Hotkeys would be nice.
With alchemy, just eat the ingredients to get the first effect of that ingredient. Then you can easily pair things and gradually learn the other effects. I never brew something until after I've eaten it. I'm actually surprised people are taking the time to do trial and error.
Yeah, forgot about the eating thing. I didn't even know about it myself until level 15 or so
I take the time because it levels your Alchemy skill, potions are worth a lot more than the individual ingredients if you choose to sell them, and I've always had a soft spot for Alchemy in previous Elder Scrolls games because of what a powerful and diverse skill it can be - very useful to any character type.