The correct shorthand for writing keyboard shortcuts

[Avraham Makeler]

>> You have said that it is irrelevant whether the CTRL key is held or
released between operations, as long as it is held when the M and F keys are
pressed.  Of course this is so; that's how computer keyboards work.  The
computer pays no attention to whether a modifier key is released, because it
receives the code from the keyboard at the moment a key is *pressed*.  If a
modifier key (CTRL, ALT, SHIFT) is held at the same time as a letter key is
pressed, a different code is sent.  Since it is irrelevant whether CTRL is
released between operations,
Yes, I know.


>> I think you do your readers a disservice to encumber them with invented
conventions or instructions about what they *don't* have to do.

Ok, that's a point.


>> MSTP is consistent in using all caps for the modifier keys (CTRL, SHIFT)
and all caps for the letter keys

Yes, thanks for pointing that out.


>> (which is how the letters appear on the keyboard).

Actually - they do *not*. Which is why I made the mistake of writing them
the way I did.
But, again, thanks for pointing out that according to MS they should be
CAPS.


>> For key sequences, the guideline is to use commas followed by spaces.  So
the MSTP instruction would be "press CTRL+M, CTRL+F."

Ok, so that seems to be the bottom line. That's the way I wrote it
originally. Not that I though that it looked great, but just there seemed no
other alternative I could find in the rule book.

And so it's left as self-understood that you don't have to take your finger
off the CTRL key in between.


>> (Adobe has a different standard that uses mixed case, probably stemming
from its compatibility with UNIX, which is case-sensitive in ways that DOS
and Windows weren't and aren't.)

>> As for the SME, I assume that writing documentation according to
standards is not the SM in which they are E; *you* would be the E in that
SM, and entitled to stand your ground!  ;-)

No, I have no problem with that - it's just that I also didn't like what I
wrote.


Thanks,

  - avi




On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 6:11 PM, Stuart Rogers <
srogers at phoenix-geophysics.com> wrote:

> Avraham Makeler wrote:
>
>> Hi David,
>> Thanks for the effort you're putting into this.
>>
>>  Press and hold Ctrl while pressing the letter m, release both keys, and
>>>>
>>> then press and hold Ctrl while pressing the letter f (Ctrl+M Ctrl+F).
>>
>> A little earlier, I got the following reply from somebody offlist:
>>
>>        I would say "ctrl+f, ctrl+m" would be the best way to do that. You
>> need to separate the steps is the issue.
>>        Hope that helps!
>>
>> And I replied as follows:
>> --------------------
>>
>> Great minds think alike! Lacking any other alternative, that's exactly
>> what
>> I wrote in my first draft!
>>
>> (And it was on that the SME wrote his take, and told me to change them all
>> accordingly to Ctrl M+F.)
>>
>> The problem is, that ctrl+f, ctrl+m make it look as if after the ctrl+f
>> you
>> then have to first release the Ctrl key and only  then do Ctrl+M.
>>
>> However, lacking any other alternative *standard* alternative, this seems
>> the only solution.
>>
>> The only other alternative would be to create our own new standard. One or
>> two people suggested to me Ctrl+(M,F) - and that also seems to me to be
>> correct.
>>
>>
>> --------------------
>>
>> So coming back to your suggestion, David, it seems that are are all
>> converging on the same solution,
>> however, it's just that 'ctrl+f, ctrl+m' (with a space or a comma) gives
>> the
>> wrong impression that you have to take your finger off the Ctrl key after
>> doing Ctrl+M and before doing Ctrl+F; you do not have to.
>>
>> I would want to define a new standard, like this:  Ctrl+(M,F).
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>>  - avi
>>
>
> I think you are re-inventing the wheel, as well as introducing ambiguity.
>  (Is the user supposed to press the comma key? the parentheses keys?  Some
> users are very literal.)  Microsoft's MSTP guidelines work perfectly well
> for your situation, and they are an industry standard.
>
> You have said that it is irrelevant whether the CTRL key is held or
> released between operations, as long as it is held when the M and F keys are
> pressed.  Of course this is so; that's how computer keyboards work.  The
> computer pays no attention to whether a modifier key is released, because it
> receives the code from the keyboard at the moment a key is *pressed*.  If a
> modifier key (CTRL, ALT, SHIFT) is held at the same time as a letter key is
> pressed, a different code is sent.  Since it is irrelevant whether CTRL is
> released between operations, I think you do your readers a disservice to
> encumber them with invented conventions or instructions about what they
> *don't* have to do.
>
> MSTP is consistent in using all caps for the modifier keys (CTRL, SHIFT)
> and all caps for the letter keys (which is how the letters appear on the
> keyboard).  For key sequences, the guideline is to use commas followed by
> spaces.  So the MSTP instruction would be "press CTRL+M, CTRL+F."
>
> (Adobe has a different standard that uses mixed case, probably stemming
> from its compatibility with UNIX, which is case-sensitive in ways that DOS
> and Windows weren't and aren't.)
>
> As for the SME, I assume that writing documentation according to standards
> is not the SM in which they are E; *you* would be the E in that SM, and
> entitled to stand your ground!  ;-)
>
> HTH,
>
> --
> Stuart Rogers
> Technical Communicator
> Phoenix Geophysics Limited
> Toronto, ON, Canada
> +1 (416) 491-7340 x 325
>
> srogers phoenix-geophysics com
>
> "Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product."
>
> -- Eleanor Roosevelt
>