Broad standards are so valuable. When a hotkey becomes common across apps and operating systems, we should work hard to preserve that rare and beautiful covenant that humanity has achieved together.
F1 means help.
F2 means edit. It edits filenames on most operating systems if you have a file selected, and cells in most spreadsheet programs.
Alt+F4 means close.
Alt+tab means switch program.
Ctrl+C is copy, Ctrl+V is paste
I feel the same way about automobiles. It doesn't really matter whether we initially decided that the brake pedal would be the right or left of the gas pedal, but the fact that you can get in just about any car in the world and rely on the pedals to be in roughly the same place and do roughly the same thing is magical. If you're going to move them around, you better have a great reason.
The agreements we've achieved on standards, even when they're not perfect (QWERTY keyboard, heirarchical directory structure), should be considered global treasures and treated as such.
> The agreements we've achieved on standards, even when they're not perfect, should be considered global treasures and treated as such.
Hell no! As soon as you see a better way to do the same thing, you should allow the user to embrace the new way, while still keeping compatibility with the old one during a grace period.
I know that there are companies that behave differently. Their products are often cruft-ridden.
Automobiles are not exempted: just look at the clumsy, unnecessarily large shift gear lever that equips electric cars where the P R N D L modes are simulated in software. But hey the big lever between the seats is a sacred standard!
I think the optimal solution lies somewhere between my conservative argument and your disruptive one. Standards do become obsolete, and I agree that positive innovation often means leaving them behind.
But in the case of the shift lever -- I think it's great that I can hop in any car, and count on having obvious lever with the basic drive modes. In lots of cars, it's not big or between the seats; doesn't the Prius have it on the dash?
F1 means help.
F2 means edit. It edits filenames on most operating systems if you have a file selected, and cells in most spreadsheet programs.
Alt+F4 means close.
Alt+tab means switch program.
Ctrl+C is copy, Ctrl+V is paste
I feel the same way about automobiles. It doesn't really matter whether we initially decided that the brake pedal would be the right or left of the gas pedal, but the fact that you can get in just about any car in the world and rely on the pedals to be in roughly the same place and do roughly the same thing is magical. If you're going to move them around, you better have a great reason.
The agreements we've achieved on standards, even when they're not perfect (QWERTY keyboard, heirarchical directory structure), should be considered global treasures and treated as such.