Thanks for the tips. I like keeping my workspace as streamlined as possible. As an artist, my left hand is always hovering over the keyboard to access tools, menus, apps while my right has the wacom pen ready to paint, tweak, and adjust any menu that I spring open with a quick command.
I still don't know of a shortcut key to quickly hide all applications and have only the Finder active. Kind of like the "Windows+D" for desktop on a PC. Any tips on that?
I'm going through the sites of your suggested software. Thanks again. It's good to know I'm not the only one who likes to get straight to the point when it comes to OS navigation.
Ditch the Dock and Other Visual Clutter