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January 31, 2007
Keyboard Shortcuts for Speed
What is a keyboard shortcut?
A keyboard shortcut is a combination of two keys (usually) which, when pressed simultaneously, accomplish a task. For example, if you wanted to copy some text, you could select it, and then move the cursor to the "Edit" menu, and select "Copy." Alternatively, you could select the text, and then use a keyboard shortcut to tell your Mac to copy it by holding down the APPLE key and pressing 'c' for copy. My convention for writing the "Copy" keyboard shortcut is "APPLE+c."
Why use keyboard shortcuts?
In a word - speed. While it may only take a second or two to move my mouse to select the "Copy" from the "Edit" menu, it probably takes less than an eighth of a second to accomplish the same thing using the keyboard. And if you are a laptop user like Mom, the time to move the cursor using the track pad on a laptop can get very long. Perhaps up to 4 or 5 seconds. So the gains in speed are even more dramatic.
How can a normal person learn all these arcane commands?
Half the problem is finding out what the keyboard shortcuts are.
Fortunately, the most useful ones are ideally placed: most items in most menus have the keyboard shortcuts listed right beside them. Like so:
Notice the weird looking characters running down the right side of the menu list? Those tell you the keyboard shortcuts for each command. Also notice that that squiggly clover leaf looking icon is also displayed on the APPLE key. Thus, we can see the keyboard shortcut for "Undo Typing" - hold the APPLE key and press the 'z' key. (Incidentally, the Apple key is actually called the "Command" key, but like many people, I find I get the "Command" and "Control" keys mixed up, so I call it the "Apple" key.)
The other half of learning keyboard shortcuts is remembering them.
Considering that knowledge is essentially familiarity, learning keyboard shortcuts is simply a matter of finding some way of forcing yourself to use them. You might try learning one a day. Or you might simply notice you are using the same command repeatedly on a particular task - say, copying and pasting text back and forth from one document to another - and take the opportunity to use the keyboard shortcuts for that task. You'll get the task done quicker and have learned 2 keyboard shortcuts.
I expect you'll also be glad to know that the shortcuts have been designed to make them easier to remember. Copy, for example, is APPLE+c - 'c' for copy. Cut is APPLE+x - the 'x' looks like scissors. Paste is APPLE+v - 'v' looks like the insertion symbol one might use marking up text by hand.
Another benefit: Windows keyboard shortcuts are pretty much the same as on the Mac. Windows shortcuts use the CONTROL key rather than the APPLE key. But otherwise, are pretty much the same, as far as I know.
Not only that, but on the Mac, keyboard shortcuts typically apply across all applications. APPLE+s is Save, no matter what application you are using.
In the next post, I'll give you an extensive list of keyboard shortcuts from Apple, as well as a revised list of the most common commands. So stop mousing around already!
Posted by Brad at January 31, 2007 11:33 AM
