It’s no secret that using your keyboard for commands is faster than switching over to your mouse. This is even true in Macland, even though the mouse is used moreso than on the PC.
I often use the shortcut to access the Address Bar whilst browsing the web. On IE5/PC, this was Alt-D. Nice, and almost logical, given that D is the second letter of the word "address". When I started using Opera 5 for more than simple tasks, I found that the address bar shortcut was F8. F8? I didn’t see any logic in that one. Nevertheless, both Alt-D and F8 were burned into my brain.
When I switched over to IE5/Mac, I found that occasionally something would pop up in my Favorites menu. I had no idea how things were getting there, until I realized something very simple: the "Add to Favorites" shortcut was Apple-D. Now, really… this is the same browser, just on a different platform, and you’re telling me you can’t standardize that? (Yes, yes, I know there are technical differences. But it’s still IE.)
So what’s the proper shortcut? It’s Apple-L, presumably for the L in URL. Fine. But now I have to reorient myself for each browser I use – and I haven’t even mentioned Netscape 6.1. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if the X, C, and V keys weren’t standardized as Cut, Copy, and Paste.
So what key should we make the Address Bar shortcut? I say Control-D or Apple-D. But it could be Alt-Ctrl-U for all I care; let’s just pick something and stick with it. -pm
Posted in Technology