, but I don’t know.) But there is good news if you use a Maltron — you can already use the letter keys to control the mouse cursor if you want to. Simply enable Mouse Keys (left Alt, left Shift, NumLock), then press the red button under the function keys. Normally this would put you in numbers mode — making the letter keys replicate the numeric keypad — but since you’ve set the numeric keypad to replicate the mouse, your letter keys will likewise move the mouse. The directions correspond to the numeric keypad, so that you would find the direction on the letter keys looking at the number underneath. Like so:

F — left (4)
O — right (6)
M — up (8 )
T — down (2)
G — upper left diagonally (7)
P — upper right diagonally (9)
A — lower left diagonally (1)
E — lower right diagonally (3)
D — left click (5)
H — double-click (+)
- then D — right-click (- then 5)

If you want to drag or drop, reach over to the numeric keypad and press Insert or Delete, then move the cursor either by the keypad or the letter bank.

As far as Integrated Keyboarding, it still has potential. I’m wondering if it would work with an on-screen keyboard. I say that because if it did, it may enable a user to use the on-screen keyboard to control the mouse by switch scanning. There aren’t that many programs out there that let you do that — the only one I know of is from Gus Software, and it’s hideously expensive. So, if this program happens to work, you could conceivably create a Click-N-Type on-screen keyboard containing just those keys and thereby move your mouse with your switch. Pretty cool.

The Exterminator: Keyboard Shortcuts

I haven’t touched an external mouse in two years. One reason for this is keyboard shortcuts. (The other is a SmartNAV and dwell clicking freeware, which I will review shortly.) Keyboard shortcuts are so much quicker than a standard mouse.

Keyboard shortcuts (Alt [letter] or Ctrl [letter]) vary by application, so it’s impossible to give a comprehensive list. I’m going to focus on general navigation.

To open a program from the Start menu (Windows XP, or Vista in classic mode):

• Windows key
• the first letter of the program’s name, repeated if necessary until that program is highlighted. If repeated, Enter. If not repeated, program opens automatically.

To select and open an item, e.g. in Control Panel or the Desktop:

• Press the first letter of the item’s name, repeated if necessary, then Enter.

To right-click an item:

• Once you have highlighted it, press the menu key — the one with the picture of the mouse cursor on it. This will bring up the context menu for that item (“open with,” “properties,” etc.) In Microsoft Word or Open Office.org Writer, this is a shortcut to commonly used formatting options and or the spellcheck.

To expand a “plus sign box,” e.g. in Device Manager or Regedit:

• Once you have highlighted it either with the arrow keys or tabbing over to it, press the right arrow. To collapse, press the left arrow.

To click a checkbox:

• Use tab or arrow keys until you’re over the box
• press Space to check, again to uncheck

For those times when the tab, menu, and enter keys don’t work, and you can’t use a standard mouse, Mouse Keys can be useful. Shortcut: left-hand Shift, left-hand Alt, Numlock. If you’re using mouseless browsing and don’t want to mess with the numbers on the keypad, select “use Mouse Keys when Numlock is off.” This way you can switch between Mouse Keys and mouseless without altering anything.

Another occasionally useful tool is “snap to,” found in the Mouse option of the Control Panel. This will position your cursor over the default choice in a dialog box, e.g. “Yes” in Save Changes in Microsoft Word.