I think it would be fine either way but I feel a slight preference for the way it is in the screenshot.

My reason is that it lets me scan across from left to right to see what is different / similar in the different environments. That would be more difficult if the lists were on top of each other instead of side-by-side. (Think about drawing a line through the hotkeys which are all the same on a row. You can do it without crossing other hotkeys in the current layout, but transpose the layout and you would have to go through things.)

Maybe I'm strange for wanting to compare the different environments, though? I guess most people only care about one or two of them most of the time.

Having said that, perhaps it's more important to optimize the layout based on which axis you expect to be larger in general, since the pages dimensions aren't square.

I would prefer the table remain the way it is.  If the actions were across the top then the number of columns would be numerous. I think the current view is more logical as it is similar to TOC or an index.  I locate what I am searching for then scroll to the left to find the page or key-board short cut in this instance.  It would be nice if you can break it up into section/elements.  Not sure what would be the best way though.

I would say that maybe you could refactor a little bit to make it easier to read. For example, each cell in row A (Command Window) uses Ctrl-Alt-A. That might be better off as a cell with table span = 6 with alternates only in the rows where it matters.

It would cut down on visual clutter for the user and focus more on what is common rather than what is different.

I also prefer the displayed version. I can easily find the keystrokes I'm looking for in the particular version of VS I'm working in.

One more thing: The "two-keystroke" shortcuts (ex. Ctrl + W, A) can all be entered by typing Ctrl + W, followed by either A or Ctrl + A, right? It would reduce clutter if you only show "Ctrl + W, A" and write somewhere that "Ctrl + W, Ctrl + A" will also work.

This shows on my VS2010 Start Page as "An Error has occurred: 'Cannot set unknown member 'System.Windows.Contols.Image.Padding'.'Line number '1' and line position '680'."

The Resharper Keymap only shows commands as "Ctrl+R, R", for example. I think it would suffice if you have a large "Info-Box" at the start of the keyboard shortcuts part of the book where you explain this.

Hey Now Zain,

Readable shortcuts. Even the other way would be fine. Sure is good content to include

Thx 4 the info,

Catto

I prefer the way shown as well.  It reminds me of a product comparison chart where the columns are the different products and rows are different features you're interested in.  Also, given just a few settings, but potentially many shortcuts, it might be easier to fit on pages in the book.