The mouse and graphics revolutionized the way of working with computers, facilitating user-machine interaction. But there are tasks for which the keyboard is still used (or can be used), for convenience and above all speed.
They are called "keyboard shortcuts", and as their name suggests, they save us a part of the way to get to a place or, in this case, a goal that is reached by performing an action. But what are they really?
A keyboard shortcut is a combination of keys that, once pressed, perform a common action in a faster and more automated way than if we had to do it through the graphical interface
To understand the definition of the concept, let's take an example: let's imagine that we have to copy a text in another part of a document, and we have to do it with the mouse. First we select the text, we direct the mouse to the menu Edition to click on it and unfold it. Then, we go down to the option Copy and click on it.
If we had to do the same using a keyboard shortcut, we would select the text, release the mouse and then press the key Control and, without releasing it, the letter key C.
With the text already in memory and about to be pasted, we compare the two methods and see that the second is much faster. Even with practice, we do not have to release the mouse, but we can carry out Control + C with one hand.
There are standardized keyboard shortcuts, such as the copy just explained, that are universal even across platforms, while others conform to a software concrete
Among the most popular shortcuts, and that you can try in your programs and operating systems, we have:
- Control + C: copy the selected text or item
- Control + V: paste the contents of the clipboard in memory in the place where we are
- Control + X: trims the selected text or item. You are supposed to paste it somewhere else after
- Control + A: selects all text in a document
- Control + Z: undo the last action performed (undo)
- Control + P: print the current document
- Control + T: in a web browser, open a new tab
- F5: reload the page we were viewing. Useful for a page updated at a very fast pace and that does not have an auto refresh mechanism
- Control + a number from 1 to 8: puts the focus on the browser tab that occupies that order number
- Control + 9: puts the focus on the last open tab in the browser
In Apple Macintosh computers there are also extra keyboard shortcuts, which play with the special keys on the keyboard, unique to that environment, such as Command and Option.
As a generic recommendation, review the key combinations that the programs you use most often offer you and try them for a season. You can be surprised by the result
Photos: Fotolia - MicroOne / Halfpoint
