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I started to use a Mac for work a few months ago, first time in my life. I am still often frustrated with keyboard shortcuts, despite having installed a dedic

I started to use a Mac for work a few months ago, first time in my life. I am still often frustrated with keyboard shortcuts, despite having installed a dedicated software to not feel in such an alien place. Sure there is a lot of muscle memory you can blame here. But how does it happens that the default OS doesn't provide the software option? Brew is nice, but here too it's community work filling the hole of the default. I miss the home, end and del key on the integrated keyboard. The only way to shutdown the integrated screen and still have the camera usable is to duplicate the screen and diminish brightness to zero. Or use a magnet. Seriously? No key to show the contextual keyboard. Where is my select and paste with middle click, outside iTerm2 (community provided)? Why is there no straight forward way to browse the actual file path in Finder, when a shortcut allows to copy it? It's possibly the file manager that made me feel the most clueless in my life. It is not like everything is utterly horrible, but I was very surprised at how frustrating it could be as a daily driver. I didn't discovered anything that I would miss from it when I go back on something as basic as a vanilla Gnome.

kitsunesoba 4y ago
> Why is there no straight forward way to browse the actual file path in Finder, when a shortcut allows to copy it? In Finder, selecting View > Show Path Bar will place a persistent path bar on each window. Additionally command clicking the proxy icon that appears when hovering over finder titlebars will open a path menu (and also works in any application with a proxy icon in its titlebar). To go to a path, select Go > Go to Folder… or tap Command-Shift-G. This can be rebound to a more convenient shortcut in System (Preferences|Settings) > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts. Command-Option-C will copy the path of the currently selected item to the clipboard.
- psychoslave 4y ago
  Wonderful, thank you so much. :)
breakfastduck 4y ago
Option + arrow / cmd + arrow does exactly the same as end / home etc, if you've just not found that yet. I always find it interesting when people complain about keyboard shortcuts on macOS - but I feel exactly the same when I use anything else. macOS keyboard shortcuts are amazing and os-wide. But they're not made obvious. Its really kinda snobbish that apple just assume you know them they treat it like 'because obviously youve used a mac forever'.
- ndrake 4y ago
  And if you're used to Emacs/Readline keybindings, those will work in most Mac text inputs
- Tsiklon 4y ago
  Incredibly useful document for the new mac user with experience on other platforms - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201236 https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201236
- tambourine_man 4y ago
  They aren't obvious on Windows either, are they? Keyboard shortcuts are mostly a pro user thing. And don’t get me started on the way that OS inserts special keys. How do you insert ® on Windows? Alt-01whoCanRemember? On the Mac it’s usually something that makes sense like Option + R. Ç? Option-C. ƒ? You guessed it.
  - kitsunesoba 4y ago
    I remember Mac-style mnemonic shortcuts for special characters way better than I do alt codes. If I were building a Mac style DE that's probably one of the features that would be added.
    - tambourine_man 4y ago
      Of course you do. Some of the things being discussed here are a matter of preference and/or habit. But remembering a the first mnemonic letter vs 4 random digits is indisputably easier.
wtallis 4y ago
> The only way to shutdown the integrated screen and still have the camera usable is to duplicate the screen and diminish brightness to zero. Or use a magnet. Seriously? Can you describe what your use case for this is, because this complaint sounds truly bizarre to me. You want to use the webcam at the top of the laptop display, while not using the laptop display itself, but using a separate display (and thus presumably not looking anywhere near the webcam)? Are you pointing the webcam at something other than yourself? > No key to show the contextual keyboard. What do you mean by contextual keyboard? > Where is my select and paste with middle click, outside iTerm2 (community provided)? The first-party Terminal provides that feature, too. But the rest of the OS doesn't natively.
- psychoslave 4y ago
  Well, I use the webcam for visio calls. So I'm not completely facing the camera usually, indeed. I meant contextual menu. The only way to open in it in a Mac arms seems to be to use the secondary mouse button. My bad for the paste in the terminal. I moved to an other terminal for an other reason I can't remember right now. But yeah it is the middle click in general that I miss. To be fair, Windows doesn't provide it either.
tambourine_man 4y ago
>I miss the home, end and del key on the integrated keyboard. What do you mean? They’re all there on apple extended keyboards and are accessible via fn key on laptops. I mostly use command/option arrow keys, which, along with shift are also an amazing Mac feature. >The only way to shutdown the integrated screen and still have the camera usable is to duplicate the screen and diminish brightness to zero. Or use a magnet. Seriously? I don’t know if I understand you but you can turn the screen off without sleeping in multiple ways, like keyboard shortcut (Ctrl-Shift-Eject) or assign a screen hot corner for the mouse. > No key to show the contextual keyboard. What? >Where is my select and paste with middle click, outside iTerm2 (community provided)? It’s not a thing. I use it for exposé. Sounds barbaric to select with the middle button pressed though. Your dexterity goes out the window. >Why is there no straight forward way to browse the actual file path in Finder, when a shortcut allows to copy it? There are a couple. Straightforward might mean accustomed to, tough in this context. >It's possibly the file manager that made me feel the most clueless in my life. It is not like everything is utterly horrible, but I was very surprised at how frustrating it could be as a daily driver. The Finder leads a double life. It inherited traits from both the classic Mac OS (spatial Finder) and the NeXT (column browser). And it shows. Both can be very powerful but their coexistence is confusing at first.

