I might be missing something here but I don’t know how other launchers could possibly make this a simpler process.

Shortcuts to launch an app directly in example. So my keyboard becomes my launcher.

I use bunch of different tools, including KRunner (on KDE) and previously Rofi. These type name and search tools for launching an app have the problem that you need to remember what name the tool was. For programs I use often this is not an issue, but not all applications have names good to remember and not all of them are used often. The associated description helps, but sometimes I don’t know what words to type.

Therefore I “need” the app menu with categories and favorites, to navigate with the mouse through. And the most used applications are usually assigned to a shortcut and my panel on the top. In short I use mostly all of these techniques as an application launcher (in that order):

1. favorites on panel and my keyboard shortcuts
2. app menu with categories, navigating with mouse
3. run tool to search for app name and description (also integrated into the app menu)
4. additional helper scripts to search and launch programs in the terminal

Edit: Forgot to mention that some of the launchers I use are custom made scripts for the terminal.