149
votes
Accepted
Why Ctrl + C for copy but not Ctrl + P for paste?
Notice that C-copy, X-cut and V-paste are next to each other on the keyboard. Also they are very close to the ctrl key. if a user copied something to the clipboard, the next most probable action ...
- 10.6k
71
votes
Accepted
What's the point of deactivating Num Lock on login screens?
Some compact keyboard layouts don't have a numpad, so those keys are mapped to the right-hand side of the letter section:
If NumLock is on, then a user typing the password kill, will actually type ...
- 1,600
69
votes
For a command to increase something, should instructions refer to the "+" key or the "=" key?
Uhm, sorry. You refer to a =/+ key. But there is none on my keyboard.
I think you should add a locale tag, and make sure your users only work within that locale.
- 2,078
55
votes
Why Ctrl + C for copy but not Ctrl + P for paste?
The whole hotkeys issue is a good example of the "intuitiveness vs efficiency/ease of use" trade-off. Yes, it would be very nice to have all our actions mapped to a key that begins with the first ...
- 31.1k
47
votes
Accepted
Why do most smartphones not have a physical keyboard?
While space is an obvious part of the equation, it's not the main one, you could simply have a sliding physical keyboard just as previous generations of smartphones and be a happy camper. However, ...
- 37.3k
35
votes
Why do most smartphones not have a physical keyboard?
What caused this decline in the use of physical keyboards?
The iPhone
What is the impact on the UX of mobile devices?
This is a pretty deep question and is tough to answer objectively.
I would ...
- 679
32
votes
Accepted
Should plus move item in a tree structure up or down?
The plus key is very arbitrary and does not map well with the intention of moving up/down. Also it is mostly used to expand the tree node (i.e. windows explorer).
I would suggest a different key ...
- 7,781
31
votes
Accepted
For a command to increase something, should instructions refer to the "+" key or the "=" key?
Based on conventions elsewhere, it is probably best to refer to it as the plus or + key.
The +/- dichotomy is used in other apps and more likely to be encountered by your users before they use yours ...
- 8,888
23
votes
Why do most smartphones not have a physical keyboard?
The main reason is versatility. A keyboard in software can be easily adapted to different layouts, different character/symbol sets and different cultures. In addition, custom keyboards such as Swype ...
- 737
16
votes
Why Ctrl + C for copy but not Ctrl + P for paste?
According to this Wikipedia article, the Apple Lisa and Macintosh were the first computers to map those functions to key combinations, along with Undo. They basically used the keys closest to the '...
- 261
16
votes
Keyboard shortcut keys for Tabs?
Most IDEs, Web Browsers, and other TDI software use CtrlTab for switching tabs no matter which UI element currently has focus.
References:
Chrome keyboard shortcuts
Mozilla Keyboard shortcuts
...
- 1,119
15
votes
Why do we have both backspace and delete keys on most keyboards?
The functionality is not the same. The delete key keeps the cursor position in the same place. Backspace moves the cursor as it deletes. Without both keys, one would need to position the cursor to one ...
- 2,823
14
votes
Why Ctrl + C for copy but not Ctrl + P for paste?
Some imaginative answers here - and the real solution is Wordstar, which was published in 1978.
In those days of CP/M, there were no cursor keys, so control-S was used by Wordstar for cursor-left, ...
- 241
13
votes
Accepted
Why aren't keyboards' home and top rows aligned nicely?
You may find this thread relevant. In a nutshell, it's a legacy design trait from typewriter days, and there hasn't been much reason to change it.
Why are keyboard keys staggered?
This is largely ...
- 7,671
12
votes
Accepted
Why are keyboard numpads on the right-hand side?
Numpads are on the right-hand side to make basic calculations faster for majority of the population.
Numpad is redundant part of the keyboard, added to make basic calculations (addition / subtraction ...
- 1,331
11
votes
Why warn about caps lock for passwords, instead of ignoring caps lock for password characters?
The core reason that you don't want to do this is because, as a general rule, any time you override the standard behavior of a users device, you open yourself up to a bad user experience . . . ...
- 576
10
votes
Why are the keys on a keyboard square?
Keyboard design is largely governed by convention for many reasons:
The QWERTY layout is what consumers want and expect
Typing is so ubiquitous and so driven by muscle memory that the staggered ...
- 40.9k
10
votes
Why do we have both backspace and delete keys on most keyboards?
First of all they perform slightly different functions. The delete key erases text to the right of the cursor and the backspace key erases text to the left of the cursor. Also the delete key is ...
- 7,781
9
votes
Why do modern keyboards have Scroll Lock?
The fact that you have a key that is unused in any modern application (Excel excluded) and has a dedicated hardware indicator light, it is perfect for use with something like Autohotkey.
For example, ...
- 91
9
votes
Accepted
Converting DOS application to Web
This is what I spend the majority of my time on: building web apps for internal clients who are used to a DOS type interface.
It will be a major paradigm shift for your users. There is no going ...
- 6,641
9
votes
What's the point of deactivating Num Lock on login screens?
It's a bad UX practice primarily because the user is not expecting this to happen. Users will attempt to do an action and will not be able to do so.
- 921
8
votes
Should I use the name "Enter" or "Return" key?
Return and Enter are different keys. Return often found as the main key, and Enter for the numeric key.
Few software makes a difference between these. In Adobe Photoshop while editing text, Return ...
- 189
8
votes
Why Ctrl + C for copy but not Ctrl + P for paste?
The C key is comfortably positioned relative to the Ctrl key; that's [likely] why it's been chosen for the Copy shortcut. The P key, on the other hand, is too far away from the Ctrl key.
On a QWERTY ...
- 3,326
8
votes
Why don't mobile keyboards have a delete button?
If I'm understanding the question correctly, we're looking at why there is no Delete key (those above the arrow keys on a traditional physical keyboard) while there is still a Backspace key, I can ...
- 173
8
votes
Should plus move item in a tree structure up or down?
The Windows TreeView control uses the '+' and '-' keys for expanding/collapsing the currently selected node by one level (it uses '*' for expanding the entire tree below the selected node). I suggest ...
- 289
8
votes
Accepted
Why do the Western European countries use the AZERTY keyboard? What is the historical origin of this layout?
How did the keyboard layouts develop historically?
Did you have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY#History and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY ?
In the beginning, there was not a ...
- 388
7
votes
Should plus move item in a tree structure up or down?
I suppose using mouse and drag'n'drop is not an option in your application, is it? If only keyboard input is allowed, then it might be tricky if you can't use up/down arrows (which would seem natural)....
- 707
7
votes
Should plus move item in a tree structure up or down?
It's often educational to see how other people do this. I see a few general trends.
Up and down arrows on every row. This is horrible and should in my opinion be avoided, since it handles multiple ...
- 880
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