Themes and keyboard shortcuts in Pulse by Zaweba
Switch Pulse by Zaweba between light and dark with Ctrl+T, jump between its five pages with Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+5, and close the window with Esc.
Small things decide whether a program feels comfortable, and Pulse by Zaweba keeps a few of them close to hand. You can switch between a light and a dark theme with one key combination, jump to any of its five pages without touching the mouse, and close the window in a single press while Pulse carries on in the tray.
Light or dark
The View menu switches between the light and dark themes, and Ctrl+T does the same from the keyboard. Pick whichever suits the room and the time of day. Dark is easy on the eyes in the evening or alongside a game with a dark screen. Light is often clearer in a bright office or on a laptop by a window.
The graphs, tables and temperature tiles all follow the theme, so the colour bands on the Temperatures page and the two-colour Disk and Network graphs stay readable either way.
Jumping between pages
Pulse has five pages, and each has its own shortcut. Ctrl+1 opens Live, Ctrl+2 Temperatures, Ctrl+3 History, Ctrl+4 Alerts and Ctrl+5 Settings. The numbers follow the order of the pages, so they're easy to remember after a day or two.
These shortcuts are most useful when you're chasing something down. A typical run might go like this. You notice the fans, press Ctrl+2 to check the temperatures, Ctrl+1 to see which app is busy right now, and Ctrl+3 to see whether the same thing happened yesterday. Moving between the three without reaching for the mouse keeps your attention on the numbers.
It also helps when you're showing someone else what their PC is doing. Rather than hunting through menus while they watch, you can move from page to page in a second and keep the conversation on what the numbers mean.
Ctrl+4 is a quick way to read the Alert log after a notification, and Ctrl+5 takes you straight to Settings when you want to change how long history is kept or turn on sensor readings.
Closing with Esc
Press Esc and the window closes, while Pulse keeps running in the tray. It's the fastest way to put Pulse away once you've found what you were looking for. Because the window is really closed rather than hidden, Pulse stays light in the background, and its history and alerts carry on as normal.
When you want it back, the tray icon's menu has Open Pulse, plus Temperatures and History to open straight on those pages.
Getting into the habit
The easiest way to learn the shortcuts is to use the menus for a while and notice the keys listed beside each command. Most people pick up Ctrl+1 and Esc first, since checking the Live page and closing again is the most common thing you'll do. The others follow naturally.
None of this changes what Pulse measures. It just makes the program quicker to use, which matters for a tool you open in short bursts many times a day. Pulse by Zaweba is designed for exactly that kind of use: open it, look, act, and close it again.
