A Numbers Game

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re: A Numbers Game

Francis — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:12:08 GMT

Good idea!

However, some of the posters raised a good point. If users can trigger a ribbon action by pressing and releasing ALT and then the appropriate letter/number key, why must they hold down CTRL for keyboard shortcuts?

Why is ALT sticky for accelerators but CTRL not for shortcuts?

This reminds me of vainly explaining to users why one must double-click on icons when they sit on the desktop but single-click when they are in toolbars/menus.

re: A Numbers Game

Chris C. — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:42:12 GMT

Jeff wrote: I don't understand why you say "You can't require the user to hold down Alt unfortunately."

I don't think "unable" means that it isn't possible for them to do it in the app. I think he means that the learning curve is very steep (because users are used to press and release)

I learned the mouse in the "Mac" world so I'm used to holding down the [ALT] when using menu shortcuts. In fact I only learned a couple of years ago that it isn't necessary (from a post similar to this one in fact)

Most people (that I know; in the US) don't know about [ALT]+0149, (etc.) Otherwise you'd see more smiley faces :•) , :×) , and ¶·:
(This'll look darn stupid if those characters don't hold true in the post :·)

FWIW

re: A Numbers Game

Jeff — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:46:12 GMT

I don't understand why you say "You can't require the user to hold down Alt unfortunately."

To enter special characters using Alt and the numberpad you have to hold down Alt and type a four digit number, then release Alt to complete the insertion.

Is it because the KeyTips appear on screen as soon as you hit Alt? Does that visual feedback somehow prompt users to release the key in a way that the lack of visual feedback from the traditional Alt + numpad combinations do not?