[X4U] Re: NeoOffice: is it X or Windows? I see yellow Folders!

[Timothy Luoma]

On Aug 22, 2005, at 12:08 AM, Michael Elliott wrote:

> On Aug 21, 2005, at 8:28 AM, Timothy Luoma wrote:
>
>
>>>  underlined single letters in the words describing the commands
>>>
>>
>> Apple should do so well to let people access the menus without  
>> needing to use the mouse!  A major failing of OS X in terms of  
>> accessibility and ease of use.
>>
>
> Um...how about
>
> control-F1 to enable full keyboard access, then control-F2 to shift  
> focus to the menubar.  Then simply type the first few letters of  
> the menu's name, it return, and keep typing letters to select  
> individual menu selections, until you hit the one you want, then  
> enter/return again.
>
> Not quite "underlined letters" but there you go:  no mouse.
>

I didn't mean to imply that it was not *possible*, just that Windows  
does it better, and that Apple should do as well.


For example, using this method, to get to the "View" menu in Mail  
(the app I'm using here) I have to press

ctrl+2
v
down-arrow

In Windows, it would be alt+v and the menu would appear instantly.

It's 1 step instead of 3.  And note that I'm assumed that CTRL+F1 was  
already enabled, as I leave it on by default.  Otherwise it would be  
4 steps to 1.

Not only that, but because Windows uses the ALT key (which exists on  
both sides of most keyboards), almost all of the commands can be done  
with one hand.

PLUS, once the menu is revealed, Windows also has keyboard shortcuts  
underlined for most submenu items.  So I can probably hit any command  
anywhere in the menus by pressing 3 keys (ALT+x to open the menu and  
then Y to select submenu option).

Meanwhile Mac users don't even have the menu options available to  
them (assuming the best-case scenario where there is only one menu  
item which starts with that letter.  For example, Mail.app has  
"Mailbox" and "Message" menus.  To get to the "Message" one, I would  
have to do

ctrl+2
m
e
down-arrow

where in Windows this would be solved by assigning a different key to  
the Message menu.


This is the only advantage I've found to using Windows over OS X in a  
year+ of usage, but it's still annoying and a shortfall of the  
"Everyone Will Use The Mouse" mentality that Apple has foisted on us.

Imagine you had difficulty using the mouse or your hands... which is  
going to be easier for you to use?

That's all I'm saying.

TjL