SURVIVING MACOSX: NAVIGATING THROUGH TEXT

TUESDAY, JULY 17 2007 @ 03:56 PM

Being today my first 'official' day as a Mac user, I was prepared to experience some annoyances. The first one was realizing that the "Home" and "End" keys seemed to be completely useless.

I later learned that, in fact, they just worked completely different than expected on a PC, which didn't bring any closure. On a PC, the "Home" and "End" keys take you to the beginning and end of a line, respectively. On a Mac, they work at the document level. This is particularly annoying for me because I am keeping my PC keyboard, since I am using both the new Mac and my old PC at the same time.

Fortunately, there's a work around.

As explained in this article at LifeHacker, it is possible to create a key bindings dictionary file that will make the "Home" and "End" keys work "correctly."

Thanks to Mark Llobrera, a friend and co-worker at Domani, for finding this for me.

Now, on to fixing navigation through words... actually, it seems to work with the Alt key, instead of Ctrl.

Got a lot of key re-mapping to do.

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TIEMEN

JULY 17 2007 @ 04:38 PM

Actually, most of the Mac mappings are well thought out. Different, I agree, but that does not make them less functional. Adapting is one trait of the young. You don't want to grow old too soon, now do you? ;)

Try Command (Apple key) + arrow keys for end of line text navigation and alt + arrows for words.

JOSH

JULY 17 2007 @ 06:07 PM

Tiemen is right, sort of... In a perfect world, you'll relearn going to line endings with Apple's well-designed mappings. In my case, I had to stay with the Windows mapping because I have to switch back and forth between both platforms daily. I have a Mac at home and a Windows box at work. Let me tell you, it's probably almost impossible to teach yourself to switch keymappings that often.

LUKE

JULY 18 2007 @ 01:27 AM

How the mouse working out for you? Isn't that accelerating/deaccelerating this annoying to you? The Mac cursor seems to slow down on top of you slowing down which creates extra unnecassary slow down (slow down on top of slow down). And Apple doesn't let you chose to disable this f'd up feature...

TIEMEN

JULY 18 2007 @ 04:39 AM

Actually, your mind has the capacity to map both platforms. Incredible, I know, but I'm still switching between mac & pc too, and find myself still using mac and pc specific interface features...
Though you do start to look for similar functions. For instance, I use the windowskey + D functionality a LOT since I use Expos

RICHARD LEGGETT

JULY 18 2007 @ 06:00 AM

A lot of things are different, but as with any OS,when you get used to it, you prefer it (they actually ran studies on that little obvious trait can you believe). Either way, I'm much happier with my day to day and dev work on the Mac after spending the rest of my life so far on Windows.

Luke, are you using a Microsoft mouse? I am, and I noticed the decceleration. But installing the Microsoft Mouse software for Mac lets you to disable that setting. I haven't heard of people having the problem with Apple mice, but Microsoft still make some of the best mice so I'll be sticking with what I have.

OSCAR TRELLES

JULY 18 2007 @ 09:33 AM

I'm trying to take a balanced approach. Since I am not becoming a Mac-only user, but more of a hybrid Mac/PC one, I need to take advantage of any opportunity that makes working on both platforms more consistent. Re-mapping keys and shortcuts that won't prevent the software from functioning as expected is an option. Eventually, like Tiemen states, we get used to using different platforms all the time: think about all the cellphones you have gone through ;)

In the end, what matters most is not to adversely affect my productivity. The main reason behind my switch, besides getting better hardware, is to create a more uniform development platform at the company.

Luke, I did notice the mouse thing, is very annoying. It seems like the distance covered by the pointer in the screen is in geometric proportion to the strength of your strike on the mouse, as opposed to the static mapping on the PC.

That will be the subject of a future post, if I ever find a way to fix it. Otherwise, I guess that's one of the other things I'll just have to get used to, since I just can't bare the idea of having to deal with a single-button mouse.

TOM BLACK

JULY 18 2007 @ 12:41 PM

Brilliant idea. Thanks for very interesting article. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your articles. It?s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else?s point of view? makes you think more.

LUKE

JULY 18 2007 @ 08:03 PM

A while ago I found this link: http://lifehacker.com/software/keyboard/mac-switchers-tip--remap-the-home-and-end-keys-225873.php

It didn't really solve my problem but at least it let me know I wasn't the only one thinking that mouse movement on the Mac suck. I'm currently using a Logitech mouse BTW. I will have a look at what kind of drivers they have available.

TIEMEN

JULY 19 2007 @ 03:38 AM

I will further expand on the "adapt! not remap" front when switching between the two platforms.
Introducing: Synergy. This program totally rocks. It enables you to control multiple computers with one keyboard & mouse. Even Macs & PC's. It iis so insanely cool. I have my little Macbook aligned with the two big screens of my pc workstation and it is like all monitors are connected to one computer. But it is an extra challenge to enter the correct key combinations :)