Keyboard shortcuts & Workflows

Speed up your computing with keyboard shortcuts!

slides | md

Contents

  1. Introduction 5-10 min
  2. Create an efficiency test 10 min
  3. Discussion 5 min
  4. Keyboard commands
  5. Workflows
  6. Keep practicing
  7. Assessment
  8. References

Introduction

Review the following sections and perform the activities on your own or with your group.

Perform the task(s) when you see this πŸ‘‰ emoji

Learning Objectives

Students who complete the following will be able to:

  • Demonstrate basic computer keyboard commands like copy, paste, save
  • Perform more advanced commands like switching programs and finding text on a web page or text doc
  • Explain how keyboard commands can increase computing efficiency
  • Combine multiple keyboard commands to establish faster computing workflows
Preparation

Complete the following to prepare for this module

Discussion

πŸ‘‰ In your group, discuss the following.

  1. What tips do you know for making your computer use efficient?
  2. Do you currently use your non-mouse hand to enter commands on your computer keyboard?

Now, practice all the keyboard commands below, including the series of commands in the text editing workflow.

  1. Which of the basic 🍏 or advanced πŸ”₯ shortcuts are new to you?
  2. Did you find it awkward to use the shortcuts at first?

avid shortcuts

Many industries use templates, like this Avid Media Composer helper, to help recall keyboard shortcuts.

Scientific management

In the 1910's, Frederick Taylor recorded the workflows of laborers and used the data to increase productivity.

Through his scientific management analysis, he learned that efficiency actually increased if workers took more breaks because it gave them time to recover from the work.

Like Taylor, we want to know how we might improve our efficiency at the keyboard. And perhaps more importantly, what could we do with the saved time?!

πŸ‘‰ Create an efficiency test

Use the following instructions to measure the efficiency of using (and not using) keyboard shortcuts over the equivalent actions, or series of actions.

  • Consider multiple commands and contexts (like the text editing workflow).
  • More than one person in your group should take the test(s).
  • Perform each with and without keystrokes.
  • Move at the speed you would normally move.

πŸ‘‰ Create an efficiency test

For each action or series, record the number of clicks and the total time:

  1. to find the thing you need to click with the mouse
  2. to move your mouse hand from the keyboard to type and back
  3. to move your mouse on the screen. (e.g. from your file, aaaaaall the way up to the top left, to choose File > Save, then back down to the space where you were working on the screen)

Here are some to get you started. Try to create 3 more, (use the web dev workflow if you are comfortable).

Action 🚫 Without πŸ”₯ With ⌨️
Time Clicks Time Clicks
Create a new text file, type "hello world", and save it.
Copy/paste the first 10 words of this page into a text file, each on a new line, one at a time, saving each time
Select/copy/paste all text on a long web page into a new google doc
Basic text editing workflow
?
?
?

πŸ‘‰ Discussion

After you record your data, prepare to share it and your answers to the following with the class

  1. Did you find it faster to use shortcuts? Which shortcuts saved the most time?
  2. Estimate the time difference between each in 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, or a whole semester of computer work.
  3. Considering how often you perform these actions, what would you do with that extra time?
  4. Share your results with the class.

Keyboard commands

Try the following keyboard commands for your OS:

Text editing

Command Mac Windows πŸ€”
Cut Cmd + X Ctl + X 🍏
Copy Cmd + C Ctl + C 🍏
Paste Cmd + V Ctl + V 🍏
Undo Cmd + Z Ctl + Z 🍏
Redo Cmd + Y Ctl + Y
Find Cmd + F Ctl + F πŸ”₯
Select all Cmd + A Ctl + A πŸ”₯
Move cursor by letter or line ← β†’ ↑ ↓ ← β†’ ↑ ↓ πŸ”₯
Move cursor by word Option + ← or β†’ Option + ← or β†’ πŸ”₯
Select letters Shift + ← or β†’ Shift + ← or β†’ πŸ”₯
Select lines Shift + ↑ or ↓ Shift + ↑ or ↓ πŸ”₯
Select words Shift + Option + ← or β†’ Shift + Option + ← or β†’ πŸ”₯

