Questions tagged [keyboard-shortcuts]
key combinations that allow quick access to certain functionality, often used for power users or command line interfaces.
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What is the most popular shortcut used for custom in-page search on a web site?
I am looking to use javascript to trigger focus on a search field inside a web page when a keyboard shortcut is pressed.
People dislike it when ctrl-f is overridden, because it prevents the user from ...
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Confirmation of delete triggered by Delete key shortcut
My webapp has a list of notes. Deleting a note is comparable to deleting a file. The underlying storage does not currently allow a trash-can paradigm (undoable delete). So, deleting a note is a two-...
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How to indicate window focus without being too subtle or too heavy handed?
My application has a window that shows the waveform of an audio sample and the text transcript of that audio:
(Sorry for the extreme blur, but this is proprietary software and I'm advised not to ...
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Simultaneous vs sequential key combinations
Some programs use sequential key combinations: screen, ratpoison, vim: you press a key and release it and now you press the command key.
Others use simultaneous keys e.g. firefox quits with ctrl+q.
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Navigate with tab key and use text editor with tab key
We have an application that includes a text editor.
As you know, it is a good practice on the web to let the user also navigate with the tab key (WCAG 2.1.1, 2.1.2).
My question is that if you need to ...
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Is it acceptable to allow users to navigate through web fields using arrow keys?
The scenario: A 20+-year-old legacy desktop system is being uplifted to a SaaS/web platform. Each screen contains a large amount of input fields. Traditionally, users have built "muscle memory&...
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Do people use the browser search to search for text (use CTRL + F) on websites?
There is this old article from 2011 that says 90% of People Do Not Use CTRL+F (based on actual user research). About every single recent article I could find uses this article as the basis:
Ctrl-F: ...
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Help on separating terms in autosuggestion [duplicate]
I was working on a solution where we introduce an autosuggestion component to our users so we can enable them to fill the required information in a better way. This list use more than 1000 words in ...
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Is there a standard keyboard only method of removing focus from all HTML form inputs?
When navigating an HTML form using Tab, a properly designed form will allow that all interactive elements are accessible and focusable, but how does one break out of the focus using the keyboard?
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Idiom for global shortcuts on mobile devices
I have a mobile web app and there are two different modes for viewing content and the user may frequently toggle between them. I'd like to provide a very convenient way for the user to request this ...
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How to implement keyboard shortcut modes in a complex, paneled application?
My application is a fairly complex desktop app (for Windows) and looks like this:
(other than the image obfuscation and the numbered bullets, which I added as annotations just for this question).
So ...
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How to best display Shortcut Keys on Windows app?
I'm building an app which offers a standard workflow: the user selects or enters the name of a Source file, then a Destination file, then sets or generates a password, and hits the Go button to ...
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Video game main menu tab navigation mapping for PC
The tab navigation menu is very common for console video games. It is usually mapped on LB/RB buttons (Xbox).
I wonder what would be the most intuitive mapping for PC keyboard?
In Windows, this ...
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In a Desktop application, should the recent file list placed directly in the file menu
A desktop tool mostly offers recent files. I am used to press Alt+F and then 1 to open the first recent files. It seems that I learned it from Notepad++. I thought it was a "platform convention&...
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Browser shortcuts statistics
Im looking for some statistical data about using shortcuts in Chrome or any other browser. What users use the most and the least? haven't found anything on the web, anyone got an idea where can I get ...
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Shortcut Key for OK Button on Dialog Box with Grid
In a desktop app, I have dialog boxes that contain one or more small grids, various other simple controls, as well as the usual OK/Cancel buttons. Grids pose a problem to the usual use of Enter as a ...
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Which event type is preferable for keyboard interactions, "key up" or "key down"?
When implementing keyboard interactions, platforms provide two kinds of event: "key up" and "key down". For example:
The browser provides keyup and keydown.
macOS provides NSEvent....
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Is there a specification for OS-default mouse and keyboard text navigation and selection behavior?
On desktop platforms, each OS has a (relatively similar) set of behavior for text input navigation and selection. Some simple things include moving the cursor left, right, up, and down when tapping ...
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What to focus on after row deletion
I'm designing the keyboard navigation for a table/grid. Each row in the grid has a "delete this row" button. After a button is activated and the current focused parent row of the button is deleted, ...
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Correct Terminology for windows: keyboard preferences
This is a UX/documentation issue combined with a "what the heck" windows issue; hopefully this is the right place to post it, I couldn't find a stackexchange site focused on documentation.
In my ...
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Setting a shortcut to change focus to a different section in a web app?
Let's say you have a web app with 3 sections. A left nav menu, a toolbar/settings section, and a main application area. Most of the time, the user will be engaging directly with the application, and ...
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Behavior of Tab in a form
Is there a case where it makes sense to use Tab to trigger a search with a long form of search criteria?
I work on complex applications in the medical field and the dev team wants to go from hitting ...
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Understand if user needs an undo and redo button always visible on the UI
So we have an app where users can undo or redo their changes using the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Shift + Z. There is no button available on the UI for them to do this. Only the keyboard ...
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Popups default focus on button - best practice
Do we need to auto focus on any one of the buttons inside a popup? Since, some users prefer keyboard to interact with the application.
For example: Confirmation popups in destructive actions like ...
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Can Alt key alone be used as a modifier in web apps? Eg: alt + >, alt + k, alt + a
I am working on a chat application and it is a web app. I tried mapping few keyboard shortcuts to Alt + modifier in Windows. To my knowledge, I didn't find any application using only Alt as a modifier....
