Comment by Razengan
17 hours ago
I love that on macOS all in-app shortcuts are consistently Command+Something, like Q for Quit, W to close a window, and Control is usually for system-wide shortcuts, and Shift/Alt/Option is exactly what it says on the tin: modifiers for alternative behavior. You usually won't see Alt/Option on its own for any shortcut..
..while Windows is all over the place. Like why the heck is Alt+F4 used for quitting an app?? What does 4 stand for here? Death in Japanese and Chinese!?
It's [Alt]+[F4] because before being translated to a GUI setting where [Alt] modifiers denoted things that were the same across all applications, or at least 'system key' events, it was actually plain [F4] to 'save and exit'. This was notably the case in some PC-DOS text editors.
Common User Access (CUA) in 1987 came from the world of IBM mainframes to IBM-involved microcomputer operating systems like PC-DOS and OS/2, and was the idea that there would be a common set of function keys across all 'panels' in Systems Application Architecture (SAA) applications.
Fun fact: CUA didn't originally define [F4] with its current meaning, and it was actually [F3] to exit, after [F1] for help and [F2] for toggling between two sets of function key bindings. But notice how [F5] was refresh all along.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20001117223900/http://publib.bou...
* https://web.archive.org/web/20001102070751/http://publib.bou...
> I love that on macOS all in-app shortcuts are consistently Command+Something, like Q for Quit, W to close a window
Yeah consistency is great, similarly cmd+t closes a tab, wait cmd+w closes a tab not a window. and cmd+w in vlc does not close vlc, cmd+w in finder does close the window.
You're thinking only halfway
> similarly cmd+t closes a tab, wait cmd+w closes a tab not a window.
Because tabs are windows, and most multi-window-capable apps have the option to use tabs instead.
> and cmd+w in vlc does not close vlc
Again, in multi-window apps, closing the last window does not necessarily quit the app, but it's optional.
Consistent but optional, sounds inconsistent to me. Anyways that was 1 example, here's some more.
⌘R Reload in Safari; reply in Mail; reveal an alias's original in Finder
⌘L Address bar in browsers; message filter in Mail; clear to previous mark in Terminal.
⌘I File info in Finder; italics in text; inspector in Terminal.
I can keep going. This is not to say windows/osx is worse or better, just that claims of consistency are not suitable on either
4 replies →
CUA is a union of Mac like mnemonic command keys on Ctrl plus another set (from IBM/Motif perhaps) that use shift+insert,delete etc.
Alt+F4 through Alt+F9 are for Window Menu operations, like minimize, max. etc. Some besides Alt+F4:Close still work on older window managers, I remember SGI supported all of them.
Newer ones tend to hide or even disable the whole menu! Even Windows as it is further lobotomized.
CUA is from IBM and Motif is using CUA.
The shift+insert,delete etc. are from MSDOS as far as I used them – they might have been copied from a previous OS.
Ctrl-W will close your window on Windows and end the program if it’s the only window open.
[dead]
This is so hilariously wrong.
Apple commands are not always Command+Something. Go ahead, try to reopen the last closed tab on anything you're using, with the keyboard. Whooops, you pressed three keys. Also try to take a partial screen shot or record the screen. Hey, buddy, what the heck? Why did you press 4 and 5? What do 4 and 5 even mean?
Same reason your main drive in Windows is "C:" - history.
The command-shift shortcuts (function keys as they were called) were added in the 80's as such:
Command-Shift-1: Eject internal floppy
Command-Shift-2: Eject external floppy
Command-Shift-3: Take screenshot
In the System 7 era in the mid-90's, Command-Shift-4 to select an area to take a screenshot of was added.
Back then you could also install FKEY code resources into the system file to add custom ones, there was a small ecosystem of freeware/shareware function keys with useful shortcuts people would install.
Have a cup of coffee, then come back and read your comment again.
You really didn't have to create a new account to say all that
> not always Command+Something. Go ahead, try to reopen the last closed tab on anything you're using, with the keyboard. Whooops, you pressed three keys.
Not always JUST Command duh. It still includes Command champ; the rest are modifiers.
I mean just ask any AI to list out all the common shortcuts for macOS and for Windows, then see which is more consistent.
> partial screen shot or record the screen ... Why did you press 4 and 5? What do 4 and 5 even mean?
4 alludes to the 4 corners of a rectangle, and 5 includes the time dimension, of course :)