Document and application management

Command Mac Windows πŸ€”
Save the current file Cmd + S Ctl + S 🍏
Open a document Cmd + O Ctl + O
Create a new document Cmd + N Ctl + N
Close current window Cmd + N Ctl + N
Quit current app Cmd + Q Ctl + Q
Switch programs Cmd + Tab Windows + Tab πŸ”₯

Web Browsing

Command Mac Windows πŸ€”
Open a new window Cmd + N Ctl + N 🍏
Open a new tab Cmd + Tab Ctl + Tab 🍏
Reopen closed tab Shift + Cmd + T Shift + Ctl + T
Find on a web page Cmd + F Ctl + F πŸ”₯
Reload the page Cmd + R Ctl + R πŸ”₯
Reload page and clear cache Shift + Cmd + R Shift + Ctl + R πŸ”₯

Screenshots

Command Mac Windows πŸ€”
Capture entire screen Cmd + Shift + 3 PrtScn 🍏
Capture a portion of a screen Cmd + Shift + 4 + drag βŒ– to select ? 🍏
Capture a window or a menu Cmd + Shift + 4 then Space Alt + PrtScn 🍏

Add Ctl to Mac commands to capture the image to clipboard (to paste the file in a doc).

And please, remove that dropshadow from Mac screenshots!

Cursor and window tricks

Command Mac Windows πŸ€”
Add your cursor to a document Click once where you like Click once where you like 🍏
Select a word Double click any word Double click any word πŸ”₯
Select a whole line of text Triple click anywhere Triple click anywhere πŸ”₯
Current window fill screen* Ctl + Option + Return ? πŸ”₯
Window to left of screen* Ctl + Option + ← ? πŸ”₯
Window to top of screen* Ctl + Option + ↑ ? πŸ”₯

*requires Rectangle

Workflows

Basic text editing

πŸ‘‰ Level up your text editing skills.

Command Mac Windows
Find first quote with "pig" on this page Cmd + F + "pig" Ctl + F + "pig"
Jump to the 2nd "pig" quote Cmd + G Ctl + G
Select the whole quote Triple click on text Triple click on text
Copy it Cmd + C Ctl + C
Switch to your text editor Cmd + Tab Ctl + Tab
Find text where you want to paste a quote Cmd + F Ctl + F
Move cursor by word to the spot Option + ← or β†’ Option + ← or β†’
Paste quote Cmd + V Ctl + V
Save the file Cmd + S Ctl + S
Repeat β†ͺ β†ͺ

Web development Edit-Save-Refresh-Loop

Building web pages requires you to do a lot of repetitive tasks. It’s a good idea to learn proficiency and develop efficient workflows early on.

Mastering the "Edit-Save-Refresh-Loop" can speed up your work immensely. If you can do these you'll never have to move your hands to the mouse!

Command Mac Windows
Find code to edit Cmd + F Ctl + F
Edit the (HTML, CSS, JS, etc.) file Using the keyboard Using the keyboard
Save the file Cmd + S Ctl + S
Switch to browser Cmd + Tab Ctl + Tab
Refresh page Cmd + R Ctl + R
Inspect the page (dev tools) Cmd + Option + C Ctl + Option + C
Find the problem code in dev tools Cmd + F Ctl + F
Switch to editor Cmd + Tab Ctl + Tab
Repeat β†ͺ β†ͺ

Keep practicing

Assessment

πŸ‘‰ Ready to test your skills? See if you can do the following without touching your mouse:

  1. Create, edit, save, and email a new text document from scratch to your professor.
  2. Find a Youtube video showing Stage 17 of the 2021 Tour de France and skip to the moment when Tadej Pogačar rides away to claim the win.

References

Presentation comments ...