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How should I bind the "Save as..." option in my application if I have multiple of such options?
I'm writing an application to edit behaviour trees. The application has individual trees, but also a collection of all of the trees in our application. I have a toolbar which has two "Save as..." ...
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Need an interface for rapid selection without losing focus on primary task
In my application, the user needs to listen to a transcript of a conversation while taking notes. But the user ALSO needs to be able to indicate in some way when the speaker changes.
I have the note ...
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Windows: is there a common hot key to favorite an item?
As per title: I have a list with "favorite" markers for its items, I want to add a keyboard shortcut to toggle the favorite status of an item.
is there any typical keyboard assignment in commonly ...
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Keyboard Shortcut For "Delay"
I'm currently building a web application which does task management.
A very common function is to "delay" the current task, which means it will be postponed until some point in the future. There's ...
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Is there a universally recognizable, OS agnostic glyph for the Super key?
The reason I'm asking is trivial, but I can't come up with a better place to ask.
I bought a keyboard that has Super keys with the vendor logo printed on them.
I've been meaning to replace them with ...
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Keyboard shortcut to activate speech recognition
Is there any kind of standard keyboard shortcut to activate speech recognition in a web application? If not I'd be interested in what people think about adopting "Alt + S"? Or better ideas. This would ...
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Override browser shortcuts
The company that I work for is suggesting that we override browser shortcut CTRL + S in our single page app to apply changes (save). It's a complex editor so autosave would not work for this ...
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Why are the j and k keys associated with forward/back, respectively and why not vice versa?
This is a multiple-part question:
Why is it common to see the j and k keys implemented respectively as forward and backward navigation in web apps? I think it because of Bill Joy's work on vi and the ...
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"Cut and Paste" in a tree structure
I am working on a web app that provides a visual programming environment to generate 3D models - Mobius
It involves creating a scripts by adding lines of coding and just editing parameters. We are ...
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Is capturing known keyboard shortcuts such as F5 a bad UX?
I have a website that has an editable table with data in it.
Is capturing F5 to refresh data (with clear notification that the data was refreshed) instead of refreshing the entire page bad user ...
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Keyboard shortcuts as Numbers
I have read so many articles but am not getting exact answer what am looking for to implement. I am trying to enhance desktop application usability through shortcuts however am short of alphabets for ...
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What is the name of the reveal-menu-bar-on-Alt interaction?
Firefox has the following interaction on the GNOME desktop (observed in Firefox ~55, GNOME ~3.26):
Starts with menu bar hidden
When you click Alt the menu bar appears [1] (and stays visible after the ...
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Keyboard shortcuts for special zoom mode
I'm designing an editing program (Mac/Windows) that has a slightly unusual scheme for zooming and controlling the mouse cursor: a normal mode in which the cursor works normally, and a special mode in ...
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Keyboard shortcuts for viewing the previous/next image
I'm building a free (FOSS) image viewing application and would like for the user to be able to control both the panning of the image as well as changing to the previous or next image via the keyboard (...
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Why were Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Y chosen as undo/redo shortcuts?
Is there a reason why some keyboard shortcuts are chosen?
Specifically, ControlZ and ControlY. Sometimes I happen to switch from a QWERTY keyboard to a QWERTZ keyboard. Apart from the time it takes ...
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What's the appropriate windows equivalent for command-enter?
I use command-enter key sequences in applications like slack and gmail often and find them very helpful.
I'd like a user to be able to submit a form in a web application I'm building with command-...
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Is there any UX study that explains and (dis?)proves the benefits of the Touch Bar on new MacBook Pros?
I am a programmer, UX designer, and love the semi-structured approach the touch bar has offered to user interfaces, especially when contrasted to the "anything goes, your finger is a mouse" design ...
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Are there any guidelines concerning the use of Alt, Ctrl and Shift keys?
I'm designing a complex product to be used in a professional setting, and I'd like to create keyboard shortcuts to the various functions. Are there any guidelines to help me decide when should I use ...
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Should a legacy app that uses universal shortcuts for non-standard functions change to more traditional keyboard shortcuts?
I have inherited code maintenance of a legacy app that has been used for 10+ years. We have a small group of users who use it and only 1 or 2 new ones each year, due to employee turnover etc.
One ...
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Is it acceptable for a keyboard shortcut settings system to be limited to English keyboard?
I am working on a plugin for an Integrated Development Environment which should be able to allow the user to set keyboard shortcuts in order to perform certain actions with ease. However I am having a ...
user91255
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How should a mouse-over-for-keyboard-shortcuts be designed?
Our toolbar has a keyboard icon on the right, which, when hovered over, displays a large keyboard reference tooltip. Clicking the icon opens the settings' dialog on the tab for keyboard bindings.
My ...
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Should <ctrl>+<shift>+<m> behave the same as <ctrl>+<m> with caps lock on?
This has just occurred to me after being confused about behaviour in vim until I noticed I had Caps Lock on.
On the one hand, <ctrl>+<shift>+<m> (lower case m) is the same as <...
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Should Escape immediately close an application?
My question comes directly from the fact that the popular RetroArch emulator uses Escape key to quit the whole application and, moreover, it's apparently a big source of drama for some.
It ...
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Making your interface completely keyboard navigable, Will it improve UX drastically?
I am developing an user management console interface, actually completed developing where in admin can add user, search user, filter user etc. currently it is not completely keyboard navigable.
So I ...
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How should I write keyboard chord within a sentance, in plain text
I would like to write out a keyboard shortcut in a sentence, in plain text. This could be in any font - monospaced, or not - but there is no text formatting (color, size, weight), dingbats, or ...
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