Getting Started
Layouts and Navigation
The reading desk mental model
Cardmaniacs is built around a persistent sidebar, a card list, and a reader. Navigation moves your selection across destinations (Unread, Read Later, Bookmarks collections) while layouts control how much space each region receives.
Think of navigation as where you are, and layout as how you see it.
Primary destinations
These shortcuts jump to top-level areas on macOS:
| Shortcut | Destination |
|---|---|
⌘0 | Home |
⌘1 | Feeds |
⌘2 | Read Later |
⌘3 | Bookmarks |
⌘4 | Starred Read Later |
Starred Read Later (⌘4) is a filtered view of your queue, not the same as starred feed articles or starred bookmarks—those live under their respective modes.
Sidebar modes
Switch the sidebar's organizational context:
| Shortcut | Mode |
|---|---|
⌘⌥R | RSS (feeds and article folders) |
⌘⌥L | Read Later |
⌘⌥B | Bookmarks |
Within each mode, click folders and smart lists in the sidebar, or use the command palette (⌘K) to Go to a specific collection—Unread Articles, In Progress, Highlights, PDFs, Starred Bookmarks, and more. Most granular destinations are palette-only (no dedicated shortcut).
Focused vs Triage layout
| Shortcut | Layout |
|---|---|
⌘⌥1 | Focused — reader-first |
⌘⌥2 | Triage — list-first |
Focused suits deep reading sessions: one article, minimal distraction, optional focus mode (⌘⇧F) to hide remaining chrome.
Triage suits feed processing: scan titles, batch select, mark read (⌘E), archive from the palette, and open the next item with ⌘↩.
Focus handoff and keyboard flow
Power users move focus between regions without the mouse:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌃L | Focus cards (card list) |
⌃Tab | Cycle focus (sidebar ↔ cards) |
⌘↩ | Accept — open selection in reader |
⌘[ | Go back |
⌘] | Go forward |
A typical keyboard loop: ⌘1 Feeds → ⌃L focus list → arrow keys to select → ⌘↩ open → read → ⌘E mark read → ⌃L return to list.
Sidebar visibility
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘⌃S | Toggle sidebar |
Hide the sidebar in Focused layout when you want a near-full-screen reader. Toggle it back when you need to change destinations.
Card list density
Adjust card thumbnail and text scale:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘⌥= | Card size: zoom in |
⌘⌥- | Card size: zoom out |
Card size: actual size resets zoom from the command palette.
Command palette vs actions palette
| Shortcut | Surface |
|---|---|
⌘K | Command palette — global commands and Go To |
⌘⇧A | Actions palette — selection-specific actions |
Use ⌘K when you know the command name (“Go to PDFs”, “Import OPML”). Use ⌘⇧A when you have items selected and want archive, move, highlight, or read-later actions.
History and deep links
⌘[ and ⌘] navigate backward and forward through your in-app reading history—similar to browser back/forward but scoped to Cardmaniacs navigation, not the in-article web view.
Opening Open in Browser (⌘⌥O) sends the original URL to your default browser when you need the live page.
iOS and iPadOS navigation
- Tab bar or sidebar (size class dependent) replaces some
⌘0–4jumps - Swipe back replaces
⌘[where applicable - Command palette may be available from the toolbar on iPad with external keyboard
- Drag and drop between split views on iPad for side-by-side reading
Refer to platform tooltips in-app when a macOS shortcut has no iOS equivalent.
Related commands
Settings: ⌘,
Refresh feeds: ⌘R
Mark all as read in current context: ⌘⇧R
Move selection: ⌘⇧M (Move… in the catalog—not “Move to folder”)
Next steps
- Keyboard and Commands — full shortcut tables
- Feeds and Syndication
- Read Later