Surely though, one configures things like exposure, contrast, blacks, whites etc on rotary knobs?
So the basics are at your fingertips.
I looked up the kyboard shortcuts, there are a hell of a lot!
I also looked up LR keyboards.
Another rabiit-hole to look into.
You need to select the few that will make the most difference to your workflow,and then add new ones into memory over time
I found that using the develop panel in solo mode and then using (on a Mac) Cmd+O, Cmd+1 etc to open individual tools to be a massive time saver.
However, I much prefer the way Capture One does this, where for example, you can hold the "Q" key down and then use the arrow keys (or a pen or finger on a tablet) to adjust exposure. Nearly all adjustments; exposure, saturation shadows etc have an assigned key and I find this a really quick and easy way of working, without ever going near the tools panel (the adjustment settings pop up when you make any changes).
I am unaware of anyway of doing this in Lightroom, and if I routinely used LR, I would probably do what you are doing, and look for a control panel with knobs or sliders. I am aware of people who used to to use an external control box, who stopped using them after C1 introduced these "speed edit" keys.
But even learning half a dozen keyboard shortcuts can make a big difference, you just need to work out which ones to learn first. Once you get into keyboard shortcuts they tend to become obvious. ie you realise which actions are the most tedious and annoying, and make the effort to find or create a keyboard shortcut.
