[Macworld]

Post your comments for Six unexpected uses for the arrow keys here

[WarrenS]

I moved an arrow I know not where
its in the finder i'll look there.
Up and down and back and forth
the selection moves to south from north.
My mouse abandoned stands idly by
while I give this hint a worthy try.
I set convinced near my screen
this new hint is really keen.

[lhudd]

Seriously... doesn't EVERYBODY use the arrow keys for 1-5? How is selecting the next thing in the finder with the arrow key unexpected? What did you think those keys did?

[johnnylundy]

The bigger question is "Why does Safari require TWO keystrokes to select something for which there is only one choice?"

Why doesn't it just fill it in like it used to? If it's not what you want, just keep typing.

[kbradnam]

Item 5 is not quite correct. If you have iTunes in cover flow mode, then pressing the left or right arrow keys just cycles through the albums being displayed in the cover flow view, and doesn't change the song being played. In this situation you need to use Command + arrow keys.

[Speed_Racer]

#3 is hardly unexpected. It's been that way for every browser I can remember using in the last 15 years.

[tatilsever]

If you did not expect "3", who typed your resume to apply for this job?

If you talked about command-arrow or alt/option-arrow combinations for scrolling, that could be useful, but just arrows???

[whitedog]

lhudd, on 28 November 2011 - 09:14 AM, said:

Seriously... doesn't EVERYBODY use the arrow keys for 1-5? How is selecting the next thing in the finder with the arrow key unexpected? What did you think those keys did?

No, they don't. In fact, in my experience most people haven't go a clue - especially about numbers 2 and 4 - which is why articles like this on Mac basics are helpful. Indeed, most keyboard navigation techniques are a mystery to most people, including perhaps the most important one, using the Tab key instead of reaching for the mouse to change the insertion point from one field to another in a form.

It's simply the case that few people ever take a class in computer basics, even the ones Apple offers in Apple Stores with a new Mac purchase. There are now some decent tutorials available through the Mac App Store, but I suspect even these reach no more than a small minority of users.

This post has been edited by whitedog: 29 November 2011 - 05:46 AM

[venividivici]

Six Real unexpected uses for the arrow keys:

1. Rubik's cube chip replacements
2. Bunny teeth costume accessories
3. Anti-theft device
4. Wedge mechanism
5. As square puck for desk hockey
6. to replace any other key your keyboard may be missing

All other uses are expected!

[SharonZardetto]

No one has ever written poetry for me before!
If you didn't mean it for me, just let me go on believing.

[SharonZardetto]

venividivici, on 29 November 2011 - 11:17 AM, said:

Six Real unexpected uses for the arrow keys:

1. Rubik's cube chip replacements
2. Bunny teeth costume accessories
3. Anti-theft device
4. Wedge mechanism
5. As square puck for desk hockey
6. to replace any other key your keyboard may be missing

All other uses are expected!

Love 1 through 6. As for the last - you don't see as many naive users as I do. Or the ones just stuck in a rut of point-and-click.

[SharonZardetto]

lhudd, on 28 November 2011 - 09:14 AM, said:

Seriously... doesn't EVERYBODY use the arrow keys for 1-5? How is selecting the next thing in the finder with the arrow key unexpected? What did you think those keys did?

Seriously, everybody doesn't. I watch even long-time users always tediously point and click to what they want to select in icon view. Granted, a reminder that Tab selects the next alphabetical file in the window regardless of its position, as I wrote in another article, is cooler, and less known, but this collection of basics has its audience.

Often these kind of tips are for the person who, if you tell them "Okay, now DO NOT TOUCH THE MOUSE/TRACKPAD but select the next icon" easily figure out an arrow key will do it. But they totally don't think about using keyboard controls for something they're used to using the mouse for. They might be keyboard hounds in apps, but in the Finder they never take off the training wheels.

Likewise the menu control: If a user knows there's keyboard menu control, using the arrow keys comes intuitively. But many people are totally unaware of the option at all.

As for expanding/collapsing folders in list view - nope, this is not something most users ever think to experiment with (and 99% of how-to's will say to "click the little arrow in front of the folder, so how do they ever find out?).

[SharonZardetto]

tatilsever, on 28 November 2011 - 07:48 PM, said:

If you did not expect "3", who typed your resume to apply for this job?

If you talked about command-arrow or alt/option-arrow combinations for scrolling, that could be useful, but just arrows???

I haven't done a basics article in a long time about easily typing accented letters for words like résumé; perhaps I should put it on the list. OTOH, perhaps the correct spelling has fallen out of favor because of some Francophobic agenda so you're on or ahead of the curve.

The unexpected part of this collection, as stated in the beginning, is that the "bare" unmodified arrow keys can be useful for more than moving a text insertion point. This is obviously a for-beginners or for-stuck-in-a-beginner-rut users, so chillax, for heaven's sake! We Macworld writers strive to serve the full spectrum of users.

[SharonZardetto]

johnnylundy, on 28 November 2011 - 09:53 AM, said:

The bigger question is "Why does Safari require TWO keystrokes to select something for which there is only one choice?"

Why doesn't it just fill it in like it used to? If it's not what you want, just keep typing.

This two-step approach came in with Safari 5.1 as a security measure. I think it had something to do with autofill providing information that could be triggered and then snagged by a nasty site without your cooperation button thru a tricky maneuver that typed a letter into one of the fields, forcing an autofill from your Address Book and sucking the information from the page. But it can't automate the process of typing a letter and then clicking on the popup, so this can't happen behind your back anymore.