Like the blog :)

I think you've got the first two IE7 mousewheel shortcuts mixed up though i.e. Shift + Mousewheel Up is Forward.

Keep up the interesting writing :)

Good list, I didn't know about Ctrl-1.

My one gripe about the shortcuts: I wish Ctrl-Enter were smarter: don't add the prefix and suffix if thery're already there, for example.

The situation is better than that, even. The spacebar shortcut, for example, even works in Lynx, too :D

apparently ALT+D does not set the focus to the address bar, but instead opens the file menu :-) (English &File->German &Datei). thats why ALT shortcuts suck :-(

(personally i tend to use f6 to set the focus to the address bar ... works in ff and ie6)

I always found it strange that shortcuts are so well hidden. It seems like the standard UI designers are affraid that we suddenly should use the shortcuts too much or that our eyes will burn out by seeing too many shortcurts. Unless I dont use the application very often, I tend to forget the shorcuts, and I dont want to look them up every second, so then I just skip using them.

Thank you for the links, I will be using the search shortcuts alot now. :)

/P

In Windows, the standard keyboard shortcut for closing a document in a MDI applications is CTRL+F4, and that closes the current tab in FF...I'm surprised that shortcut isn't mentioned in today's blog entry.

ALT+TAB changes app focus
CTRL+TAB changes document focus within the app

ALT+F4 closes current app
CTRL+F4 closes current document within the app

Its got great symmetry and feels natural...like SHIFT+INSERT for paste and SHIFT+DELETE for cut, it just makes sense :)

"It's good to see the IE7 team adopting the keyboard shortcuts already in Firefox rather than making up their own."

Are you serious? IE was in existence long before FF, you know. Other browsers have copied IE's keyboard commands for usability's sake. Why in the world would Alt+D go to the Address bar in FF if it didn't already work that way in IE?

Jacques, I'm pretty sure he's referring to the new features in IE and the keymappings for them matching already existing features in Firefox. Primarily the tabbed interface shortcuts.

I commonly use <span class="kbd">Backspace</span> for Back, and <span class="kbd">Shift</span>-<span class="kbd">Backspace</span> for forward

Thanks for the additions and corrections! I updated the post.

I don't use shortcuts, every application has there own and remembering each set is a pain. Sometimes you have to remember them (like when your playing a game) to be a competitive player, otherwise other players are executing moves faster than you are. Keyboard input is faster than point and click, but maybe I waste an extra 5 minutes everyday not using the shortcuts for the applications I use, so be it. Maybe someone/some company could come up with a shortcut standards that everyone uses and adopt, then I would make attempt to remember them.

Ctrl F5 seems useful from a development standpoint to force a refresh.

Mouse gestures seems (to me at least) to make the most sence for browsing. If you think about it, you're primarily using the mouse to navigate a page usualy (keyboard navigation tends to lead to the page jumping all over the place as you find links) With mouse gestures, you don't need to then touch the keyboard unless you're filling in a form or moving to a fresh page.

I agree with Jon Raynor - keyboard shortcuts are too much of a pain to remember for each application. I spend a lot of programming time in UltraEdit and do make heavy use of seven or eight keyboard shortcuts. Beyond that, it's mouse time.

You thought you knew everything about cmd.exe!
[...]
Ho! F7 triggers a pop-up window with the command history.
[...]
And if you are interested in Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts, Jeff Atwood recently posted a summary.

> If you think about it, you're primarily using the mouse to navigate a page usualy (keyboard navigation tends to lead to the page jumping all over the place as you find links)

I usually have one hand on the mouse and the other resting on the keyboard, but it depends what I'm doing. If you are primarily typing, try to stick to typing because neither hand is free. If you are primarily mousing, your left hand is still free.

> keyboard shortcuts are too much of a pain to remember for each application

You don't have to remember them ALL-- just the ones that improve your quality of life.

It also depends how much time you spend in that application. If you're like me, I bet you spend a *lot* of time in the web browser. So plan accordingly..

I'm a keyboard freak, it bothers me when a program goes out of the standard for the shortcuts, i.e. the Opera Browser, Ctrl + L to get to the address bar? aaarrrggh

You mean they copied features from Firefox? Shocking.

I don't understand the war between Firefox and IE7. All my friends and employments don't see why must use Firefox or IE7 ....

> I don't understand the war between Firefox and IE7

I know, most people don't care. The "Web" isn't a browser, it's the experience on the target website.

I'd argue that even tabbed browsing, the most "mainstream" of Firefox features, is basically a non-event for the typical user -- who never browses more than one site at once anyway.

Is there any way to change the shortcuts (for Firefox)? Like if I wanted to go forward and backwards with F11 and F12 rather then pressing alt + right and alt + left.

I don't know if it is just me, but using CTRL+F5 in IE7 does not force refresh the page. does anyone else have this? could t have been dropped in beta3?

Here's a nice HTML and PDF keyboard shortcut reference for IE7 directly from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie7/about/quickreference.mspx

Strangely, or not I guess since they're are quite often lots of shortcuts for the same thing, I've always used CTRL + L to get to the address bar in Firefox which annoyingly (for me anyway) opens the "open" dialog in Internet Explorer 7.

CTRL + K goes to the browser search (top right) in Firefox which I use a lot but nada in IE7.

short cuts