How Keyboard Shortcuts Can Improve Your Life
I used to not be that crazy about keyboard shortcuts. I knew about them. I would use them sometimes when I was doing a repetitive macro-like task that involved the same actions over and over again on the same program; but then I would forget about those shortcuts in a good week or so. I knew they could be incredibly convenient and speed up the efficiency of my work, but I don’t think I realized to what incredible degree they could speed my efficiency.
A Brief History in my Competitive Starcraft 2
That was until I started playing Starcraft 2 competitively. For anyone unfamiliar with real-time strategy games, they require a series of tasks and split-moment decisions to be made at a ridiculous rate. Not only do you have to control units, you also have to create buildings, create units from these buildings, and initiate upgrades from these buildings.
You will quickly learn that trying to do all of this with your mouse (when in direct competition with someone else who wants nothing less than to destroy you) is quite silly. There’s really no point in playing the game if you aren’t going to use “hotkeys” and “control groups” on your keyboard.
From Starcraft to the Rest of Computing
Then I realized that if there’s no point in playing Starcraft without using keyboard shortcuts, why am I using so many other computer programs everyday and not using their keyboard shortcuts? Of course, some of this reasoning is probably due to the fact that when I open Adobe Photoshop, no one on the other side of the program is trying to destroy me. But when you think of it in terms of cost-benefit analysis, it really doesn’t make sense how so few people use their keyboards in every day computing and navigation.
Benefits of Keyboard Shortcuts
Time Management
The truth of the matter is that if you are spending more than an hour on any program each day, you should probably learn the keyboard shortcuts to that program. While it will only seem to make minor differences to your efficiency at first (maybe it takes you a minute less to do something on Photoshop), the compounded effect if not having to drag your mouse over, aim on a specific button on your screen, and click it will add days, if not months, to your free time.
Similar Shortcuts Across Multiple Programs
Best of all, many programs have very similar keyboard shortcut setups. For instance, if you press “CTRL + S” in just about any program that allows you to save files, it will save whatever file you currently have open. “CTRL + SHIFT + S” or sometimes “CTRL + ALT + S” will prompt a “Save As” dialogue usually.
Customizable Shortcuts
Also, in the odd case that you may want your keyboard shortcuts in one program to emulate the keyboard shortcuts of a program you’re more familiar with, many programs will allow you to do this through customizable keyboard shortcuts. For instance, I use a program called MediaMonkey as my music player. With MediaMonkey, not only can I assign keyboard shortcuts, I can make them “global,” meaning that they work whenever the program is open, even if it is minimized. So if I’m surfing the web and want to pause my music for a video, I press “ALT + SPACE” (the hotkey I customized for play/pause) to pause my music.
Tips to Learning Shortcuts
If you are working with extremely well-developed or ubiquitous software (like Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite), the best way to learn keyboard shortcuts is to hover over the buttons and functions you use on the program. Many programs (although not all, sadly) will reveal the keyboard shortcut of the button you hover your mouse over. This teaches you all the keyboard shortcuts that you would use in a very practical fashion. All you have to do is train yourself to stop clicking; hover instead, and use your keyboard until you have it imbedded in your muscle memory.
For programs that do not have this hover function to reveal keyboard shortcuts, I recommend taking a look at a list or chart of their shortcuts. Look for the actions that you use the most, and if there is any action that you don’t recognize, don’t worry about it. Odds are you don’t use it enough to warrant memorizing the shortcut. The best way to find these keyboard shortcut charts and lists is to simple Google them. Even if you can’t find a manual from the manufacturer, you may find a blog post with useful shortcuts instead. In some cases, blog posts pointing out shortcuts can be more useful than manuals and charts because they tend to focus on the most useful shortcuts.
Author Bio:
This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at accredited online colleges about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.Labels: Blog tips, Blogger, Tech News
If you are working with extremely well-developed or ubiquitous software (like Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite), the best way to learn keyboard shortcuts is to hover over the buttons and functions you use on the program. Many programs (although not all, sadly) will reveal the keyboard shortcut of the button you hover your mouse over. This teaches you all the keyboard shortcuts that you would use in a very practical fashion. All you have to do is train yourself to stop clicking; hover instead, and use your keyboard until you have it imbedded in your muscle memory.