Many pieces of software today are going to great lengths to improve the GUI... ribbon bars, Right-Click menus, etc.
That may be nice, especially for new users and people who don't understand computers, but we shouldn't forget the power of keyboard shortcuts.
If I assume I never let go of the mouse because I'm using a CAD or Drawing-type application, and I'm not using anything fancy like a 3D mouse in the left hand, that leaves my left hand resting on the keyboard and ready to instantly start commands.
For keys in Home Row, you can create
560 3-key combinations
120 2-key combinations
016 1-key combinations
696 total commands
this is for the following keys
qwert
asdfg
zxcvb
[Space] (16)
Back in the day I had a killer PGP file for AutoCAD that leveraged about 200 of those options to make me really, really fast. Only 50 of them were used very often, and I still remember them, they're so embedded now. Too many programs now take away my screen space for icons and forget that a daily user will eventually be able to memorize a few shortcuts and be much more efficient than a mouse-clicker.
No comments:
Post a Comment