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Using this to bring up something related, which I have always wondered: How do you orient your hands when performing ⌘+Z/X/C when using a Mac keyboard? Which fi
by chao- 13y ago
Using this to bring up something related, which I have always wondered: How do you orient your hands when performing ⌘+Z/X/C when using a Mac keyboard? Which finger presses the ⌘?
Having used Windows as a child and Linux for many years since, I'm sure a large part is "you get used to whatever you use". However, any time I borrow a friend's Apple laptop to demonstrate something, I always waste a few cycles thinking about just how I should really be dealing with the keyboard, and never really settle on an answer.
At its core, I love the idea of the ⌘ key: Something for shortcuts in GUI applications so that Ctrl can remain for sending Unix Signals. But it's position, combined with the lack of discrete Home, End, PgUp, or PgDn, is a majority of what keeps me from buying a Macintosh laptop. Also the whole function key deal. The keyboard is such an important source of my productivity.
- reubenmorais 13y agoI, and all OS X users I know, use the thumb to press command. I rarely need to use home/end, since control-A and control-E work in all text fields. PgUp and PgDn are fn+up/fn+down, but I never use those.
- chao- 13y ago>I rarely need to use home/end, since control-A and control-E work in all text fields. Interesting. If I can remember that and keep it in mind, I'll be far less jumpy and clunky next time I'm typing on a Mac. Thanks! On the note of PgUp and PgDn, I suppose I mostly use them for tab navigation: Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDn works as a "Next Tab" and "Previous Tab" in pretty much every tabbed Linux application I've used. I recall it being almost universal in Windows as well. Is there an OS X equivalent shortcut for Next/Prev Tab?
- zarify 13y agoI tend to just thumb it (the left side one, I only tend to use the right one for the command-delete trash shortcut), same as I do with alt- shortcuts on Windows layout keyboards. I find the mental shift from using command on OS X to Ctrl on Windows pretty easy to do, but then I spend a lot of time on both platforms. One of the things I find quite difficult to mentally adapt to when switching is the behaviour of the Enter key, since in Windows it is open, and in OS X it is rename (which I find much more useful, since you can command-down arrow to open which is used for folder navigation with command-up for opening the parent folder). There are a bunch of little-advertised command key shortcuts for Home, PgUp, etc too, so you figure out a way to make it work pretty quickly (some work inconsistently though, I tend to mainly use the word/line based stuff rather than page/document). See http://ss64.com/osx/syntax-keyboard.html http://ss64.com/osx/syntax-keyboard.html .
- chao- 13y ago>One of the things I find quite difficult to mentally adapt to when switching is the behaviour of the Enter key, since in Windows it is open, and in OS X it is rename (which I find much more useful, since you can command-down arrow to open which is used for folder navigation with command-up for opening the parent folder). For future reference, you can rename in Windows/Linux using F2. Works in Windows Explorer, and in most Linux file browsers that I have tried, though who could ever claim to have used them all? ;) As for [Modifier]+Down to enter a folder, that makes a lot of sense and I like it. The last time I used a Windows machine (Win7 I think), I noticed that they had finally adopted Alt+Arrow navigation in Explorer. Alt+Up goes to the parent folder, same as Linux (and OS X it seems!), and Alt+Left/Right goes backward/forward in folder history. I'll probably try and add Alt+Down to one of my Linux file managers sometime, because it makes much more sense than having to switch to Enter for going into something, and Alt+Up to go back out.
- zarify 13y agoThanks for that, I didn't know about Alt-Up (and had always been annoyed at the removing of the parent directory button in Win7). F2 is one I'll have to remember too. Context menus and click-pause-clicks are annoying.
- opinali 13y agoMy Mac Keyboard rant: https://plus.google.com/115308028547191805295/posts/7YQfngLPHdp https://plus.google.com/115308028547191805295/posts/7YQfngLP...
- parbo 13y agoYou can make it so that F-keys are F-keys by default, and the other actions require Fn. It's in the settings.
- npsimons 13y agoThumb, and incidentally, mine is remapped to Alt/Meta for better Emacs support. I'm not a big fan of the Apple key layout either, but the reason I use an Apple keyboard with Emacs in Cygwin is that it just feels right. Maybe it's because I've been using laptops for such a long time, but something about the pitch and the tactile feedback just seems to hit a sweet spot. Plus, I guess compared with the other HP, Dell and Logitech crap we have around the lab, it's probably the best option (at least for me).
- zeckalpha 13y agoOn the Mac, the Ctrl key can be used for Home and End using the Emacs/bash keys (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-E). I'm also a thumber.