Well, not cover up so you can’t see it!

OK, you’ve gotta love CS5 as your best main digital darkroom, right?
There are so many tools at your disposal, that it boggles the mind.
Sometimes literally.
Now if you work in Final Cut Pro, you’ve seen keyboard shortcut covers before. Why go to the drop down menus every time you need a tool that you use all the time?
Yes, we know there are shortcut keys, but do you remember them all?
We don’t either.
So, as soon as we put this silicon KB Covers CS5 keyboard cover on, we saw all of our main working tools, right in front of us.
Plus the regular QWERTY keyboard functionality was all there.

It covers the keys, it doesn’t reprogram them.

First of all, they fit easily onto the keys, and have a good matte finish to them, making moving around the keyboard just like before: easy.
Each key has 2 CS5 functions, plus letter/number or symbol as usual, and the secondary Photoshop use is neatly spelled out in an italic font, off to the lower right of the keys.
It did take just a small bit of time to shift the thought process from drop down to keyboard, but it has sped up the general workflow.
Strangely enough, there are certain functions that we didn’t call on much in the past that have been explored.

And somehow they’ve figured out a good color scheme to separate the letters, so you do seem to get color coded rhythm.

We also checked out the Lightroom version, which while useful, was not as robust in functionality, but did cover our main workflow needs. Just the way Lightroom set out the shortcut keys determine key function.

It’s the more complex workings of a program like CS5 where you’ll see the true value of these covers.

You can see the full range on their site,

These are made for numerous programs and crafted to fit on your full desktop keyboard, as well as separate covers for your laptops.
Once you get used to them, you’ll either want to keep em on all the time , or travel them in the plastic it came in.
The prices are right, and they run between $30-$40 per skin.

Even if you just want to simplify your OSX shortcuts, or yes, get the shortcuts for Final Cut X ( oh, Apple, why? ), they can take care of you.

Plus you don’t have to worry about spills on your keyboard. ( Anyone remember the Pepsi Syndrome?)

PLEASE NOTE: It’s all for Apple computers

We are putting out a buy recco on this product.