Restore the rest of the single-click keyboard shortcuts
(closed account) says:
I complained mightily when the new webapp launched about the Shift + 8 + replacing just plain .
The RTM team quickly restored some of the most important commands, such as 'c' for 'mark as completed'. But many of the other keyboards still require a Shift + 8 to invoke.
For instance, I select 5 tasks using the mouse or trackpad. In the old days, I would type 'd' for 'due date', enter a new shared due date for these tasks, then type 'n' to unselect all of them. Then I would select some more tasks and give them due dates using the same methodology. In this way, I was able to quickly reorder an entire tasklist with minimal mouse interaction.
As of now, 'n' does nothing. It's not like it's bound to some other operation. Yet I still have to carefully type Shift + 8 and then 'n' to deselect tasks.
I had literally 10 years of muscle memory for the old way. The new way is (a) a change, and (b) two unnecessarily precise keyboard clicks to accomplish the same common (at least for me) task.
What is the benefit of requiring modifier keys before keyboard commands that didn't used to require them? Especially when it doesn't appear anything new is bound to the old keyboard command? Why not just do away with this Shift + 8 nonsense altogether?
As an app built for power users (after all, we'd all use our platform's built-in reminders/to-do app if we wanted naked simplicity), it's frustrating to see changes with no clear benefit and huge drawbacks.
I'd love for a team member to respond with their thoughts about why they'd make keyboard shortcuts so much worse in the first place.
The RTM team quickly restored some of the most important commands, such as 'c' for 'mark as completed'. But many of the other keyboards still require a Shift + 8 to invoke.
For instance, I select 5 tasks using the mouse or trackpad. In the old days, I would type 'd' for 'due date', enter a new shared due date for these tasks, then type 'n' to unselect all of them. Then I would select some more tasks and give them due dates using the same methodology. In this way, I was able to quickly reorder an entire tasklist with minimal mouse interaction.
As of now, 'n' does nothing. It's not like it's bound to some other operation. Yet I still have to carefully type Shift + 8 and then 'n' to deselect tasks.
I had literally 10 years of muscle memory for the old way. The new way is (a) a change, and (b) two unnecessarily precise keyboard clicks to accomplish the same common (at least for me) task.
What is the benefit of requiring modifier keys before keyboard commands that didn't used to require them? Especially when it doesn't appear anything new is bound to the old keyboard command? Why not just do away with this Shift + 8 nonsense altogether?
As an app built for power users (after all, we'd all use our platform's built-in reminders/to-do app if we wanted naked simplicity), it's frustrating to see changes with no clear benefit and huge drawbacks.
I'd love for a team member to respond with their thoughts about why they'd make keyboard shortcuts so much worse in the first place.
andrewski (Remember The Milk) says:
Hi armchairdj,
We only changed the shortcuts for selecting tasks. The reason here is to prevent accidental selection and actions when typing and not realizing a text field was not selected. For example, typing '…asa [Enter]' would clear tags for all tasks in a view, and '…ac' would complete all tasks in a view.
We're big keyboard users here too but some of us find a helpful hybrid of keyboard for actions and the mouse for selection/drag and drop. In that case it helps to use Shift to select groups of tasks for group actions.
We apologize for the inconvenience with the shortcuts but other web apps (like Gmail) use these shortcuts as well, which may build new muscle memory! :)
Thanks for your feedback!
We only changed the shortcuts for selecting tasks. The reason here is to prevent accidental selection and actions when typing and not realizing a text field was not selected. For example, typing '…asa [Enter]' would clear tags for all tasks in a view, and '…ac' would complete all tasks in a view.
We're big keyboard users here too but some of us find a helpful hybrid of keyboard for actions and the mouse for selection/drag and drop. In that case it helps to use Shift to select groups of tasks for group actions.
We apologize for the inconvenience with the shortcuts but other web apps (like Gmail) use these shortcuts as well, which may build new muscle memory! :)
Thanks for your feedback!
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