Is there a shortcut for selecting the desktop?

Solution 1:

Use cmd⌘tab⇥ to select Finder. Or as I prefer (I find it faster), you can use spotlight to bring up Finder (just search for it and hit enter).

• If you don't have any Finder windows open already, then the Desktop will be selected. It won't reveal itself (like F11 does), but entering the first character of an item on your Desktop and opening it with cmd⌘+O will work. Preview with Space also works (as would be expected, because, well, the Desktop is selected).

• If you already have Finder windows open, they will be brought to the foreground and selected first. Then use cmd⌘` to cycle through Windows (of course you can close them with cmd⌘W if you don't need them anymore), until you can see that none of the foreground windows are selected. That means the desktop is now selected (but again, it won't reveal itself from behind any other windows that may be covering it, unlike the F11 shortcut does).