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If there’s one area where macOS has lagged behind Windows for decades, it’s in making all menu items accessible using the keyboard by default (not forcing the u

If there’s one area where macOS has lagged behind Windows for decades, it’s in making all menu items accessible using the keyboard by default (not forcing the user to go to Settings and setup a shortcut, which is very nice). In Windows, pressing Alt and then the underlined character in a menu name and then a submenu name would be the easiest way to get to things without even knowing any other shortcuts. On the Mac, many menu items don’t have shortcuts attached to them. To get to the menu bar using the keyboard, you have to hit Cmd+F2 and then use arrow keys to navigate — it’s useful when you can’t use the mouse or trackpad, but it’s highly inefficient. I’ll list just one example of not having default keys for menu options. In Preview, you can adjust the size of an image from a menu option. But that specific menu option, among others, does not have any shortcut. If you need to access it via the keyboard, your choices are to use Cmd+F2 and then crawl around or go to Settings and setup a shortcut for it (playing around to avoid conflicts with any system wide shortcuts).

eps 7y ago
Windows doesn't assign accelerators to all menu items, a programmer who writes the program does. If you don't take care of this, explicitly, there'll be no accelerators. There's plenty of programs that are like that.
- newscracker 7y ago
  Late reply. I know that developers assign the specific key for each option on Windows, but the fact is that if you take a bunch of commonly used Windows programs and compare them with a bunch of commonly used Mac programs, you'd find the Windows ones a lot easier to use with a keyboard. I have been using both Windows and macOS (and its earlier versions) everyday for a long time, and I see the keyboard accessibility as a comparative deficiency on macOS (though I like how easy it is to assign custom shortcuts from System Preferences).
- innocenat 7y ago
  I remember back then accelerators setting were highlighted in all programming books I have read.
  - coribuci 7y ago
    > I remember back then accelerators setting were highlighted in all programming books I have read. ... back then. Now this is not cool anymore.
- int_19h 7y ago
  One of the long-standing problems with Windows is that, despite the existence of fairly detailed UX guidelines for the platform, they are routinely ignored by developers targeting it. Worse yet, many aren't even aware that those guidelines exist.
wingerlang 7y ago
Are you aware that you can search the menu from the help area? Or just cmd-shift-?
- newscracker 7y ago
  Late reply, but that's still very slow and cumbersome compared to hitting Alt and then a couple of keys on Windows. I can give more examples. The default on Mac, for a very long time, has been to not allow tab to navigate all controls in windows and dialogs (the default is only text boxes and lists). This has to be changed by the user in System Preferences. Another point on keyboard support is how it's missing on macOS in certain places. An example: Download a DMG file of an app that's already installed (say you're doing a manual upgrade), open it using Cmd+Down Arrow, and then copy the app into /Applications (let's assume the keyboard is used for this entire flow). If your user account is not an administrator, you'd get a dialog to authenticate first, and then another dialog in response to the fact that an app with the same name is already there in /Applications, with options to Keep both versions, Stop the operation or Delete the older version. On macOS Mojave, I find that this dialog cannot be navigated using the keyboard at all (hitting tab or space or Enter does nothing)! The trackpad is the only way to respond to it. I have never seen this kind of behavior on Windows dialogs, whether they're from an application or from the OS (for UAC or other permissions).
  - wingerlang 7y ago
    If I go by my family, I don't think using purely keyboard is something normal users would be doing anyway. So it is possible that they simply have not found it necessary to add as default (I say this as someone who uses a lot of keyboard, and custom shortcuts).
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- nkkollaw 7y ago
  Maybe he's not. Also, if he's not it kind of proves the point of the article.
m463 7y ago
You can turn on keyboard access for all kinds of navigation. Look under accessibility.

eps 7y ago

Windows doesn't assign accelerators to all menu items, a programmer who writes the program does. If you don't take care of this, explicitly, there'll be no accelerators. There's plenty of programs that are like that.

newscracker 7y ago
Late reply. I know that developers assign the specific key for each option on Windows, but the fact is that if you take a bunch of commonly used Windows programs and compare them with a bunch of commonly used Mac programs, you'd find the Windows ones a lot easier to use with a keyboard. I have been using both Windows and macOS (and its earlier versions) everyday for a long time, and I see the keyboard accessibility as a comparative deficiency on macOS (though I like how easy it is to assign custom shortcuts from System Preferences).
innocenat 7y ago
I remember back then accelerators setting were highlighted in all programming books I have read.
- coribuci 7y ago
  > I remember back then accelerators setting were highlighted in all programming books I have read. ... back then. Now this is not cool anymore.
int_19h 7y ago
One of the long-standing problems with Windows is that, despite the existence of fairly detailed UX guidelines for the platform, they are routinely ignored by developers targeting it. Worse yet, many aren't even aware that those guidelines exist.

wingerlang 7y ago

Are you aware that you can search the menu from the help area? Or just cmd-shift-?

newscracker 7y ago
Late reply, but that's still very slow and cumbersome compared to hitting Alt and then a couple of keys on Windows. I can give more examples. The default on Mac, for a very long time, has been to not allow tab to navigate all controls in windows and dialogs (the default is only text boxes and lists). This has to be changed by the user in System Preferences. Another point on keyboard support is how it's missing on macOS in certain places. An example: Download a DMG file of an app that's already installed (say you're doing a manual upgrade), open it using Cmd+Down Arrow, and then copy the app into /Applications (let's assume the keyboard is used for this entire flow). If your user account is not an administrator, you'd get a dialog to authenticate first, and then another dialog in response to the fact that an app with the same name is already there in /Applications, with options to Keep both versions, Stop the operation or Delete the older version. On macOS Mojave, I find that this dialog cannot be navigated using the keyboard at all (hitting tab or space or Enter does nothing)! The trackpad is the only way to respond to it. I have never seen this kind of behavior on Windows dialogs, whether they're from an application or from the OS (for UAC or other permissions).
- wingerlang 7y ago
  If I go by my family, I don't think using purely keyboard is something normal users would be doing anyway. So it is possible that they simply have not found it necessary to add as default (I say this as someone who uses a lot of keyboard, and custom shortcuts).
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
nkkollaw 7y ago
Maybe he's not. Also, if he's not it kind of proves the point of the article.

m463 7y ago

You can turn on keyboard access for all kinds of navigation. Look under accessibility.