Shortcut Custody Battles
A Mac InDesign user named Tom asks a good question on InDesign Secrets:
In CS2 I used the shortcut for Hide Frame Edges (cmd+H). With CS3 this is now ctrl+cmd+H. I went to edit this in keyboard shortcuts but I can’t enter cmd+H as it is the default for Hide InDesign and hides the application.
Any ideas? or am I stuck with the new CS3 shortcut?
The short answer is "yes." You're stuck. We're all stuck. I feel your stuckness.
The reason is this: we made a conscious decision to respect the integrity of Apple's system-wide shortcut. It was felt the Hide shortcut should work in all applications, so we abandoned our efforts to co-opt the shorcut from the OS (which required some code that the Mac OS might consider somewhat rude and intrusive). So, as of CS3 InDesign doesn't even receive the cmd+H event (i.e., it's ignored).
Comments
Dang, my pinkie is starting to hurt.
Posted by: Ben | May 16, 2007 2:18 PM
it would be nice to have some coeherence along all CS3 apps in terms of shortcuts.
InDesign has that behaviour but Photoshop and Illustrator does not, it would be easier, from a user perspective to know that cmd+h hides the app in all CS3 apps and ctrl+cmd+h or whatever would hide edges across CS3 apps or the other way around cmd+h would hide edges and ctrl+cmd+h would hide app.
Just a thought.
Posted by: Herculano Campos | May 16, 2007 3:33 PM
Try adding Opt-H as a shortcut.
After a brief adjustment period (six weeks so far), It's working for me.
Posted by: Matthew Treder | May 16, 2007 3:38 PM
I like to make use of the function keys at the top of the keyboard for all my commonly used tools (F1-Selection, F2-Direct Selection, F3-Type, F4-Deselect All, etc.). One thing that aggravates me is that Illustrator won't allow assigning tools to the function keys. "Tool shortcuts cannot contain either function keys or the Cmd or Opt modifiers." What's up with that?
Posted by: Ben | May 17, 2007 7:41 AM
Wasn't this user-selectable in CS2? Those who care to be hamstrung by Apple's convention could choose to do so, and the rest of us could use whatever we liked. What's wrong with users making their own decisions?
In reading between the lines, though, it sounds like you'd have preferred it stay the way it was.
TC: No comment. ;^)
Posted by: Dave | June 8, 2007 11:29 AM
Where does this end? What's next? Give up Cmd semicolon?! Maybe we will all have to lean more on Preview mode? I love and hate change all at the same time.
Posted by: Michael S. Witherell | September 3, 2007 12:20 PM
As an Indesign intensive user I could use a lot more function keys. How about a second mini keypad which connects by USB next to your keypad and looks the same which has dozens of extra function keys...They could be colour coded as well like the old typesetting keyboards of yore. It would be good for other programmes like Photoshop and Logic Studio. Apple are you listening?
Posted by: Ian W | April 15, 2008 4:36 AM