On 15 June 2011 21:16, Connor Lane Smith <c...@lubutu.com> wrote: > is not better than the keyboard for other commands. The study from > 1989 is basically based around the claim that it "takes two seconds to > decide upon which special-function key to press." I'm sorry, does > anyone truly believe that it takes a user two seconds to hit a common > shortcut like Ctrl-S or Ctrl-C? That's ridiculous; it may take two > seconds *until* it becomes muscle memory, which is the whole point of > keyboarding: it becomes muscle memory, whereas the mouse does not.
It is ridiculous. And I never think what keys I hit. I think "browser, messages, back to image editing" without even forming words and the desktops change, the flicker being just slow enough to see if any screen has changed. I think "change two words to xxx yyy" and the words change. If you asked me what keys did that, then I'd actually have to think about it. And it seems to even work if I'm stuck in an alien OS. E.g. alien browser shortcuts like ^T ^W ^C ^V also just happen. I might have to think what the shortcuts are for a CAD program I rarely use. It's just like playing a musical instrument; the fingers know their way through things you've just learned and things you didn't even know you remembered alike, but you may have no idea what the actual notes are any more. It's a choice between having a language the machine understands and having RSI-inducing dragging around of a brick.