kitsunesoba 4y ago

> Why is there no straight forward way to browse the actual file path in Finder, when a shortcut allows to copy it? In Finder, selecting View > Show Path Bar will place a persistent path bar on each window. Additionally command clicking the proxy icon that appears when hovering over finder titlebars will open a path menu (and also works in any application with a proxy icon in its titlebar). To go to a path, select Go > Go to Folder… or tap Command-Shift-G. This can be rebound to a more convenient shortcut in System (Preferences|Settings) > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts. Command-Option-C will copy the path of the currently selected item to the clipboard.

psychoslave 4y ago
Wonderful, thank you so much. :)

breakfastduck 4y ago

Option + arrow / cmd + arrow does exactly the same as end / home etc, if you've just not found that yet. I always find it interesting when people complain about keyboard shortcuts on macOS - but I feel exactly the same when I use anything else. macOS keyboard shortcuts are amazing and os-wide. But they're not made obvious. Its really kinda snobbish that apple just assume you know them they treat it like 'because obviously youve used a mac forever'.

ndrake 4y ago
And if you're used to Emacs/Readline keybindings, those will work in most Mac text inputs
Tsiklon 4y ago
Incredibly useful document for the new mac user with experience on other platforms - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201236 https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201236
tambourine_man 4y ago
They aren't obvious on Windows either, are they? Keyboard shortcuts are mostly a pro user thing. And don’t get me started on the way that OS inserts special keys. How do you insert ® on Windows? Alt-01whoCanRemember? On the Mac it’s usually something that makes sense like Option + R. Ç? Option-C. ƒ? You guessed it.
- kitsunesoba 4y ago
  I remember Mac-style mnemonic shortcuts for special characters way better than I do alt codes. If I were building a Mac style DE that's probably one of the features that would be added.
  - tambourine_man 4y ago
    Of course you do. Some of the things being discussed here are a matter of preference and/or habit. But remembering a the first mnemonic letter vs 4 random digits is indisputably easier.

wtallis 4y ago

> The only way to shutdown the integrated screen and still have the camera usable is to duplicate the screen and diminish brightness to zero. Or use a magnet. Seriously? Can you describe what your use case for this is, because this complaint sounds truly bizarre to me. You want to use the webcam at the top of the laptop display, while not using the laptop display itself, but using a separate display (and thus presumably not looking anywhere near the webcam)? Are you pointing the webcam at something other than yourself? > No key to show the contextual keyboard. What do you mean by contextual keyboard? > Where is my select and paste with middle click, outside iTerm2 (community provided)? The first-party Terminal provides that feature, too. But the rest of the OS doesn't natively.

psychoslave 4y ago
Well, I use the webcam for visio calls. So I'm not completely facing the camera usually, indeed. I meant contextual menu. The only way to open in it in a Mac arms seems to be to use the secondary mouse button. My bad for the paste in the terminal. I moved to an other terminal for an other reason I can't remember right now. But yeah it is the middle click in general that I miss. To be fair, Windows doesn't provide it either.

tambourine_man 4y ago

>I miss the home, end and del key on the integrated keyboard. What do you mean? They’re all there on apple extended keyboards and are accessible via fn key on laptops. I mostly use command/option arrow keys, which, along with shift are also an amazing Mac feature. >The only way to shutdown the integrated screen and still have the camera usable is to duplicate the screen and diminish brightness to zero. Or use a magnet. Seriously? I don’t know if I understand you but you can turn the screen off without sleeping in multiple ways, like keyboard shortcut (Ctrl-Shift-Eject) or assign a screen hot corner for the mouse. > No key to show the contextual keyboard. What? >Where is my select and paste with middle click, outside iTerm2 (community provided)? It’s not a thing. I use it for exposé. Sounds barbaric to select with the middle button pressed though. Your dexterity goes out the window. >Why is there no straight forward way to browse the actual file path in Finder, when a shortcut allows to copy it? There are a couple. Straightforward might mean accustomed to, tough in this context. >It's possibly the file manager that made me feel the most clueless in my life. It is not like everything is utterly horrible, but I was very surprised at how frustrating it could be as a daily driver. The Finder leads a double life. It inherited traits from both the classic Mac OS (spatial Finder) and the NeXT (column browser). And it shows. Both can be very powerful but their coexistence is confusing at first.