6.17.4 A Few Things to Remember about Keyboard Access
Experienced users will very often use an application from the keyboard, not with the mouse. Therefore you need to make sure that every element of the interface can be easily and consistently accessed without the mouse. (Even though shortcut keys are used only in menu items, accelerator keys are also used, for example, in push-buttons, group boxes or checkboxes).
For menu titles and options, there are many standard Windows conventions for shortcut keys which should be followed. Below is a list of common shortcuts:
|
Shortcut |
Function |
|
Ctrl + N |
New menu option |
|
Ctrl + O |
Open |
|
Ctrl + P |
|
|
Ctrl + C |
Copy |
|
Ctrl + X |
Cut |
|
Ctrl + V |
Paste |
|
Ctrl + S |
Save |
|
Ctrl + Z |
Undo |
|
Ctrl + Y |
Redo |
Note that F1 is commonly assigned for context sensitive help, Esc for Cancel and Enter for OK. Avoid assigning these keys to any other operations and be careful in setting the shortcut keys to avoid conflicts between different elements of the interface.