So we get Windows H-a letter that doesn’t even appear in “Start Dictation.” But what about the Start Dictation command? It can’t use S, because that’s Search can’t use D, because that’s Display Desktop.
Windows vs mac keyboard shortcuts Pc#
Most of the Windows logo keystrokes on a PC are straightforward: E for Explorer, L for Lock. Things break down when more than one command starts with the same letter. And V for Paste because it looks like the proofreading mark for ‘insert.’” Well, okay. X for Cut because X looks like a pair of scissors. “Well, Z, the last letter because it Undoes the last thing you’ve done. Here’s the logic that Macheads used to explain those mappings. They’re consecutive keys on the bottom row, but otherwise not so memorable. But Apple also came up with Z for Undo, X for Cut, C for Copy and V for Paste. Thank goodness for copycats-I mean, standards. Microsoft later adopted the same sequences (using Ctrl instead of Command), so that they’re now universal on all computers. While pressing the Command key, you press the first letter of Print (P), Bold (B), Italic (I), Underline (U), New (N), Quit (Q) or Save (S). How can anyone keep them straight? It helps that Apple came up decades ago with simple combos for the most important functions across all programs. These shortcuts have to trigger dozens of commands in an infinitude of programs. (Their names differ on Mac and Windows, but it’s some combination of Shift, Alt/Option, Ctrl/Command, Control, Windows and sometimes Fn.)
Windows vs mac keyboard shortcuts plus#
Your English keyboard has 26 alphabet keys, plus four or five modifier keys. Each looks at the other with disdain.Īs a member of the former group, I think a lot about the mnemonics of keyboard shortcuts. To this day, some people live by keyboard shortcuts-on Windows it’s Control C for Copy, Control V for paste-and others use the mouse. They were modifier keys, to be used exclusively for keyboard shortcuts, aimed at those who still found tapping keys to be more efficient than mousing to the menu. Nestled on either side of the space bar were keys not found on any typewriter. No longer would people have to memorize key commands! No longer was the computer a plaything of the geeky intelligentsia! The menus would list all available commands, and the mouse would choose them.Įven Apple, though, hedged its bets. Then came the Apple Macintosh, which popularized the mouse as standard equipment. If you wanted to issue a command to your computer, you typed it.
In the beginning, there was the keyboard.