option click, control click, etc

Richmond Mathewson richmondmathewson at gmail.com
Thu Jun 25 04:14:51 EDT 2009


Jim Sims wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>> In the case of Control-Click this use to be used to bring up a 
>>> 'Contextual
>> Menu', but in my latest copy of OS X The Missing Manual, I see in the 
>> Index
>> 'Contextual Menus' says - see Shortcut Menus. So anything to do with
>> Control-Click should be referenced to a Shortcut Menu.
I tend to avoid manuals, as I have a feeling that they are outdated 
almost as soon as they go to press.
Perhaps that is why Apple's theoretical manual is missing; but, as we 
all know, where angels fear to
tread other, less angelic types, rush in to fill the gap.  :)
> I found this from Apple:  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343
>
> "A keyboard shortcut is a way to invoke a function in Mac OS X by 
> pressing a combination of keys on your keyboard."
>
> and further on...
>
> "A modifier key is a part of many key combinations. A modifier key 
> alters the way other keystrokes or mouse clicks are interpreted by Mac 
> OS X. Modifier keys include: Command, Control, Option, Shift, Caps 
> Lock, and (on portable Macs) the fn key."

Just to throw a spanner in the works; I have 4 Macintosh computer 
keyboards (USB) and not a single one has an
'Option' key; where Apple used to have an 'Option' key there are 'Alt' 
keys - presumably to be more in sync with
the PC world: I suppose their documentation (like somebody else's, 
cough, cough, cough) is lagging behind
somewhat.  Therefore it might be better to use 'Alt' rather than 
'Option' in any documentation you are writing.

Also, remember that, although, until recently Macs were supplied with a 
single-button mouse, many, many people use
either a 2-button wheel-mouse or a 3-button mouse; and, oddly enough, 
even though Mac were espousing the supposed
virtues of a single-button mouse for years, the RIGHT button on a 
multibutton mouse brings up the contextual menus.

Of course recently, just to show their hairy-chestedness, Apple have 
been pushing a 4-button mouse!  :)
>
> So, for example, to open the file log in my app one can mouse click 
> with the option key down. To open the timer/billing window you mouse 
> click with the control key down. It would seem that the terms I am 
> looking for would also include Modifier Key. I'm getting way too picky 
> for my usual sloppy self.  ;-P
>
This is a real can of worms as, with a single-button mouse you can do 
all sorts of 'funny' things with option/alt click, control click
and command click. One can even modify preferences as to which modifier 
key one wants to use to simulate using a RIGHT click
on a 2 button mouse.

Easy-Peasy ain't in it.  :)  If you really want to be incredibly picky I 
think you will get badly bogged down. Most Mac users are
not the sort of "narrow-minded tribals" that some would paint them; 
after all they have had to exist in a world dominated
by a "colonial power" for some considerable time, therefore if you make 
the odd "slip tween cup and lip" I am sure most
people will forgive you and understand what you mean.
> sims
>
>




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